Opinion16 December 2020
By Sue Tiffin
When Don Smith’s family responded to a request about people who might want to talk about his life, and his contribution to Haliburton County, which he first visited in 1947, the list of names of people who were important to Don in some way was abundant and paints a vivid picture of someone who, as his obituary notes, was dedicated to the people and things he loved.
While one would expect the acknowledgement of lifelong friends, like Robert Bateman, those belonging to groups that connect with Don’s lifelong passion as a naturalist, notably the Haliburton Field Naturalists and Kawartha Field Naturalists and the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust, and neighbours on Lake Kashagawigamog including Melanie Blodgett and the Cox family, others had touched his life on a daily, weekly, monthly or even less frequent basis in passing, too.