Walter Wood
Encyclopedia
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(1876 – 31 March 1981) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
active in the Boy Scouts
Scouts Canada
Scouts Canada is a Canadian Scouting association that, in affiliation with the French-language Association des Scouts du Canada, is a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement...
.
Born in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Richard Leonard Wood and Martha Glover, he came to Canada in 1920 and worked as a machinist with the Dominion Atlantic Railway
Dominion Atlantic Railway
The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic Canadian railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley....
. Wood was a life-long member of the Boy Scouts and was still regularly attending meetings until the age of 101 and is still known as the oldest Boy Scout in the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
.
In 1978, Wood was honored by being appointed as a Member to the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
for his lifetime of community service both in the Scouts and out. Also, Walter was invited and attended dinner with Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
of Canada and had met Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts.
The town of Kentville also bestowed upon Walter the Key to the Town of Kentville and named public park area after him.
He died in Kentville, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
in 1981 of natural causes.