Margaret Cook Mutch

Margaret Mutch, who helped spearhead an extensive minor sports program in Maxville in the 1950’s, will be inducted September 4th as a member of the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame. She will be joining her daughter Barbara, now residing in Vancouver, as a hall of fame member. Barbara, coxswain of the Canadian women’s rowing team at the 1976 Olympics, was inducted in 1991.

Born Margaret Cook in Barrie in 1919, Mutch was an avid participant in track and field, softball and basketball in her youth.

After graduating from Barrie Collegiate, she entered the Toronto General Hospital School of Nursing, from which she graduated in 1941. She married Dr. John Mutch in 1942. The couple arrived in Maxville July 1, 1947 and set up a medical practice on Main Street South in premises previously occupied by Dr. Duncan McEwen and his son Dr. Bennett McEwen. It was a practice the family was to conduct with great distinction until Dr. Mutch’s death in 1967.

Dr. Mutch received a papal medal for distinguished service to Catholic families in the Diocese of Alexandria while Margaret was awarded the Bicentennial Medal by the province of Ontario in 1984 “for long years of service and dedication to her community.”

Reminiscing about her early days in Maxville, Mutch said there was a serious lack of activities for young people. She credits the help and encouragement of people such as the late Hugh Smith, a former village reeve, the late Dr. Donald Gamble, Ontario Provincial Police Constable Bill Potter, the late Bill Colemen and others with getting together and meeting this need.

A minor hockey program was one of the initial challenges, with Mutch heading a committee in charge of planning , financing and carrying out activities for both boys and girls. “I’m afraid my husband was a hockey widower each winter during those years,” she laughs. “Sometimes with games and tournaments going on, I would take the family car and John would have to hire a taxi to visit his patients.”

Lacrosse was also introduced by the local committee and drew an enthusiastic response. “I remember being asked to provide a team to play against Indian children from Akwesasne when Queen Elizabeth came to Cornwall to open the St. Lawrence Seaway,” she recalls. “Ours was a mixed team of boys and girls. The Indians weren’t sure they wanted to play against girls, but Norm McCrimmon, the lacrosse commissioner, told us to get on with the game. It was a wonderful experience for all of us.

Mutch will tell you the children of that era greet her warmly and exchange memories with her each time she runs into them. They include current village businessmen such as Dale Munro and Richard Scott and women such as Susan Gamble and Helen Chisholm. Her own children were into things too of course. John and Margaret are now high school teachers while Davis and Barbara have followed in their father’s footsteps and are now doctors.

Margaret was active in many local organizations over the years. Included were Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, the Maxville curling club, the Glengarry Highland Games and Maxville United Church. She helped introduce figure skating and this drew up to 30 skaters at times over a period of several years.

She even helped set up swimming lessons at a pond located on what is now Maxville Manor property. But water quality proved impossible to maintain and the program had to be cancelled.

Mutch accepted the position of director of nursing at Maxville Manor in 1968, retiring in 1984. She likes to dabble in painting and needlecraft and although her family is now scattered, she visits them and her 11 grandchildren as often as possible.

It is fitting that this woman who loves children, in fact was almost a second mother to many in the village recreational program, should be honoured for her many years of unselfish service to others.