Christine Whelan FEO, July 4, 2024, VOL. 5 ISSUE 22

On February 13, 2024, the Greater Fort Erie area lost one of its most tenacious defenders. At the age of 67, Don Lubberts had spent his life loving, working for, believing in, and fighting for his community.

Don grew up in Crystal Beach, an area of town that he represented on Council from 2010 until 2022. He served the residents on the town’s Environmental Advisory Committee, the Cemetery Advisory Committee, the Crystal Beach BIA, appeal committees, and a variety of standing committees over the years, all done with dedication to his constituents, never hesitating to help anyone even when they were not in his ward.

Don loved animals and sat on the Fort Erie SPCA Board for many years. He also served his community as President of the Friends of Crystal Beach (FOCB), Waverly Round Table, and Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative.

To balance all that hard work out, Don made time for his other passions, fishing, boating, and golf.

Dedication to Donnie

Gayle Martineau, Don’s best friend and companion, has been organizing a tailor-made dedication and planning for the perfect placement of a memorial bench at Bay Beach.

On Sunday, July 14, during the Epic Eagles Tribute Band concert, as a part of the Waterfront Park Summer Concert Series, Gayle is going to speak. “I’m going to dedicate this particular concert to Donnie.”

The Epic Eagles Tribute Band was a favourite of Don’s. “We had planned this concert last year, but it got rained out, so we’re having it this year. And we’ve decided to dedicate it to Donnie.” Gayle said Don loved the Eagles.

The bench should be coming in by the end of July. “When the bench comes in, I’ll spread the word about a small ceremony. Hopefully, we’ll get a crowd to join us.”

Gayle and Don’s sister, Mary, came to our conversation prepared with stories.

Gayle began, “The Friends of Crystal Beach run the Waterfront Concert Series. We usually do four to five concerts every summer. We also sell Crystal Beach Waffles and Suckers. Donnie would always buy two or three bags of the waffles and walk around through the crowd, asking people if they had ever tried the waffles. He’d give them one to try if they hadn’t, hoping they would buy a bag.”

The crowd started calling Donnie the ‘Waffle Guy’.

Gayle laughed a little while sharing, “I’d hear them yell, ‘Hey Waffle Guy, over here, over here! We want a waffle!'”

Continuing, “So, I talked to Bob Steckley of the Crystal Beach Candy Company, the company that makes the waffles, and I asked him to make us up 600 individual packages. Mary’s daughter has made us a sticker for each package that says, In Memory of Don Lubberts, aka ‘The Waffle Guy’.”

Donnie the Salesperson

Gayle began listing the various jobs he had, proving his wide range of skills. “Donnie worked at Fleet Industries, and he worked at his brother John’s carpentry business. For the last 25 years before he retired, he worked at Riel Electric. When he was younger, he bartended at the Palmwood, Sneakers, and Garrison Inn.”

Which led to another story Mary had reminded her of. “He even went out West and sold vacuum cleaners. He was the top salesperson in Thomspon, Manitoba, for years. He even sold a vacuum cleaner to a car dealership. The guy ended up hiring him to sell cars, telling him, ‘If you can sell a vacuum cleaner to a car dealership, you’d be great at selling cars.'”

Donnie the Dancer

Mary, remembering her brother, the youngest of 12 kids, began sharing, “Every family function, he and I were the dancers. Donnie loved to dance. He danced until the end of his life.”

Gayle added, “If you saw him at the concerts, he wasn’t walking around; he was dancing around.”

The ladies started laughing and reminiscing.

They talked about Don’s love for jiving to the music and how they are going to miss that this year. This year, they said they will be jiving in memory of their Donnie.”

Donnie the Methodical

Another story shared was about his grade school teacher, Mrs. Gage. She said he was the most methodical student that she’s ever had.

This led to a discussion about his involvement in the fight to save the beach. Donnie and the “Fab Four” were instrumental in saving Bay Beach for the public. Even when the fight brought lawsuits to their doors, they kept fighting.

Former town councillors Bob Steckley, John Hill, Paul Collard, and Donnie Lubberts, along with many residents supporting them, stopped the development of a 12-story condo tower.

“It took a village to save Bay Beach.”

Gayle and Mary agreed that Don’s teacher was right. When it came to something he cared about—supporting, protecting, and saving—he was relentless and tenacious.

The battle is won, and Donnie will now have a bench in that location.

His Bench

The memorial bench for Don Lubberts is going next to the bench of his friend and former President of Friends of Crystal Beach, Shirley Grace.

“It’s going to be right on the property that he saved, facing the water,” Gayle said, adding, “Shirley and her daughter were also instrumental in saving that beach. It makes sense that now the benches for Shirley and Donnie will be on that beach, side by side.”

Rick Doan, a long-time, close friend of Don, remembers him fondly and with great respect. “I never saw anyone so dedicated to the people of Crystal Beach and beyond, in Greater Fort Erie.

We used to speak for hours. He would tell me the behind-the-scenes facts, fights, and victories at Town Hall and could always back up his points with positive proof. No one will ever know, just how much he did.”

Don had asked Rick to take photos of the concert series at Waterfront Park. “After the passing of the late Paul Kassay,” once known as ‘Mr. Crystal Beach’, “Don came to me, asking for the best photo I had taken of Paul. He made about a dozen large posters of that photo and stuck them around the concert venue, wrote and dedicated a speech at one of the concerts about Paul, who helped the concerts so much and was a fellow member of the FOCB.”

And now, what goes around comes around. There will be a similar dedication to Don in the same space.

Don and Rick had been engaged in a project to benefit the community, which was almost finished when he passed. “That project will be completed later this year, with me giving a speech about Don and his love and dedication to the community.”

Mayor Wayne Redekop echoed Gayle and Mary’s words in a Facebook post when remembering Don as “an intrepid representative of his constituents.”

He commented, “When Don committed to an issue or a project, he was all in. To say he was persistent would be an understatement. Whether you agree with him or not, you couldn’t help but respect his tenacity and desire to do what he believed to be the right thing for the community.”

In Don’s honour, flags at the Town of Fort Erie Town Hall and facilities were flown at half-staff until his funeral the following week.

Watch for postings on the Facebook page, Ridgeway, Ontario History, for the upcoming dedication at the Epic Eagles Tribute Band concert on Sunday, July 14, 7:00–9:00 pm at Waterfront Park, and a ceremony to follow for Don’s bench at Bay Beach.