By PATRICK BRENNAN TIMES-JOURNAL

It's hard to say how many people in St. Thomas-Elgin would have known Gentil Vandenabeele, but it's a certainty many more will know his legacy.
Vandenabeele's name now stands out on the wall of the pool at the St. Thomas-Elgin Family YMCA, which held an open house Saturday to show off more than $2 million in improvements to its High St. facility.

Vandenabeele, who emigrated from Belgium to the Aylmer-Tillsonburg area in 1952, died in 2009, leaving $750,000 to the St. Thomas- Elgin Family YMCA.
John Anderson, Vandenabeele's friend and executor of his estate, described him as a man who focused on goals.

"You can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough," Anderson said of Vandenabeele's outlook on life.
Vandenabeele worked first as a registered nurse at the St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital and, later, at St. Thomas Ford Assembly Plant.
He was an avid member of the St. Thomas-Elgin YMCA for more than 30 years.

Vandenabeele also was well known in St. Thomas as a member of Lord Elgin Branch 41 Royal Canadian Legion St. Thomas where he was a bugler for Remembrance services.

His donation of $750,000 was impressive, Anderson said.

"That's a huge donation from an ordinary working person," Anderson said.
Both the Ontario and federal governments have committed up to $700,000 toward the project.
Improvements consisted of upgrading the pool, adding a therapy pool, adding a second floor to the fitness area, building a new child-minding area and improving the change rooms, parking lot and roof.

"The upgrading and expansion to the St. Thomas-Elgin Family YMCA will be easily accessible and additional space will allow community members to enjoy a variety of sport and leisure activities," Joe Preston, Conservative MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London.

"The project we are celebrating today supports the provincial government's Open Ontario plan to stimulate the economy and create new opportunities to support healthy, active living while creating jobs," said Steve Peters, Liberal MPP, Elgin- Middlesex-London.

"There are a lot volunteers that made this happen," said St. Thomas Mayor Heather Jackson-Chapman, speaking at opening ceremonies for the open house.
The YMCA has existed 150 years in St. Thomas.