Former MPP Hugh O’Neil’s widow Donna (centre) stands with Quinte Arts Council Chair Dan Atkinson (left) and QAC Executive Director Carol Feeney (right) at an event to honour Hugh’s commitment to the local arts community, at the National Air Force Museum of Canada, on May 17, 2016. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
One of the area’s most beloved long-time politicians was honoured at the National Air Force Museum last night, by one of the groups he supported most.
The Quinte Arts Council hosted an evening to recognize former Liberal MPP Hugh O’Neil, who passed away last year and his commitment to local arts and culture.
QAC Executive Director Carol Feeney tells Quinte News, O’Neil and his wife Donna have been extremely active members on the local arts scene.
She says, as a former member of the Ontario Arts Council, O’Neil used to bring a copy of the local “Umbrella” arts magazine to every meeting and tout the QAC as “the best arts council in Ontario.”
Meanwhile, O’Neil’s widow Donna says the family is thrilled and honoured to be recognized by the QAC.
She says the arts were always important to Hugh, because he felt they often got ignored, in favour of other spending commitments.
She added that her husband used to say “communities that undervalue the arts lose their soul”.
The QAC says it will keep honouring O’Neil’s legacy, by continuing a pair of annual bursaries to local high school students, to help them further their arts education.
Those bursaries were started as a gift from the Ontario Liberal Party, to honour Hugh’s retirement in 1999.
