DOWNIE TOWNSHIP — Dedicated family man, skilled maple syrup producer, dairy farmer and Master Breeder Glen Standeaven has died at age 68.
The Perth County dairy farmer was a former Downie Township councillor and a member of the Perth County Holstein Club and the Perth County Co-op.
The father of two operated Sutherhill Farms, a dairy farm, with his wife, Elaine. Their son David had recently taken over the farm, milking about 100 cows on two robots.
Standeaven had a fine sense for pedigree and earned a Master Breeder’s shield, said old friend and retired dairy farmer Ron McKay. Sutherhill Farms earned the shield in 2000.
As a councillor, he was sharp. After two terms, he knew where every drain in Downie Township was. “There are not many that could put that together,” McKay said.
Spring would see Standeaven disappear into the bush to run his maple syrup operation, savouring the solitude of the bushwork and the friendship of neighbours dropping by, McKay said. Sunday afternoons saw the dairy farmer drive. Something of a wandering soul, it didn’t matter where he ended up. “I think he knew more roads in the area than anybody else,” and he could end up in Grey or Bruce County and start naming people he’d driven past before. “He’d just drive and find out where he was later.”
Don Junjer, who worked with Standeaven at Oxford Milkway Transport, where Standeaven was a director, remembered a man who always had something funny to say. “He was always good for a joke, liked playing jokes and didn’t mind a joke being played on him.” Junjer also recalled the fine maple syrup Standeaven brewed. “I used to tell him his maple syrup was no good. It kept evaporating out of my jar.”
Standeaven died on May 12. He had a health issue that began a few years ago. He is survived by his wife, his children Dave and Joseph, his sister, and two grandchildren.
