Applewood Acres has the distinction of having two residents honoured with Mississauga’s Citizen of The Year Award, a third being named the Young Citizen of The Year and three others being honoured by the Province of Ontario with volunteer awards.
Margaret Leslie, who lived at 2074 Breezy Brae with her husband Art and children, Judy and Sharon, was selected Citizen of The Year, April 29, 1980, the year the award was first established. The Citizen of The Year award was named the Gordon S. Shipp Memorial Award.
The annual award event is organized by the Mississauga Real Estate Board and The Mississauga News. All recipients of the Gordon S. Shipp Memorial Award have their photos on display at City Hall.
Below is an article originally published in the community newsletter, The Apple Press, in the fall of 1994. It was written by Doug Read of 2119 Russett Road and reprinted here with Mr. Read’s permission.
“Marg Leslie, one of Applewood’s senior citizens, died in May. I use the word ‘senior’ not to describe her age (she was only 79) but her accomplishments. She was a leader in her field. She would have scolded me for referring to her this way. She never thought of herself as a leader. When particular honours came her way, as they did frequently, she was always taken by surprise, believing that others deserved them more.
I first met Marg Leslie in 1954 when I joined the staff of Westacres School. The school had just opened; she was the president of the Parent, Teacher Association. The community was new and, wanting the best for it children, lent support to dozens of projects which raised a lot of money for the school and began the tradition of the Westacres Fair.
Marg and Gord Finlayson, the school principal, guided Westacres through those formative years with a skill, in my somewhat biased view, still unmatched.
At the time I did not know Marg was also a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross. She had joined the society in 1946 and had worked at Sunnybrook Hospital. When she and her family bought a house in Applewood in 1954, she transferred to the newly formed Peel Chapter of the Red Cross.
Long-time residents of Applewood will remember 1954 as the year of Hurricane Hazel, when the storm flooded their basements and shattered their windows. Others, like the residents of the Pleasant Valley Trailer Park, will remember seeing their homes swept away.
Marg Leslie was one of the first nurses to reach the area. It was not her first experience with emergencies on a large scale. In 1949 the S.S. Noronic had caught fire in Toronto harbour and burned out of control. The Red Cross was on hand to treat crewmembers and fire fighters injured in the blaze. Marg was part of the team.