Barrie ‘hockey dad’ leaves lasting sports legacy (3 photos)

When you give, you get back.

Summarizing a life as full as the one the late Barrie resident Don Roulston had can be a challenge.

But those six words are a good place to start.

Roulston, in his 83rd year and cherished husband and best friend of June for 57 years, died earlier this month.

But his contributions to Barrie hockey — and to the community in general — will live on, say his family and friends.

Roulston spent decades involved with minor hockey in Barrie, including two provincial championships, attending major tournaments in Kamloops, Calgary, and a Loblaw Cup bantam final in Brantford, according to his obituary (the full version of which can be found on BarrieToday by clicking here).

“In 1986, he won the Barrie Minor Hockey Association Award for support and promotion of minor hockey in the city of Barrie. Later, he became manager, and general manager of the Junior 'B', and Junior 'A' Colts, and served two years as league convenor for the OHA Junior 'A' Eastern Ontario Division,” the obituary adds.

“When OHL hockey arrived in Barrie, Don hosted many NHL scouts that would attend Barrie games, and enjoyed reminiscing about the history of Barrie hockey.”

Kevin Roulston, along with his brother, Tim, knows that first-hand.

“Many of the condolences I have received have been from guys I played hockey with, who have noted that my dad was a part of most of their fondest memories of hockey in Barrie, with various championship teams,” Kevin says. “I shared my father with many out-of-town guys who came to Barrie to play for the Junior 'B' Colts, for example, and my dad was always accepting of the role of ‘hockey dad’ to many of them.”

Off the ice and prior to retirement, working in construction in various capacities (including the OPP Headquarters in Orillia and the ‘new’ Royal Victoria Hospital) was his career, but when it came time to retire, there was no settling down.

“In his ‘first’ retirement, he started a company called Ray O' Sun, which performed services for elderly folks, with the express intent of allowing them to stay in their homes longer,” Kevin says. “Everything from landscaping, cutting grass, snow removal, including shovelling walks and stairs, cleaning, small plumbing and electrical repairs — general handyman stuff, really — as well as personal shopping.

“At one point, he had over 90 properties he helped out with,” Kevin adds. “He was busier than he thought his retirement plans would be, but he was extremely proud of his accomplishments."

The family patriarch also spent "countless" volunteer hours putting his bridge- and road-building skills to work on various stretches of the Trans-Canada Trail, especially through Innisfil close to Cookstown.

"He was extremely proud that his grandkids used the few kilometres out of Cookstown for regular exercise," Kevin says. 

But back to hockey, and sports in general.

Roulston’s contributions to the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame are immeasurable, says hall chairperson Dan Forgrave, who first met Don in 2007.

“After two or three meetings and talking to him and listening to what he had to say, I was absolutely astounded by how much he knew about hockey in Barrie,” Forgrave says. “It didn’t matter what your question was, he could usually give you the answer right away — names, dates, the whole bit. And if he didn’t know, he’d find out and get back to you. And when you came up with ideas or problems or questions, Don wouldn’t say a lot at first.

“He would just kind of take in what everybody was saying and then in a calm, quiet and easygoing manner he’d say, ‘Well, what about this?’ or ‘How about we look at it from this point?’. He would tie everything together.”

Forgrave says advice from former hall co-chairs Roulston and Mac MacDonald have been vital over the years.

“Whenever I ran into a problem, they were always there with the answers for me. Don was still involved with the executive until recently; even up until the last week of his life, he was coming up with ideas and sending me emails,” Forgrave says. “He had an active hand in it right up until the end. The hall will miss having Don around and we’ll miss his voice and his ideas.

“Those are the sort of things that when you look at it, you begin to realize that if it had anything to do with hockey in this city, he had a hand in it at one point or another.”

For decades, Roulston was a familiar face both on and off the ice.

“You could always find my dad in the Georgian Mall at Christmas time manning the Salvation Army kettle and getting caught up with folks he hadn't seen for while,” Kevin says. “All in all, he set the bar really high for community involvement and volunteer service which, as he taught my brother Tim and I, were the lifeblood of any small community.

“People often talk about ‘giving back’, while my dad would often say you should give first, make things better, and then you have your own reward.”