St. Peter CSS and St. Anne CES graduate named 2025 National Silver Cross Mother

Nov. 10, 2025

A Peterborough native and graduate of St. Peter Catholic Secondary School and St. Anne Catholic Elementary School has been named the 2025 National Silver Cross Mother by the Royal Canadian Legion.

Nancy Payne will represent all Canadian mothers who have lost a son or daughter in military service during the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa on November 11.

She will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial on behalf of all bereaved military families and will continue to serve in this role throughout the year, attending national events that honour the Fallen.

Mrs. Payne’s son, Corporal Randy Payne, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2006.

“I just want people to know about him, and I don’t want people to forget him,” she said.

Her husband, David, and eldest son, Chris, also served with the Canadian Armed Forces, continuing a long family tradition of military service dating back to the First and Second World Wars.

Born and raised in Peterborough, Mrs. Payne attended St. Anne CES and St. Peter CSS before pursuing a career as a hairstylist and later as a personal support worker and activity director in Gananoque, Ontario. 

She and her husband now reside in Lansdowne, where she enjoys quilting, knitting and spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

For nearly two decades, Mrs. Payne has honoured her late son’s memory through the “Captain’s Award,” presented each year to a Gananoque Secondary School student who demonstrates leadership, athletic ability and academic excellence — qualities her son embodied as a beloved hockey player and team captain.

As the 2025 National Silver Cross Mother, Mrs. Payne says it is a privilege to represent families who have experienced such profound loss.

“Never forget what they did for us. They gave their lives, we can’t forget that… we have what we have because of them.”