'This is really what the community is like': Anonymous donor replaces missing memorial plaque

A missing plaque honouring a Waterloo Regional Police officer and Cambridge boy who drowned in 1998 has been replaced, but no one knows where the new one came from.

On Aug. 12, 1998, const. Dave Nicholson was one of the first responders who were called to the Parkhill Dam after Mark Gage, 12, disappeared in the Grand River while swimming with friends.

Nicholson was part of the police’s underwater search team.

The rescue, however, went tragically wrong.

Police believe Nicholson found Gage but was then sucked into a sluiceway and became trapped.

More than 50 first responders and bystanders tried to pull him to safety, but his lifeline snapped.

Both Nicholson and Gage drowned.

In 1999, a memorial was placed near the Parkhill Dam to remember Nicholson and Gage.

The plaque disappeared last month.

Missing plaque at the memorial for Const. Dave Nicholson and Mark Gage at the Parkhill Dam in Cambridge on June 20, 2024. (Krista Simpson/CTV News)

“Are you kidding me?” Nicholson’s brother Bruce told CTV News. “Why would anyone do something like that?”

The City of Cambridge said at least three plaques went missing since May, including the memorial to Nicholson and Gage, but since then a new wooden plaque popped up at the site.

So far, no one has confirmed who made the plaque and left it there.

“This is really what this community is like,” Nicholson said. “Somebody goes out and makes a replacement.”

The fallen officer’s brother said he didn’t know about the new plaque until CTV called him Tuesday morning.

He believes the random act of kindness is a reflection of the community’s bond to the lives lost.

“It had a connection deep within the heart of the community and the hearts of the people,” Nicholson said.

This is the replaced memorial plaque on July 23, 2024. (CTV News/Tyler Kelaher)

In a statement to CTV News, the Waterloo Regional Police Service said:

“We remain grateful to the individual who took the time to make the wooden memorial plaque in honour of Const. Nicholson and Mark Gage. We are currently working on a permanent replacement to ensure their memory lives on and to ensure community members have a place to gather together to remember and pay their respects.”

Nicholson said he’d be happy to see the wooden plaque become a permanent feature to the memorial, but hopes to see his brother’s story included, just as it was on the original.

Nearly 26 years since the tragedy, Nicholson voiced his gratitude to whoever helped keep his brother’s memory alive.

“Thank you for showing your care for the rest of us by doing something like that,” Nicholson said. “What a really cool thing to do.”