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durhamregion.com The Citizen January 21, 2016 3 At the corner of Telstar Way and Chelmsford Drive in Brooklin, surrounded by modern townhouses and a shopping complex, is a modest bungalow. It once stood at the centre of a large farm known as Roybrook and was the home of Roy Ormiston and his family (Roybrook combined the names Roy and Brooklin). The farm was home to Roy's family of award-winning Holsteins. Mr. Ormiston died on Dec. 10, 2015 at the age of 100, and with his passing Brooklin lost a strong connection to its roots as a farming community. He took over his father's show herd when he was 16 years old and then took over the whole farm when his father retired in 1936. In 1944, he was hired as the East-Central Ontario fieldman for the Holstein Association of Canada, comprising the counties of Ontario, Victoria, Northumberland, Durham, Hastings, Prince Edward, Peterborough, and Lennox and Addington. Mr. Ormiston held the position until 1951 when he returned to farming to focus on creating his own dairy herd. He purchased a female cow called Balsam Brae Pluto Sovereign, also known as the White Cow, from a farm in Bowmanville in 1956 and bred his entire herd from her. According to the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, the White Cow's progeny revolutionized the Canadian Holstein breed. Cows in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany can be traced to the prestigious White Cow family of Roybrook. Mr. Ormiston was recognized for the quality of the Roybrook herd by breeder associations from around the world, including the Holstein Association of Canada, which awarded him the Master Breeder Shield, its highest honour, in 1962 and again in 1988. Mr. Ormiston was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1999 and, more recently, was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013. With all his success in the dairy farming industry, Mr. Ormiston also supported his community without fail. He donated to the Brooklin United Church's steeple fund in 2009, as well as Grass Park and Landmark Square at Baldwin and Winchester. He also donated 25 acres of farmland to the Town of Whitby for use as the future site of a palliative care hospital. The memory of Mr. Ormiston is defined by this generosity. Perhaps a more whimsical remembrance of Mr. Ormiston's legacy is the names of the roads leading into the shopping plaza and neighbourhood where his farm once stood: Roybrook Avenue and Telstar Way; Roybrook Telstar was the award-winning grandson of Mr. Ormiston's prized White Cow. -- Sarah Ferencz is the archivist at the Whitby Public Library. Contact her at archives@whitbylibrary.on.ca Brooklin loses strong connection to its farm roots with death of Roy Ormiston Sarah Ferencz Whitby Public Library archivist Photo courtesy Whitby Archives BROOKLIN -- Roy Ormiston and his wife, Thelma, at the 2006 official opening of Landmark Square in Brooklin. The Ormistons donated the land and funds for the square. He donated to the Brooklin United Church's steeple fund in 2009, as well as Grass Park and Landmark Square at Baldwin and Winchester. He also donated 25 acres of farmland to the Town of Whitby for use as the future site of a palliative care hospital. The memory of Mr. Ormiston is defined by this generosity. "