With a number of generous gifts over the last 15 years, the family has built the Dobson-McKee Family Environmental Education Endowment Fund. The fund, now worth over $700,000, ensures that future generations will be able to explore, understand and appreciate the beautiful diversity of the Dundas Valley.

Richard Dobson, son of Tom and Wilma Dobson, attended the Foundation’s Annual General Meeting in 2008 and gave a very moving speech on behalf of his sisters Ginny and Nancy, and his mother Wilma, all residents in Calgary, Alberta, and his uncle and aunt Bill and Donna Dobson of Ancaster. He talked warmly of his father’s adventures exploring the Valley; how his mother and father met and spent their early married life in Dundas, and what the Dundas Valley had come to mean to him.

Tom and Wilma Dobson “began their commitment to each other as teenagers in Dundas and remained together as a loving couple for over 65 years,” Rick’s sister Ginny told HCA staff back in 2008. “Through wise leadership and counsel, humour and compassion, they made a difference to many varied and widespread individuals and organizations. This endowment honours their cherished memories of family traditions in the Dundas area and their dedication to the importance of environmental education and preserving natural areas for public use.”