Roger Vermeulen’s grandparents were born in the village of Marie-Aalter, Belgium. Following World War I, Roger’s grand parents, Peter and Emerence Vermeulen, with their three year old son, Andrew, immigrated to Canada, settling near Bothwell in southwestern Ontario where they began working in the sugar beet fields. A few years later, the family moved into the region south of Delhi, in southwestern Ontario, where Andrew Vermeulen, Roger’s father, became a successful tobacco farmer. Educated in Simcoe, Ontario, Roger Vermeulen was first elected to public office, 1969. Since that time, and while working full time for the Federal Department of Employment and Immigration, Simcoe, Roger has served the township of Delhi as Councillor, Deputy Mayor, and, since 1995, Mayor. In 1992, Mayor Vermeulen, father of two daughters, Past President, St. Williams Lions Club, and Member, Royal Canadian Legion, was presented with the Governor General’s Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canada. In this photograph, Mayor Roger Vermeulen, sitting with Chain of Office, hosts HRH Prince Phillippe, standing, Crown Prince of Belgium, at a gala dinner at the Delhi Belgium Hall, December 8, 1998. Far right is Belgium’s Ambassador to Canada, the Hon. Claude Laverdure. [Photo, courtesy Mayor Roger Vermeulen]