Sheila Summerhays

Ken and I first saw Lake Manitouwabing in 1973 or 4 when we visited Ken's aunt and uncle, Rose and John Benson in their newly constructed summer home on Manitou Drive. John had just retired from his dental practice in Cleveland, Ohio. John was an avid fisherman, and came back to his Ontario roots almost every summer to go fishing and visit family. Upon retiring, he & Rose spent 5-6 months in Ontario and winters in Stuart, Florida.

On our second visit, we purchased our property at 30 South Point Drive and the next spring and summer began work on our cottage. Coverage of the Montreal Olympics kept us company while we worked on the interior of the cottage.

At that time there was a covenant in the deeds to property sold by the developer. All property built was to be seasonal only, and the road around Tait's Island would not be ploughed in winter. 

Shirley Farina, who owned Island D south of Tait's Island, was a driving force in the creation of MLCA in the 80's. When Shirley retired as President around 1990, the Association essentially became defunct.

In September, 1992, Dolores Cardinali rented the McKellar hall, and invited all interested in revitalizing MLCA to attend. A slate of officers was elected, and a reinvigorated MLCA began anew. Annual meetings, newsletters, an annual golf tournament, and other programmes were started. One such programme - to mark rocks hazardous to boats - had to be abandoned due to liability concerns. 

In the mid 90's MLCA and the Township were imbroiled in a dispute which went to the OMB. The primary result was the establishment of a figure for the maximum number of dwellings on the lake based on the surface area of the lake. Lake capacity was included in the Official Plan for McKellar Township. This issue has been revisited this year (2009) at the OMB in part over concerns about the proposed Wyebridge development on the lake.