Family members, former colleagues and fans gathered at the Kitchener Auditorium on Thursday to pay their respects to a local broadcast icon.
Don Cameron was known to many as the voice of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers and over his 50 year career he called more than 4,000 hockey games.
“If you didn’t have a television he played the game for you,” says Rangers fan Warren Lamb. “You were thinking you were at the games, he would make it that exciting.”
Mary Jo Flood came to the memorial service to pay her respects. She worked with Cameron in the sixties and says news of his death was heartbreaking.
“He’s a truly great man,” says Flood. “I feel sad for his wife because he said she was his heart and that’s why he did everything that he did.”
For the past 20 years Cameron also dedicated himself to his annual campaign, the potato blitz, for the House of Friendship.
At Thursday’s memorial service, mourners knew to bring a potato donation.
Dawn Gill with the House of Friendship says his efforts have brought in more than half a million pounds of potatoes.
“Don Cameron was a true hero and a true role model,” says Gill.
During the service, family members and former colleagues shared sentimental memories. Old hockey video clips were also played as Cameron’s voice filled the auditorium one final time.
The city of Kitchener says it will be lowering the flags at city hall to half-mast on Friday.
Cameron died in hospital on June 7 at the age of 82. A private funeral is planned for Friday.
