Written by Trish Crowe-Grande, OMAH History Committee
The Founder/Visionary we recognize today is Ted Markle
Over a cup of coffee recently, former OMAH Board Chair, Ted Markle, shared his memories of his time on the Board of Directors. In 2016, his uncle, Richard Oatway, approached him. Ted had just moved to Orillia and had expressed an interest to get involved with the community and he thought being on the OMAH Board was a great way to do it. Ted was elected and became Chair soon after. Due to a significant changeover with the Board, an emergency AGM with membership was held and a new slate of directors were elected. In totality Ted served as Chair during his three-year term 2016-2019.
Ted Duncan, a Past OMAH Chair, commented about Ted’s contributions over this difficult time period, “I first met Ted Markle after joining the OMAH Board in 2016. We teamed up with others to restructure the Board after disagreements led to a number of people leaving in 2017. Ted became our leader through this process.”
Tedd Markle
“Ted’s calmness, his organizational skills and his team approach made things work under difficult circumstances. He attracted good people to join him and he was able inspire and motivate them to use their skills and experience to work together on the task at hand. This was all done with humour and collegiality, I might add. Ted likes to get good people to work with him and let them get on with the jobs that need to be done. There is no micro-managing with Ted as he trusts people to do what they said they were going to do! He’s a great guide, mentor and motivator!”
Thanks to broad participation and collaboration of the former Board, the history committee and art representatives, a new strategic plan was put in place. Markle credits his Vice-Chair, Ted Duncan, for his vision and leadership in seeing the potential growth within both arts and history, finding a constructive way to bring people together to make that vision a reality, resulting in significant growth in programming and people reached.
During his tenure on the Board, Markle never felt the museum would fail. The new strategic plan had a legitimacy and a sense of ownership amongst the staff, the Board and lead volunteers because they all had participated in its creation. He wasn’t worried about failure at that time as there was a strong commitment.
Since he arrived and since his departure, Markle feels OMAH is reflecting more and more the tapestry of Orillia and area. The support is stronger today and deeper as a result. He feels that more and more people appreciate what OMAH does for the community. OMAH has always had talented staff as well and outstanding volunteers. He shared very warm memories of the late Phil Jackman, a remarkable volunteer. Everything that OMAH published during Ted’s tenure was impeccable. Ted stated: “Phil was so easy to work with. So, when you combine his amazing experience as an editor with his sharp wit, his impressive intelligence, and his approachability, his likeability, his ability to pay attention to someone and collaborate with them – what a rare gift of talent. He is deeply missed by everyone.” Phil’s contributions are emblematic of the level of support from OMAH volunteers over the years.
Ted finished his term before the pandemic. He thinks OMAH did amazingly well to navigate through the challenges of that time. What he sees now is a high level of quality exhibits and a breadth of art and history programming. He is impressed how OMAH has chosen its programming and as result it has broadened its reach, continuing to flourish, engaging with the different communities it serves.
Since moving to Orillia and serving as Chair of the OMAH Board of Directors, Ted has also served our community as a member of the OSMH Board and the Mariposa Folk Foundation Board, chairing that organization’s Promotion Committee. Ted also created the charity pond hockey tournament and the Braestone Winter Classic Charity Pond Hockey tournament, to raise funds our regional cancer centre, the Hudson Regional Cancer Centre. He recently became the Executive Director of the Mariposa House Hospice.
Ted Duncan commented, “Ted Markle is a strategic and innovational thinker who seeks out and uses networks to enhance and develop new strategies in any organization he is working with. He has a moral compass which is reflected in public service. He is a great friend to everyone who comes to know him.”