Phil Egan
An Ontario non-profit organization will donate a medical defibrillator in memory of a Sarnia police officer killed in the line of duty.
Police Constable George (Roy) Vanderveer was killed in a collision with a train while pursuing a vehicle on March 22, 1944. PC Vanderveer became the second, and last, city police officer killed in the line of duty following the 1936 slaying of PC jack Lewis by Red Ryan.
The Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund, which is donating the life-saving device, was established to honour a Huron County OPP officer killed in a collision in 2006 after he and his partner had run a marathon to raise funds to purchase a defibrillator for a local fire company.
To date, the fund has donated 153 of the devices – six of which have been directly credited with saving lives – to honour fallen first responders and military heroes lost in combat.
The donation will be presented to Sarnia’s Moose Lodge located at 874 Phillip Street on Friday, March 24 at 6 pm. Family members of the late Constable Vanderveer are expected to attend.
Patrick Armstrong, Executive Director and Founder of the Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund, was a fellow OPP officer who was travelling with PC Mounsey at the time of his fatal accident. He says that the Moose Lodge was selected to receive the donation because the facility hosts a variety of public functions and because defibrillators are already present at fire halls, arenas, and other public facilities such as Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62.
The event is open to the general public.