CAYUGA—Devoted volunteer, bank manager, speedway promoter, restaurant and country club owner: these are just a few of the hats community stalwart Clayton ‘Clayt’ Spears wore over the years.
Clayt passed away on July 31, 2025 at the age of 85 at Hamilton General Hospital. His friends and family praised him as a loving, devoted family man and a dedicated community volunteer.
His wife Helen, cited by friends as Clayt’s inseparable partner in crime, recalled the couple’s early days in Fisherville after moving to the area in 1965.
“I was teaching in Cayuga at the time and was pregnant. Our son was born in 1966,” she said. “(Clayt) was with the Royal Bank at that point in time.”
Starting with the bank at just 16 years old, Clayt started at their Hastings, Ontario branch, moving to a couple other locations before settling in Fisherville, where he was promoted to manager. But the next time Royal Bank called on Clayt to pack his bags and relocate to a new branch, the couple decided they liked their new community too much.
“He decided to quit,” said Helen, noting the couple were tired of moving. “He worked small jobs here and there until him and Carl Hardwick (a Fisherville-based veterinarian at the time) built the Coral Creek Golf and Country Club.”
An 18-hole course that Helen described as “lovely,” Clayt was involved in running the club for a number of years before going to work for local businessman Bob Slack at both Slack Lumber and Transport and the Cayuga Speedway, where he spent some time working as a promoter, while Helen worked at the on-site concession stand.
A few years later the couple would move to Cayuga, where Clayt got involved in the creation of a local Lions Club branch and opened Twin Oaks, a combination restaurant and motel located on Highway 3 near the bridge in Cayuga.
Longtime friend and fellow Fisherville Lions member Warren Burger recalled how in those days, Helen would be “up at four o’ clock in the morning making butter tarts and baked goods before she would go to work so that he had something to serve the customers when they came in. It was quite a popular spot.”
Clayt also worked extensively as a bus driver over the years, both for the school board and for Forest Coach Line, based out of Dunnville.
“I went on as a tour bus escort when he was going to Florida, here, there, all over the place,” recalled Helen, another example of the pair sticking together like glue over the years.
Despite that extensive resume, it’s Clayt’s volunteerism that defines him in the hearts of those who knew him best.
Burger recalled how it was “pretty much a given” for prominent businesspeople in the community to join the Lions or another service club in their day.
“Clayt got involved in Lionism and he just stayed,” said Burger, admiring his old friend. “He had this entrepreneurial side to him. He was always willing to try something new…. There wasn’t anything he wasn’t willing to put his efforts toward.”
Clayt’s work with the Lions, including a term as Deputy District Governor for District A2, is just one facet of his volunteer efforts over the years. He was heavily involved in the creation of CayugaFest, a summer festival that ran for years in the community, and he played an integral role in the preservation of Selkirk-based Cottonwood Mansion, a passion Helen referred to as “one of his main callings.”
In 1988, Cottonwood was purchased by Larry Hamilton, a retired businessman from Massachusetts who pledged to Clayt on a tour that he would restore the house to its original condition. On Larry’s pledge, Helen recalled Clayt telling Larry he’d never do that in his lifetime, but Larry said, “I’ll prove you wrong.”
She also recalled the state of the mansion at the time – unrecognizable from the beautifully restored condition of today.
“There was a family that lived in the back of the mansion; the rest was sort of falling down. They found holes in the walls of the room upstairs, the parlour. We found out later that one of the boys that lived there and his friends were shooting hockey pucks and they were going through the wall,” she said.
Clayt would stay involved with the mansion for decades, “even though he wasn’t visible at the mansion. He quite often visited with Larry and got things going,” said Helen, chalking up his passion for the site to the “the history of the building, seeing what all could be done and how it could be done.”
He ultimately served a term as President of the Cottonwood Mansion Preservation Foundation, beginning in 2021 before resigning for personal reasons in 2023.
“In his later years, when he started to experience serious health issues, it didn’t seem to deter him. He was very passionate about wanting to be involved and trying to do good in the community. That was quite evident when you look at all the organizations he lent his talent and efforts toward,” said Burger. “He was always willing to take a leading role. If an organization or committee needed some leadership, Clayt would always put his best foot forward and do what he could.”
Other Lions Club peers heaped on the admiration.
“I’ve just always known Clayt. In 2002 when I joined the Lions Club, I got to know him more personally,” said Bill Roth. “I considered him a dear friend…. When he decided to do something, he did it. It wasn’t done halfway. That’s something you can learn from.”
“Both him and Helen were always thinking of every Lion,” recalled Andy Palmer, noting how the pair would personally call every club member on their birthday to sing to them. “He wanted everybody to feel welcomed and important in life. It was always good to get that phone call on your birthday; it didn’t matter how old you were. That’s just the kind of people they are. Very warm, kind.”
Palmer was constantly amazed by his friend’s optimism: “I never heard anything negative out of him. He always had a positive outlook on things, that we could make something happen or make something work.”
“I think he enjoyed being with people and around things,” added Robert Diwell. “He was a very friendly person. He always looked for the facts in everything.”
Clayt heard much of this praise within his lifetime, receiving many thanks and several awards for his dedication to the Haldimand community at large. This included being named the Cayuga Citizen of the Year in 2005 and the Haldimand Citizen of the Year in 2007, along with being a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient in 2012.
With so much attention turned to the community, Helen was sure to note that Clayt was also devoted to his son Scott, now 59-years-old with a family of his own. Clayt took an active role in Scott’s hockey career throughout his childhood, with Helen noting how the Spears’ front door was always open to the neighbourhood kids who would “come to our house and do whatever.”
Burger summed up his friend’s vibrant life.
“When you look at community leaders, I guess it’s more exposed or evident in a rural community…. With Clayt, I think what drove him was he just had this passion to help, to be part of something. That was quite evident in all the years he stayed in Lionism,” he said. “I’ll always remember his determination, his commitment, his willingness, and his passion to be involved, try to do good, and make things better. He definitely had a profound impact on the lives and organizations he was involved with.”
Helen concluded, “It was a very interesting life. A very busy life.”
