Stouffville - Memorial Gates

 

Location:  York Region     N 43.97099   W -79.24499

At the end of Church Street S, at the entrance to the park.

This memorial consists of two brick pillars that form the gate to the north entrance to Stouffville's Memorial Park.  Constructed after World War I, the gates name those who died and those who served during the Great War.  A later addition recognizes World War II and Korea but does not list any names.  Recently a plaque was added a few steps inside the gates to honour Captain Arthur Roy Brown, who is credited with shooting down Baron von Richthofen.  After the war, Captain Brown lived on his nearby dairy farm until his death in 1944.

Marker text:

East pillar:

-1914-
KILLED IN ACTION

FLOYD DAVIS
WM. HUTCHINSON
FRED JENNINGS
JAMES RAE
JOS. WIDDIFIELD

THEY WHO SERVED
FRANK BURGESS
LEONARD BURGESS
ROLPH BURKHOLDER
CLARENCE BURKHOLDER
EARL BYER
ROY BAKER
KENNETH COULSON
BERT COULSON
PATRICK CADIEUX
ERNEST CROSSIN
ANDREW COWIE
ROY DICKSON
LEWIS DAVIS
ROSS DAVIS
ACE DAVIS
ROBERT DALES
HERBERT FREEL
JESSE GAULL
SIDNEY HUTCHINSON
OLIVER HARDING
DELBERT JENNINGS
DEAN KESTER
WILBUR KESTER

 

 

 

West pillar: 

-1918-
THEY WHO SERVED

CLAUD LEAVENS
EUGENE LEAVENS
ORMSBY LEHMAN
STANLEY LAWR
BARSTOW MILLER
JOSEPH MOWDER
JOHN McMULLEN
FRED NIGHSWANDER
NELSON NENDICK
JOHN OXENDALE
CLEVE. PEARSON
ORO REAMAN
FRED RATCLIFF
JAMES RATCLIFF
WILLIS STOUFFER
FRED SANDERS
WM. SHACKEL
GARNET STEWART
SYDNEY SCHMIDT
EARL STORRY
GEORGE STEWART
RAY SANDERS
FRED Van ZANT
CLARA WIDDIFFIELD
HARRY WILSON
FREEL YAKE
HAROLD ZELLERS

 

 

Inside west pillar:

IN HONOUR OF
THOSE WHO SERVED
1939-1945
AND KOREAN WAR

 

 

 

Capt. Roy Brown Plaque: 

Captain Arthur Roy Brown, DSC and Bar

1893 - 1944

Roy Brown was born in Carleton Place, Ontario.  He earned his pilot's

license with the Wright School of Aeronautics in Dayton, Ohio in 1915

before being commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service (later the

Royal Air Force).  He is officially credited with shooting down

Baron von Richthofen -aka "The Red Baron" - over France.  He was

the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross (1917) and Bar (1918)

and never lost a pilot under his command during combat.

Roy Brown married Edythe Moneypenny in 1920 and together they

raised two daughters and a son.  Following his distinguished military

service and a career involving accounting, business, and editorial work,

Brown retired to run a successful dairy farm in the hamlet of Bethesda,

Township of Whitchurch, on Lot 6, Concession 4, now part of

Rolling Hills Golf Course.  He died at his farm at age 50.

In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

Residents of Whitchurch-Stouffville salute Brown's enormous

legacy of service - both to country and local community.

 

TOWN OF WHITCHURCH-STOUFFVILLE