MOUNT FOREST – For some, volunteering time in the community is a bore, and for others it brings them joy.
Kay Ayres has been a member of the Mount Forest community for nearly 10 years and has spent plenty of her free time organizing and spreading awareness of events and fundraising.
She has been involved with 100 Women Who Care Rural Wellington, the Seniors’ Centre for Excellence, the Alzheimer Society of Waterloo Wellington and the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team.
Alzheimer society
In her lifetime, Ayres has had two husbands and her mother diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
She was married to Bob Ayres for 37 years. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2003.
“It was God-awful,” said Ayres.
She added that for last four years of his life, before he died in 2012, “he was in a facility” that cared for him.
When he went to the care centre, Ayres’ mother Marg also received an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
“I could go visit both of them [at the same time],” she said.
She told the Advertiser people at the facility called her mom “Bob’s Pit Bull” because if she saw “that he’d fallen or he needed something, she was right there because she was pretty good with the Alzheimer’s at that point.”
Ayres said after Bob died, she took a walk on a local track and met Don Yake.
“He asked me out to lunch. No one was more shocked than me,” she explained.
Living in Teviotdale at the time, she put up a “for sale” sign and bought and moved into a house in Mount Forest.
Ayres and Yake were married on Aug. 2, 2015, with Ayres keeping her previous name.
As time went on, Ayres’ mother also died due to Alzheimer’s.
“By the time she died in 2018, I had remarried to Don, and then he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and he died in 2020,” Ayres said.
“Almost 20 years I was involved with Alzheimer’s.”
And she still is.
Ayres participates in and fundraises for the Waterloo Wellington Mount Forest Walk for Alzheimer’s.
“In the last few years, she has just gone above and beyond to encourage the Walk for Alzheimer’s up in Mount Forest,” said Robin Smart, public education coordinator at the Alzheimer Society of Waterloo Wellington.
“She’s an advocate for education and understanding. She knows people out there in the community, she’s obviously well respected and well liked. So, she’s able to encourage people to come out [and] to learn about things.”
On Dec. 7, 2023, Ayres organized an event at the Mount Forest Legion to give the community “good info” about the disease.
Smart said that 66 people showed up for the event, which “speaks to people’s interest and concern for the topic, but it also speaks to the fact that Kay did her due diligence and her homework and she really promoted the event.”
As a member of 100 Women Who Care Rural Wellington, Ayres also organized for the group to make a significant donation “and those donations are huge, because we offer our services at no charge,” said Smart.
Mount Forest Legion
Ayres has also held quite a few free events targeted to seniors at the Mount Forest Legion. Her first one involved a fraud and scams prevention workshop.
“I contacted [Stephanie Senecal from Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre] and she said she would come speak,” said Ayres. “But I needed a location and I had no money.”
Ayres lives close to Mount Forest Legion president Ken Thompson.
“I’m checking the mail one day and Kay says ‘Ken, don’t move, I got to talk to you,’” said Thompson.
Ayres explained her issue and he “thought about it for 30 seconds and said, ‘I think I can find the place.’”
Thompson told Ayres she could use the Legion since it was a free event for community members.
“She was quite happy, she’s very energetic [and] a wonderful lady,” Thompson said.
He added Ayres also volunteers with the Mount Forest Seniors Group for euchre games, which are held every Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 3:30pm at the Mount Forest Sportsplex.
Senior of the Year
In 2022, in recognition of her commitment to the community, Ayres was recognized as Wellington North Senior of the Year.
“John Nater comes up on the stage and he starts talking about this marvelous person that did all these super-good things,” said Ayres. “And it was me.”
Ayres was not aware she would be winning the award, but the township decided she was well deserving.
“Kay’s very active in the community organizing things, [she’s] active in the senior’s group… and organized an event for seniors around fraud prevention,” said mayor of Wellington North Andy Lennox in a phone interview with the Advertiser.
One of her latest ventures is working to get free feminine hygiene products available at the Mount Forest and Arthur arenas.
“We’re delighted to have her as a member of our community,” Lennox added.
“I think it is great that Kay is recognized.”
Ayres was also recognized with a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Pin in 2022.
“I just stood there and bawled my eyes out,” said Ayres. “What an honour.”
