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New cenotaph at Georgian College ensures students will never forget (4 photos)

'It shows it's something we take seriously,' says college official

A new cenotaph will serve as a constant reminder to local students of the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers.

A ceremony was held Wednesday to dedicate the cenotaph at Georgian College in Orillia and to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“This monument is so we never forget … not just on Remembrance Day, but every day we come to the college,” said Georgian president and CEO MaryLynn West-Moynes.

The cenotaph, three years in the making, was Terri Doubrough’s idea. It came to the library technician during a Remembrance Day ceremony in 2016. She told those in the library the ceremony was about to start, and “half the library moved,” she recalled.

“It was shocking to us. It occurred to us that the students just might not understand.”

In previous years, the ceremony has taken place by the flagpoles.

“We figured we should do something permanent,” said Doubrough, whose nephew, Maj. Kevin Doubrough, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, made the trip from Ottawa to lay a wreath Wednesday.

It wasn’t long after that ceremony in 2016 that she began talks with the college and the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 34. Now the cenotaph is in place in the centre island near the main entrance to the college.

“Students will walk by it every day,” Doubrough said.

That’s important to the college, said Mike Zecchino, Georgian’s manager of student life and residence.

“It’s a nice spot. It shows it’s something we take seriously,” he said, adding the previous ceremonies by the flagpoles “really didn’t do justice to the people who gave their lives for our freedom.”


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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