Two community leaders are being honoured posthumously as Kiwanis Citizens of the Year.
2022 honours go to the late Gary Jodouin while the late Nancy Jacko is the 2023 Citizen of the Year.
Jodouin was a long-time Rotarian and volunteered with several groups including the North Bay Canoe Club, Big Sisters, the Kiwanis Triathlon and more.
He was also on the board of directors with the Civic and North Bay General Hospitals and served as chair of the North Bay Regional Health Centre Board.
“He was very much into many diverse activities,” says his wife Carol Jodouin. “He loved helping others whether it was through the healthcare connection that he had with the hospital or whether it was grooming trails out at the nordic. I think recognition of the things that he has done within the community would make him proud.”
Nancy Jacko, meantime, had a successful career in nursing, served as a Vice-President at the North Bay Regional Health Centre, was chair of the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit board until this past November and was a governor of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University.
“I think [this recognition] sort of cements what she did and how proud she was of healthcare, what she contributed to healthcare in North Bay and throughout Northern Ontario,” says her husband Bill Jacko. “She was so proud of the hospital and the people that worked there, the physicians, and what it contributed to the community. She would be very honoured and obviously very humbled as well.”
Justin Wigelius, President of the Kiwanis Club says they took the opportunity to celebrate Gary and Nancy because they were both heavily involved in the healthcare field.
“We’ve been on quite a hiatus due to COVID-19 and we haven’t been able to celebrate any honourees,” he says. “We took the opportunity that was in front of us to be able to have them together because they were so interrelated in our healthcare in North Bay.”
Jodouin and Jacko will be honoured on April 27.
It’ll be the first Citizen of the Year dinner since 2019.
For ticket information visit www.kiwanisnipissing.ca.
