GALIUS o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-04-14 published
GALIAUSKAS, Dr. Elena
With family by her side, passed away April 13, 2005. Predeceased by husband Kazys. Beloved mother of Dalia DAINORA and Rymantas GALIAUSKAS (GALIUS.) Loving grandmother of Paul DAINORA (wife Ramune,) Audra DAINORA (husband Randolph COHEN,) Tomas DAINORA, Aleksandra DAINORA, Kristopher GALIUS (wife Susan) and Monika GALIUS. Dear great-grandmother of Marius and Vilius DAINORA and Dalia Dainora COHEN. Born in Vilnius (1911,) she earned the degree of Doctor of Dentistry at the University of Kaunas. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. W., at Windermere on Friday, April 15th from 6-9 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held at the Lithuanian Martyr's Church, 2185 Stavebank Rd., Mississauga, on Saturday, April 16, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m. Interment Saint John's Lithuanian Cemetery.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALIUS - All Categories in OGSPI

GALKO o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-05-04 published
KOLAR, Katarina
Peacefully at Saint Mary's Hospital on May 3, 2005, Mrs. Katarina KOLAR of Kitchener (formerly of London) in her 90th year. Beloved wife of the late Stefan KOLAR. Loving mother of Katarina (Sam) MARCIS, Paul (Zlata) KOLAR, Maria (Andy) GALKO, Anna (John) HLAVCA, Susan (Mike) MILOVANOVIC. Sister of Sam TRPKA of Yugoslavia, Maria NIKOLASEVIC of Kitchener, and Anna KOLAR of West Lorne. Cherished grandmother of 7 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. Predeceased by son Stefan, brothers Paul, Andy and John and grand_son John. Visitation will be held in the Lloyd R. Needham Funeral Chapel, 520 Dundas Street, on Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m., where the service will be held on Saturday, May 7, 2005 at 10 a.m. Interment to follow to Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens. Memorial contributions may be made to the Arthritis Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALKO - All Categories in OGSPI

GALKOWSKI o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-11-26 published
BULL, Mary Ruth (née O'BRIEN)
At Woodstock General Hospital on Friday, November 25, 2005, Mary Ruth BULL (née O'BRIEN) of R.R.#5 Woodstock (Creditville,) in her 68th year. Beloved wife for 33 years of Ivan. Dear mother of Donna DUBOIS (Andre,) Al GARLAND, Robin GALKOWSKI (Ed,) Audrey TOTH (Joe), Fred GARLAND (Kim), Bob GARLAND (Heather), Carl GARLAND (Melissa), Bev GARLAND, Karen SMITH (Tim), David GARLAND (Cheryl Lynn) and Laura PERRY (Mark.) Dear sister of Gerry O'BRIEN (Kay,) Donna LANG, Eva FORTIN (Pat), Lillian O'BRIEN, Sharon TAILOR/TAYLOR (Dave,) Barb STONE (Don,) Wayne O'BRIEN (Dale) and sister-in-law of Dorothy O'BRIEN. Predeceased by her brother Peter O'BRIEN and her sister Marjorie BOOMER (late Mervin.) Also lovingly remembered by many grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Friends will be received at the Smith-LeRoy Funeral Home, 69 Wellington Street North, Woodstock on Sunday, 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service in the chapel on Monday, November 28, 2005 at 11: 00 am with Reverend Dave SNIHUR officiating. Interment at Oxford Memorial Park Cemetery. If desired, memorial donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Lung Association or the Woodstock Hospital Foundation -- Building Fund would be appreciated. Smith-LeRoy, 537-3611. Personal condolences may be sent at www.smithleroy.com

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALKOWSKI - All Categories in OGSPI

GALL o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-04-11 published
BOCK, Hans Frederich Karl
Hans Frederich Karl of Saint Thomas, on Friday, April 8, 2005, at the London Health Sciences Centre (University Campus), in his 55th year. Dearly loved husband of Evelyn (Mayer) BOCK and loved father of Patrick BOCK, Sarina and her husband Richard GALL, Jennifer and Marie BOCK, all of Saint Thomas. Dear brother of Willie and his wife Phyllis KNOST of Dorchester, Chris and her husband Larry SHELTON and Gabe and her husband Ken WAITE, all of Saint Thomas. Sadly missed by 2 grandchildren Kylee and Jade. Also survived by a number of niece and nephews. Hans lived in Saint Thomas most of his life and worked at Thermo-disc. He was the son of the late Ernest and Ann KNOST. He was born in Germany, May 24th, 1950. Resting at Williams Funeral Home, 45 Elgin Street, Saint Thomas until Wednesday morning and then to the Holy Angels' Church where funeral service will be held at 10: 00 a.m. Interment to follow in Elmdale Cemetery. Visitation Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Remembrances may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-07-07 published
LUZ, Virginia▼ Erskine,▼ R.C.A.
Peacefully on Wednesday, July 6, 2005 in her 94th year. Former Teacher and head of Art, Central Technical School; daughter of the late Jessie MINKLER and John LUZ; sister of the late Edgar cousin of the late Elizabeth Minkler GALL of Victoria, British Columbia. Dear friend to many and fondly remembered always. Funeral Service at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 9, 2005 at St. James the Less Chapel, 635 Parliament St. (at Wellesley St.) Cremation. Arangements in care of Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 416-767-3153.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-23 published
LE GALL, Louis
Died in Toronto, November 4, 2005. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Joan Fraser LE GALL, his children, Françoise LE GALL of Chevy Chase, Maryland, Michel LE GALL of East Brunswick, N.J. and his grand-daughters Maya, Daphna, Emma.
His absence will be forever present.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-07 published
LUZ, Virginia▲▼ Erskine,▲▼ R.C.A.
Peacefully on Wednesday, July 6, 2005, in her 94th year. Former Teacher and head of Art, Central Technical School; daughter of the late Jessie MINKLER and John LUZ; sister of the late Edgar cousin of the late Elizabeth Minkler GALL of Victoria, British Columbia. Dear friend to many and fondly remembered always. Funeral Service at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 9, 2005 at St. James-the-Less Chapel, 635 Parliament St. (at Wellesley St.). Cremation. Arangements in care of Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 416-767-3153.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-08 published
LUZ, Virginia▲ Erskine,▲ R.C.A.
Peacefully on Wednesday, July 6, 2005, in her 94th year. Former Teacher and head of Art, Central Technical School; daughter of the late Jessie MINKLER and John LUZ; sister of the late Edgar cousin of the late Elizabeth Minkler GALL of Victoria, British Columbia. Dear friend to many and fondly remembered always. Funeral Service at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 9, 2005 at St. James the Less Chapel, 635 Parliament St. (at Wellesley St.). Cremation. Arrangements in care of Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 416-767-3153.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-11-29 published
HORNYAK, Sister Anna
"Fiat Voluntas Tua" (Thy Will Be Done)
Sister Anna HORNYAK lived her motto "Thy Will be Done" as a Sister of Social Service for 80 years. She returned to God on Monday, November 28, 2005 (at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse Infirmary where she has been living since April 2003). Born in Alsocece, Hungary, to HORNYAK Jozsef and Madarasz Borbala, she joined the Social Mission Sisters in Budapest in 1922 and then transferred to the Sisters of Social Service which branched out of the Social Mission Society in May 1923. She took her first vows in Paris, France in 1925 and came to Stockholm, Saskatchewan, the same year. In Stockholm she was organist and choir director at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church. She was a parish social worker there for 46 years with little interruption. She also worked in the rectory, house, sewing room and garden. When it was necessary, she collected money in the U.S. to fund the Canadian Sisters of Social Service novitiate. For a year in the late 1920's she was director of accommodation at the shrine to the American Martyrs in Auriesville. She worked in the community's day care centre in Montreal and in Holy Spirit Centre in Hamilton. She was the last living member of the original foundation of the Sisters of Social Service, founded in 1923. She is survived by her niece Margaret KUKUCSKA of Welland, Ontario, by three grand-nieces and a grand-nephew in Ontario, a step-brother John, and a step-sister, Mrs. William GALL, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and several other relatives in Hungary. Special thanks to the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Staff of the Infirmary who provided such wonderful care during Sr. Anna's time with them. May Sister Anna rest in peace. Prayer vigil will take place on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at the Sisters of St. Joseph (3377 Bayview Ave.) at 7: 30 p.m. Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated in the chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph (3377 Bayview Ave.) on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at 11 a.m. Interment will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hamilton.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-04 published
PANNOZZO, Lucia
Passed away on Friday, December 2, 2005 at Toronto Western Hospital at the age of 94. Predeceased by her loving husband Giuseppe. Beloved mother of Giovanni and his wife Angela, Maria and her husband Antonio DEL DUCA, Phyllis and her husband Italo and the late Domenico. Dear father-in-law of Maria. Devoted Nonna of Joe and his wife Anne, Nino and his wife Angela GALL, and Lucio PANNOZZO; Frank and his wife Lori, and Joe DEL DUCA; David and Jennifer PANNOZZO; and Robert PANNOZZO. Great-grandnonna to Jessica, Daniel, Mari Angela, Marco, Tyler, Domenica, Antonio and Francesca. Dear sister of Francesco PICANO. Friends may call on Saturday, from 6-9 p.m. and Sunday from 6-9 p.m. at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home, (6150 Yonge Street, at Goulding, south of Steeles). A Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, December 5, 2005 at 11 a.m. at St. David's Parish (2601 Major Mackenzie Dr.). Entombment to follow at Holy Cross Cemetery. Condolences to www.rskane.ca.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALL - All Categories in OGSPI

GALLACE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-03-08 published
MANCARI, Francesca
Peacefully at her residence on Sunday, March 6, 2005 surrounded by her family, Francesca MANCARI in her 92nd year. Beloved wife of the late Francesco MANCARI (1994.) Dear mother of John MANCARI, Gabriel MANCARI and his wife Christine, Dina and her husband Frank GALLACE. Predeceased by her son Girolamo MANCARI (2000) and her daughter Barbara Mancari ALBERTO (1985.) Dear grandmother of Ralph, Michele, Robert, Julie, Adolf, Richard, Nicole, Michael, Andrea, David, Tina, Steven and Mark. Dear great-grandmother of 9 great-grandchildren. Survived by Friends and relatives in New York and Filadelfia, Italy. Friends will be received at the John T. Donohue Funeral Home, 362 Waterloo Street at King Street, London on Tuesday, March 8, 2005, from 2-4 and 7-9 o'clock. Funeral Mass at Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 345 Lyle Street on Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock. Entombment in Holy Family Mausoleum - St. Peter's Cemetery. Prayers Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock. In lieu of flowers, donations to Saint Mary's Church Orphanage Fund would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-10-05 published
GALLACE, Giuseppe
Peacefully surrounded by his family on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Giuseppe GALLACE dear beloved husband of the late Luigina GALLACE, in his 85th year. Beloved father of Frank and his wife Dina of London, Angelo and his friend Maureen of New York, Carmela and her friend Doug of London, Tony and his wife Christine of London and Mena and her husband Angelo of Italy. Dear brother of the late Giuseppina. Dear Nonno of Robert, Richard (Nicole), Steven, Joseph, Vincent, Anthony, Gina, Patricia (Brendon), Lisa, Sandro (Maria), Marco (Tiziana), Marcello and Irma (Marco). Great-Nonno of Kyla, Benjamin, Manuele, Gabriele and Massimiliano. Also survived by nieces and nephews. Visitors will be received at John T. Donohue Funeral Home, 362 Waterloo St. at King St. on Wednesday from 7-9 o'clock and Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 o'clock. Funeral Mass at Saint Mary's Church, 345 Lyle Street, on Friday morning at 11 o'clock. Entombment in Holy Family Mausoleum St. Peter's Cemetery. Prayers Thursday evening 7 o'clock. Donations to The London Regional Cancer Program, London Health Sciences Centre would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACE - All Categories in OGSPI

GALLACHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-04-21 published
CHALLIS, Elizabeth "Betty" (formerly McGEACHY, IRVINE, née DIVERS)
Suddenly at home on Tuesday, April 19, 2005, Elizabeth (Betty) CHALLIS (DIVERS) in her 69th year. Beloved wife of the late Bill CHALLIS (2000,) Alexander IRVINE (1991) and Patrick McGEACHY (1961.) Dear sister of Florence GALLACHER (Neil,) Samuel DIVERS (Kathleen,) Edward DIVERS (Ellen) and Helen MacDONALD and her late husband Harry all of London. Predeceased by her parents James and Mary DIVERS and by her brother James DIVERS (1989.) Betty will be sadly missed by many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and greatnephews in Canada and Scotland, and also by her dear dog Benny. Visitors will be received at John T. Donohue Funeral Home, 362 Waterloo Street at King Street, on Thursday from 2-4 and 7-9 o'clock. Funeral Mass at St. Michael 's Church, 515 Cheapside Street, on Friday morning at 11 o'clock. Cremation with interment in the Pinery Cemetery, Grand Bend. Donations to the Royal Canadian Legion, Grand Bend Branch, #498 would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-06-11 published
GALLACHER, John▼
In loving memory of a dear Father, Brother and Son, John, who passed away June 11th, 2002.
‘Tis but three years ago today,
Since God called you away,
And we who loved you most of all
Miss you more each day.
Always loved and remembered, Mom and Dad, son, brothers and sisters.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-23 published
GALLACHER, James
Passed away peacefully at his home with his family by his side, on Friday, January 21, 2005 at the age of 66. Beloved husband of Ellen for 44 years. Dear father of Stephen (Helen), Andrew (Yvonne) and Susan (Sherman). Grandpa will be sadly missed by his seven grandchildren. James is survived by his mother Sarah. He will be fondly remembered by his brother, sisters and their families. Visitation will be held at the "Scarborough Chapel" of McDougall and Brown, 2900 Kingston Road (east of St. Clair Ave. E.) on Sunday, January 23 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service will be held at the chapel on Monday, January 24 at 11 a.m. Interment to follow at Pine Hills Cemetery. Till we meet again.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-08-06 published
GALLACHER, John▲
It is with great sadness that the family of John GALLACHER announce his sudden passing on August 4, 2005 at the age of 57. Father to the love of his life, Kelly. Fondly remembered by Joanne and her family, father James, uncle Danny, aunt Glady's and their families, his many relatives and Friends. John was passionate about fly-fishing on the East Coast and known for his gourmet cooking talents. A Mass will be held on Monday, August 8th, 2005 at 10: 00 a.m. at Saint Mary's Church, 65 Amelia Street, Barrie. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Rainbows Canada or Grieving Children at Seasons Centre.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-11-29 published
JENKINS, Robert " Bob"
Peacefully at William Osler Health Centre, Brampton on Sunday, November 27, 2005 at the age of 71 years. Robert, beloved father of Darlene (Graham CABEL) of Scarborough, Kim SMITH (Matt CALVERT) of Brampton, Kelley JENKINS of Toronto, and Allyson (Dino DARMANIN) of Brampton. Cherished grandfather of Andrea, Keith, Robert, Sarah, and Cassandra. Loving brother of June PASKARUK of Toronto, and Nancy GALLACHER (Jim) of Whitby. Predeceased by his parents Evelyn and Albert JENKINS. We are grateful to the staff and many Friends at Peel Manor for their wonderful care and support. Visitation at the Scott Funeral Home "Brampton Chapel", 289 Main St. N. on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 from 6-9 p.m. Funeral Wednesday, Service in the Chapel at 11 a.m. Interment Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In memory of Robert, donations to the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated. Sign an online book of condolences at www.obituariestoday.com

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLACHER - All Categories in OGSPI

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2005-04-06 published
POWERS, James William
Of Point Clark, passed away at Port Ritchie, on Saturday, April 2nd, 2005, in his 86th year. Survived by his wife, Rita (KROEPLIN) sons, Michael and Theresa, Brian and Tina; daughters, Patricia and Jerome FRITZ, Loretta and Brian WHITFIELD, Eileen POWERS, Joanne POWERS, Helen POWERS and John ALLEY; twenty grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Also survived by his sisters-in-law, Kathleen POWERS and Alice Daisy GALLAGHER. Predeceased by his first wife, Madeleine MALONE; son, James (infancy;) sister, Lillie ZISTER; brothers, Stephen and parents Stephen and Johanna (GRAF) POWERS. Visitation at Cameron Funeral Home, Walkerton, on Thursday from 7: 00 to 9:00 p.m. and Friday from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9: 00 p.m., with parish prayers at 3:30 p.m. and Knights of Columbus Rosary at 9: 00 p.m. Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, April 9th, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m., at Mary Immaculate Church, Chepstow. Interment in Mary Immaculate Cemetery, Chepstow. Memorial donations to the Deemerton Form Centre or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
Page A2

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-04-13 published
GALLAGHER, Elizabeth " Ruth" (née LENENTINE)
Elizabeth "Ruth" of Caressant Care Nursing Home, Saint Thomas, on Monday, April 11, 2005, at the Saint Thomas-Elgin General Hospital, in her 83rd year. Beloved wife of the late John James GALLAGHER (1981) and dearly loved mother of Janice and her husband Paul ZIMMERMAN of Lyons head and Cheryl and her husband Larry PRICE of Saint Thomas. Predeceased by three brothers Garnet, Carl and Ralph LENENTINE. Ruth was born in Highgate on October 26, 1922, the daughter of the late Frank and Myrtle (CLUNIS) LENENTINE. She resided in Saint Thomas most of her life. A private family service will be conducted by Williams Funeral Home, 45 Elgin Street, Saint Thomas on Thursday. Cremation, with entombment of ashes in Elmdale Cemetery. No public visitation. Remembrances would be appreciated to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-06-17 published
JOHNSTON, Dorothy Agnes (formerly GALLAGHER, née RICHARDSON)
At Bluewater Health Palliative Care Norman Street Site, Sarnia on Thursday, June 16, 2005 Dorothy Agnes (RICHARDSON) JOHNSTON, age 86 of Sarnia. Mrs. JOHNSTON was a member of Paterson Memorial Church and was a retired registered nurse. Predeceased by husbands the late Jack GALLAGHER (1944 in Italy during World War 2,) the late Stanley Lawrence JOHNSTON (1992) who was retired from Canadian National Railway. Loved mother of Doug and daughter-in-law Wendy JOHNSTON. Special grandma of Shane. Particular thanks goes out to all the women who have helped Dorothy (and Wendy) in their medical offices, medical labs, and in nursing and home-care assistance, as well as her wonderful Friends and neighbours. As a quietly dignified lady who struggled with scleroderma for many years, Dorothy specifically requested no visitation or funeral service and cremation will take place with burial of ashes in Harriston Cemetery. A private family celebration of Dorothy's life will be held at a later date. As an expression of sympathy, Friends who wish may donate to the Scleroderma Society of Ontario, c/o Kathy DONN, 98 Rand Street, Stoney Creek, Ontario L8J 1A8 or the Canadian Blood Services Foundation, 1800 Alta Vista Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 4J5. Memories and condolences may be sent online to www.smithfuneralhome.ca Arrangements entrusted to Smith Funeral Home, 1576 London Line, Sarnia, Ontario, N7T 7H2 (519)-542-5541

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-06-27 published
WARD, Eva Lillian
Into God's arms, surrounded by her loving family at home on Saturday, June 25th, 2005, Mrs. Eva Lillian WARD in her 82nd year. Beloved wife of the late Arthur WARD. Loving mother of Jackie (Marty) McGRENERE, Janet (Frank) BORCHARDING, Charlene (Peter) GALLAGHER and Nancy (Tony) MacGREGOR. Predeceased by her son Art WARD. "Nana" will be missed by her 13 grandchildren and 30 greatgrandchildren. Also predeceased by 2 great-grandchildren and survived by her sisters and brother. Friends may call at the Lloyd R. Needham Funeral Chapel, 520 Dundas St. on Monday from 7-9 p.m. and on Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Service from the chapel on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Canon Janet LYNALL officiating. Interment Woodland Cemetery. Memorial donations to the Victorian Order of Nurses, Canadian Diabetes Association or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-07-07 published
JOHNSON, Nancy (THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON)
At London Health Sciences Centre, University Hospital on Tuesday, July 5, 2005, Nancy (THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON) JOHNSON of London and formerly of Windsor. Beloved wife of the late Frederick W. "Fred" JOHNSON. Dear mother of Kim JOHNSON of London. Predeceased by her brother Thomas Watson THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON. Also loved by several nieces and nephews. Friends will be received by the family from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the A. Millard George Funeral Home, 60 Ridout Street South, London. Funeral service will be held at Riverside United Church, 881 Glidden Avenue, Windsor, Ontario on Saturday, July 9th at 1: 00 p.m. with Reverend William GALLAGHER officiating. Interment in Victoria Memorial Gardens, Windsor. Friends who wish may make memorial donations to the charity of their choice. On line condolences accepted at www.amgeorgefh.on.ca

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-07-11 published
BLACKPORT, Dorothy (GALLAGHER)
At L.H.S.C. University Campus on Saturday, July 9, 2005, Mrs. Dorothy (GALLAGHER) BLACKPORT, resident of the McCormick Home, passed away in her 81st year. Beloved wife of the late Doug BLACKPORT (2001.) Dear mother of Trudy SPEARING and her husband Bill, Doug BLACKPORT, Bob BLACKPORT, Michael BLACKPORT and Pat BLACKPORT and his wife Wendy. Also loved by her grandchildren Michelle SCOTT and her husband John, John SPEARING, Patrick BLACKPORT Jr., Amanda BLACKPORT and Angie BLACKPORT as well as her 2 greatgrandchildren Jordann and Emily SCOTT. Dear sister of Julia REIS, Helen BLACKPORT and Ann GALLAGHER. Predeceased▼ by her 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Visitors will be received at

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-09-03 published
DANTER, Robert Frank
A long time resident of Windsor, Ontario, passed away peacefully at University Hospital in London, on September 1st, 2005, surrounded by the love of his family at 89 years of age. Devoted husband of Margery Ethel DANTER of London with whom he celebrated 57 years of marriage. He will be missed and lovingly remembered by his children Dr. Wayne DANTER and wife Deborah DANTER (nee SCRAGG), Pastor Brian and wife Lynn DANTER (née ROGERS), David and wife Diane DANTER (née DIAVOLITSIS.) Loved grandfather of Matthew, Benjamin, and Patrick, Brianne, Brittany, Bethany, Judah, Brooklyn, Olivia, Jonathan, Robert and Anastasia. Mr. Robert DANTER will be fondly remembered by sister-in-laws Florence PENNINGTON of Windsor, and Jean McINTOSH of London. Robert was born on April 17, 1916, in Windsor, Ontario, to the late Robert H. DANTER and Elizabeth DANTER. He was predeceased by brothers Gordon and Edward DANTER. Robert was a painter and decorator by trade, and he was also an accomplished fine artist. The role of which he was most proud was that of loving and committed husband, and caring and involved father and grandfather. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson's Foundation of Canada, or the Canadian Diabetes Association. Visitation will take place on Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral services will take place on Saturday at Families First Funeral Home and Tribute Centre (519-969-5841) 3260 Dougall Ave. Windsor, commencing at 11: 00 a.m., with Reverend Bill GALLAGHER officiating, assisted by Reverend Pirie MITCHELL of Colborne United Church of London. Interment will take place at the Greenlawn Memorial Gardens. The family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the staff of 5A North at Parkwood Hospital, the 4th floor Transplant Unit and Medicine Unit at University Hospital, and the Palliative Care staff on the 6th floor at University Hospital. Special thanks to Anne CHEESEMAN, Jennie HOLLAND, Jody MacCALLUM, and Sarah HAYGARTH at Parkwood. You made a special connection with Robert. A tree will be planted as a living memorial celebrating the life of Robert Frank DANTER. You may share your memories online at www.familiesfirst.ca

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-10-31 published
BERNARD, Hattie Isebelle (GALLAGHER)
At Clinton Public Hospital on Saturday, October 29, 2005 Hattie Isebelle (GALLAGHER) BERNARD of Vanastra in her 76th year. Beloved wife of the late Gaston BERNARD. Loving mother and mother-in-law of Gordon and Wanda BERNARD of Edmonton, Alta; Paul BERNARD of Varna; Dan and Pam BERNARD of Clinton; Jo-Ann and Randy MacKAY of London and Jean BERNARD of Clinton. Loved and sadly missed by her grandchildren Kelly-Lynn; Tyler, Ashley, Brad, Mike and Kevin BERNARD and Michelle MacKAY and by 1 great-granddaughter Isebelle. Dear sister and sister-in-law of Ethel and Milford HEIMBECKER of Ingersoll; Mae SAGER of Vanastra; Art and Verna GALLAGHER of Chatham; Dorothy and Tony MAYALL of Leduc, Alberta. and Rosella GALLAGHER of Kingston. Predeceased by 5 brothers Walter, Hilliard, Fred, Everett and Eric GALLAGHER. Friends will be received at the Falconer Funeral Homes Ltd., 153 High Street, Clinton on Monday from 2-5 p.m. and on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 from 1 p.m. until time of funeral service at 2: 00 p.m. Interment Clinton Cemetery. Donations to the Canadian Cancer Society or to Town and Country Support Services would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-11-20 published
GALLAGHER, Mary▼
In loving memory of our dear mother and grandmother Mary, who passed away 12 years ago, November 20, 1993. The hurt remains inside us, There is nothing we can do, For when you lose a mother You lose a best friend too. To hear her voice to see her smile To sit with her and talk a while, To be together in the same old way, Would be our greatest wish today, So please God take a message To our precious mother up above, Tell her we miss her terribly, And give her all our love. Lovingly remembered every day by daughter Ann, son-in-law Ian, grandchildren Karen and Michelle.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-12-21 published
CALCUTT, Mary▼ Leata▼ (HAYES)
Entered into rest at Strathroy Hospital on December 19, 2005. Mary Leata CALCUTT (HAYES) of Strathroy in her 83rd year. Beloved wife of the late Edward CALCUTT (2003.) Dear mother of Pat KOVACS and her husband Frank of Mt. Brydges. Loving grandmother of Val PROCENKO and her husband Peter of Wasaga Beach, Sandra GALLAGHER of Mt. Brydges and Steven KOVACS of London. Aunt of David PHILLIPS of California. Great-grandmother of Alexandria, Stephanie, Natasha and Nicholas PROCENKO and Danielle, Amanda and Karlie GALLAGHER. Also survived by her brother George and Marilyn HAYES of London and her step-father Bill DICKSON/DIXON of London. Predeceased by her brothers, Jerry, Ben, Jack and Ron HAYES and sister Nora PHILLIPS. She will be sadly missed by sisters-in-law Freida and Catherine CALCUTT and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. Resting at Denning Bros. Funeral Home, Strathroy on Thursday, December 22, 2005 from 12: 00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. when a funeral service will be held at the funeral home with Fr. Willi KAMMERER officiating. Interment in Strathroy Cemetery. Donations to the Strathroy Hospital Foundation or Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated. A tree will be planted as a living memorial to Mary.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.strathroy.age_dispatch 2005-12-27 published
CALCUTT, Mary▲ Leata▲ (HAYES)
Entered into rest at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital on December 19, 2005, Mary Leata CALCUTT (HAYES) of Strathroy, in her 83rd year. Beloved wife of the late Edward CALCUTT (2003.) Dear mother of Pat KOVACS and her husband Frank of Mt. Brydges. Loving grandmother of Val PROCENKO and her husband Peter of Wasaga Beach, Sandra GALLAGHER of Mt. Brydges, and Steven KOVACS of London. Aunt of David PHILLIPS of California. Great-grandmother of Alexandria, Stephanie, Natasha, and Nicholas PROCENKO and Danielle, Amanda, and Karlie GALLAGHER. Also survived by her brother George and Marilyn HAYES of London, and her step-father Bill DICKSON/DIXON of London. Predeceased by her brothers Jerry, Ben, Jack, and Ron HAYES and sister Nora PHILLIPS. She will be sadly missed by sisters-in-law Freida and Catherine CALCUTT and many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Rested at Denning Bros. Funeral Home, Strathroy, on Thursday, December 22, 2005 from 12-1: 30 p.m. when a funeral service was held at the funeral home with Reverend Fr. Willi K.F. KAMMERER officiating. Interment in Strathroy Cemetery. Donations to the Strathroy Hospital Foundation or Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated. A tree will be planted as a living memorial to Mary.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-01-17 published
BAKER- PEARCE, Benjamin▼ " Tim▼"
Former Owner of the Alliston Herald, Past President Rotary Club of Alliston, Member of Alliston Legion Branch #171, Past President of Alliston Probus Club, Active Community Volunteer.
Passed away peacefully at his home after a brief illness on Saturday, January 15, 2005, in his 78th year.
Beloved husband of Jean LIVINGSTON of Alliston. Dear father of Janet and her husband Thomas McKAVANAGH of Reno, Nevada, Judith and her husband John DAY of Newmarket, Ontario, Kathryn and her husband John GALLAGHER of Wampsville, New York. Loved Grandad of Keenan McKAVANAGH, Jacqueline, Mackenzie and Cameron DAY, Brendan and Alison GALLAGHER. Dear brother of Michael and Deardrie BAKER- PEARCE of Fergus, Ontario, Millicent BLOXWICH of Scotland, Mary and Richard SHALLCROSS of England and predeceased by Cordelia, Gerald (Dan), William and Joan. Tim will be fondly remembered by his nieces, nephews and many Friends.
Resting at the W. John Thomas Funeral Home, 244 Victoria Street E., Alliston from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Thursday. Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel on Friday, January 21, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m followed by cremation. If so desired, memorial donations to the Parkinson Society of Canada would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-01-21 published
Pete PALANGIO, National Hockey League Forward 1908-2004
Lad from North Bay, Ontario, played just a few short years in the major league but came out of it with both a Stanley Cup and a shrewd business sense
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, January 21, 2005 - Page S7
Toronto -- He was Mr. Hockey in North Bay, Ontario, the Italian Adonis in St. Louis, Missouri, a Stanley Cup winner as a Chicago Blackhawk and a fleeting but unforgotten footnote in the annals of the Montreal Canadiens.
Even as Pete PALANGIO entered his 97th year of life, mail would arrive twice weekly at his home in North Bay. Fans knew about his exploits in St. Louis but they remembered, too, that he was the oldest surviving player from the National Hockey League's pre-expansion six. No wonder they wanted his signature.
While he achieved more success with the Chicago Blackhawks than he did with the Canadiens, neither the Montreal organization nor its alumni ever forgot him. Mr. PALANGIO played only eight games with the most storied franchise in hockey history but had no qualms about which National Hockey League team was his favourite. Montreal, he said, was the best team he ever played for. On March 15, 1996, Mr. PALANGIO, wonky knees and all, was celebrated at the Canadiens centre ice along with Guy Lafleur and Henri (The Pocket Rocket) Richard. The response by the fans was tremendous. Overwhelmed and feeling embarrassed, Mr. PALANGIO said he nearly fainted.
About 70 years had passed since he had stood on the ice as a Canadien. In 1926, he had been a star of junior hockey in North Bay when the Montreal club came calling. As a harbinger of things to come, Mr. PALANGIO proved to be a astute negotiator. Unimpressed by their first offer, he refused to sign. Then the tall, big-boned forward went home to North Bay to score 12 goals in three back-to-back playoff games and suddenly found himself talking turkey with Canadiens owner Leo Dandurand. That time, Mr. PALANGIO was promised a $1,100 signing bonus and a $4,250 contract for the remaining 11 games of the 1926-27 season. He dressed for six games but mostly rode the pine. The following season, Mr. PALANGIO played minor-league hockey in Windsor, Ontario and didn't return to the National Hockey League until 1928-29 when he dressed for two more games. According to a photograph of that season's Canadiens, Mr. PALANGIO was the only "spare" on a team of 14 players.
As it turned out, Mr. PALANGIO didn't fully arrive in the National Hockey League until mid-way through the 1936-37 season when he agreed to join the Blackhawks in a transaction with the minor-league St. Louis Flyers, who were owned by the Canadiens. The move to the Blackhawks was made reluctantly. Mr. PALANGIO loved playing in St. Louis -- he was making good coin and was much loved and admired for his scoring touch, quiet grace and manner. He stood 6-foot-1, a strapping and handsome player described by one St. Louis writer as a "gorgeous beauty show." He could produce as many as 30 goals and 20 assists in one 48-game season.
"I was the highest paid player on the St. Louis team and I had an apartment, free," Mr. PALANGIO said in an interview in 1998. "It's the best place I ever played in... it had a large Italian population, so I was right at home."
He also thoroughly enjoyed the kind of genuine affection only a minor-league club can indulge. "They had a special night, one time," he once related. "They had me come out to centre ice and there was a big horseshoe of flowers. They had me standing in the middle of it."
St. Louis had its other heroes, too. Among them was baseball legend Yogi Berra, whom Mr. PALANGIO came to know. Whenever he wanted hockey tickets, Pete PALANGIO was happy to oblige. Also among Mr. PALANGIO's admirers was Joe Garagiola, a young fan who would go on to enjoy a career in baseball.
"Pete was a battler, a never-give-up kind of player," said Mr. Garagiola, who later became a successful sport broadcaster. "To use a phrase from the 1990s, he was a role model as a hockey player. One thing about his work ethic, he was always hustling."
The Blackhawks had followed Mr. PALANGIO's career with interest he had collected 12 goals and 12 assists in the team's first 16 games -- and in December, 1936, he agreed to be traded even though he would earn only $15,000 in the National Hockey League, compared to $18,000 in St. Louis. He left behind a regretful St. Louis, which had taken to calling him the Italian Adonis. One local writer likened Mr. PALANGIO's departure to the "kidnapping" of a star.
What made the transaction palatable was an agreement Mr. PALANGIO had extracted from St. Louis. As a result of shrewd negotiating he had won a verbal promise that he would be given half the purchase price if his rights were picked up by an National Hockey League club. So, when the Blackhawks paid $25,000 to acquire him, he expected to receive $12,500. Initially, Blackhawks president and part-owner Fred McLaughlin hedged on the deal but Mr. PALANGIO approached National Hockey League president Frank Calder, who knew all about the clause. Mr. Calder told Mr. McLaughlin to pay up.
Recruited to finish the 1936-37 season, he managed eight goals and nine assists and by the following season he was part of the arsenal the Blackhawks had prepared for an assault on the Stanley Cup. Sadly, that run at the cup was marred by one of the game's most tragic events -- an accident that ended the career of the legendary Howie Morenz. Mr. PALANGIO, a former friend of Mr. Morenz's in Montreal, was playing for Chicago on January 28, 1937, when Mr. Morenz slammed into the boards after one of his patented rushes and smashed his leg. Mr. PALANGIO said it was the worst injury he ever witnessed. Less than two months later, Mr. Morenz died from heart failure after suffering a nervous breakdown.
Other dramas unfolded, too, not to mention an argument between coaches that almost came to blows. During a preliminary game, Blackhawks goalie Mike Karakas had suffered a broken toe. His replacement, announced manager and coach Bill Stewart, would be a hastily borrowed, hotshot performer from the New York Rangers. Not so, protested Conn Smithe of the Maple Leafs. Tempers flared and a shoving match quickly developed. In the end, the Hawks settled for Alfie Moore, a second-string goaltender from the New York Americans whom the Leafs fully expected to sweep aside. As it turned out, Mr. Moore triumphed but was somehow ruled ineligible for the next game. At a loss for a goalie, the Hawks found a rookie in the minors and promptly went down in defeat. By then, however, a resourceful and determined Mr. Karakas had fashioned a modified skate for his injured foot and the Hawks went on to win the best-of-five series three games to one.
"I got my name inscribed on the Stanley Cup," Mr. PALANGIO said proudly in 1998. "We beat the Maple Leafs."
As it turned out, he never again played in another National Hockey League game. At the beginning of the next season, his talents were badly needed by a bush-league club that lacked consistent scorers. Pete PALANGIO happily obliged and he ended up remaining in the minors where he would always be a star and where, in the final analysis, the money was better. In his final five seasons of pro hockey, he toiled for such teams as the Tulsa Oilers, Dallas Texans, Hershey Bears and Pittsburgh Hornets.
After the 1942-43 season, he returned home to North Bay and purchased the North Bay Trappers' junior hockey team. Later, he operated Palangio Motors, a Chrysler dealership, for 15 years and also owned and operated a successful vending-machine business. In 1985, he sold the vending business to Beaver Foods and if he wasn't a millionaire, Pete PALANGIO was close to it.
Naturally enough, he made many business Friends over the years. Someone he came to know was Morris Snyder. Once, when Mr. Snyder was down on his luck and his wife was in hospital for delicate disc surgery, Mr. PALANGIO showed up with $3,000. "There were 30 one-hundred-dollar bills," recalled Mr. Snyder. "What he did tells you about the kind of guy he is." They became best Friends.
Mr. PALANGIO enjoyed a long retirement. For decades, the gracious, gentlemanly figure with the low, raspy voice donned a suit every day at home. There was always the possibility of visitors and, as it happened, many came calling. Among them were Guy Lafleur and Henri Richard.
In 1991, North Bay named its Doublerinks complex in Mr. PALANGIO's honour, prompting a letter from his long-ago fan Joe Garagiola.
"Our fathers wouldn't think of buying shoes for us that we couldn't wear to church, so to buy a pair of shoes with blades on the soles was out of the question," wrote Mr. Garagiola, who grew up in St. Louis during Mr. PALANGIO's years as the Italian Adonis. "But we still had to have our hero in the winter time and that hero was you. We had Pete PALANGIO for our hero and that made us pretty lucky kids."
Pete PALANGIO was born in North Bay, Ontario, on September 10, 1908. He died there on December 24, 2004. He was 96. He was predeceased by two wives, Dorothy DOYLE and Irene PALANGIO. He is survived by son Pete and by daughters Silvia and Rhondi.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-02 published
Morris LIEBOVITZ, Mathematician: 1936-2004
The youngest-ever math department head at an Ontario high school, he was a baseball zealot who amassed the world's largest collection of books on the subject
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - Page S9
He was a math whiz who amassed the world's largest collection of books about baseball. To those who knew Morris LIEBOVITZ, he was an educator at heart who loved literature, country music, and anything to do with the U.S. Civil War and baseball.
Mr. LIEBOVITZ was born in Hamilton, Ontario, where he attended Westdale High School. There he struck up a lifelong Friendship with Russ JACKSON, a fellow numbers nut and baseball maniac. Together, they were so skilled on the diamond that they earned a tryout with a New York Yankees' farm team in the 1950s. It wasn't uncommon, as Mr. JACKSON would say, for the two Friends to skip school and watch major-league games on television, including that memorable day when Don Larsen pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees (their favourite team when they were growing up) to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 in the fifth game of the 1956 World Series.
The two Friends were also mathematical geniuses, first at Westdale and then at McMaster University. "We were always in the same honours class in high school and took the same subjects," Mr. JACKSON recently recalled. "We'd come out of math exams at university and we'd check our answers and there was, maybe, one different."
After university, their paths diverged. Mr. JACKSON, a star quarterback at high school, decided to suit up for the Ottawa Rough Riders. Mr. LIEBOVITZ realized he did not want to be a lawyer after all and that his true passion was mathematics and teaching. Armed with two degrees from McMaster University in Hamilton, he got a teaching certificate and in 1961 took a job at Galt Collegiate Institute in Galt, Ontario By 24, he was head of the math department, the youngest-ever at an Ontario high school, and eventually wrote seven high-school mathematics texts.
In 1968, he changed careers, joining the Ontario government as an executive assistant to the minister of education. Over time, he served under all three major political parties, all the while helping to define the shape of education in the province. He retired in 1984 to become a business consultant.
Through all that, baseball remained a passion. In 1977, after the Blue Jays alighted in Toronto, he began buying baseball books lots and lots of them. By 1992, Mr. LIEBOVITZ had already amassed a fairly large collection when he came up with the idea of a road trip to a string of minor-league U.S. baseball towns (he was inspired by the classic baseball movie Bull Durham).
"Morris and I were at a party and I said we ought to go to the park in Durham, North Carolina," his cousin and best friend Larry GOLDHAR recalled. "So he picked me up on it and asked, 'Why don't we?' A lot of times, people say they're going to do something but they never do. Well, we did."
Eventually, with an assortment of Friends, they visited about 100 parks over a span of 14 years. It was during those trips that Mr. LIEBOVITZ's love of collecting baseball books reached its zenith. In every small town they visited, Mr. Goldhar scouted the baseball-card store while Mr. LIEBOVITZ stalked the used bookstores.
"After we had checked into the motel in each of these towns, we'd pull out the phone book and Morris would find out where the bookstore was located," Mr. GOLDHAR said. "Before we started our trips, Morris owned about 1,000 books... Sometimes he'd come back with 30 books. He was forever looking to add to his rare collection of first editions in baseball fiction." Mr. LIEBOVITZ's favourite books were all fiction: Bang the Drum Slowly, The Southpaw, Shoeless Joe and The Natural.
"Jerome Holtzman, the famous sports columnist with the Chicago Tribune, thought he had the biggest collection of baseball books but when he found out about my dad's, he was blown away," son Paul LIEBOVITZ said. "My dad collected over 3,000 titles and he had a very meticulous list of all the books."
The entire LIEBOVITZ collection is valued in excess of $300,000. While the fiction category remains in family hands, the non-fiction titles were all donated to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Saint Marys, Ontario
"Morry's book collection is the largest donation, both in size and value, in the history of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame," said its president, Tom VALCKE.
When the Toronto Blue Jays began play in 1977, Mr. LIEBOVITZ had another team to cheer for besides the Yankees. For years he lugged his baseball glove to Exhibition Stadium or to the SkyDome in the hope of catching a foul ball.
"I once bumped into Morry during the third period of a Leafs game," Mr. VALCKE said. "After he updated me on every one of his grandchildren, which always came first, we got talking baseball. He bled baseball. I could listen to Morry talk baseball forever."
Last summer, Mr. LIEBOVITZ finally caught a foul ball, from the bat of a Yankee, no less. "When he caught that foul ball, he might as well have won the lottery," Mr. VALCKE said.
Morris LIEBOVITZ was born January 17, 1936, in Hamilton, Ontario He died December 14, 2004, at North York General Hospital of complications from acute leukemia. He was 68. He is survived by his wife Lorraine, sons Paul and Eric, and sister Adele.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-04-12 published
Frank CLAIR, Football Coach: 1917-2005
Ottawa Rough Riders' coach and general manager did not always remember his players' names but he knew what it took to win the Grey Cup
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, April 12, 2005, Page S7
Toronto -- He was known as the absent-minded professor whose players' names sometimes beat him but Frank CLAIR was an innovative Canadian Football League institution. Once, when injury forced a halfback out of an Ottawa Rough Riders' game, coach CLAIR shouted frantically for backup Billy Kline to replace him. It was too late -- he had been traded two years before.
While general manager with the Riders, Mr. CLAIR signed a player by the name of Paul Moses and was telexing the move to the Canadian Football League's Toronto offices. Mr. CLAIR started typing Paul Abraham and coach George BRANCATO, who was beside him, noticed the error and told his boss: "No, it's Paul Moses."
"Oh," Mr. CLAIR answered, "I knew it was some guy from the Bible."
Whenever Montreal Alouettes' star running back George Dixon came to Ottawa, Mr. CLAIR referred to him not by name, but by number. "Gotta watch that No. 28," Mr. CLAIR would say. If the player was Calgary Stampeders' linebacker Wayne Harris, it was, "Have to watch that No. 55." Even after star Ottawa quarterback Russ JACKSON had won a host of awards, he was still "No. 12" to Mr. CLAIR.
"On occasion, he would call me Russ but usually he called me by my number. That was one of his idiosyncrasies. He didn't remember names," Mr. JACKSON recalled.
"Frank was so excited he didn't know what was going on in a game," said Dave THELEN, a former Rider and Toronto Argonaut fullback.
Mr. CLAIR was a pioneer in the Canadian Football League, introducing the short-trap play in 1950 and in the same year introducing films as a key method of assessing plays and personnel. He also had a habit of turning around moribund teams and winning a host of Grey Cup titles.
Wouldn't you know it -- in 1950, with the help of that short-trap play and his game movies, Mr. CLAIR's Argos won the Grey Cup. Two years later, they did it again. Mr. CLAIR also coached the Riders to three Grey Cups -- in 1960, 1968 and 1969, and was general manager when they won again in 1973 and 1976. He was Canadian Football League coach of the year in 1966 and 1969. All told, he compiled a won-lost-tied record of 174-125-7 and his teams finished out of the playoffs only twice in 19 seasons.
Mr. CLAIR was born in small-town Ohio, graduated from Ohio State University and gained some playing time with the National Football League's Washington Redskins. Along the way, in the field house connecting the football and basketball fields at Purdue University, Mr. CLAIR met his wife Pat and they married in December of 1948.
Mr. CLAIR was the head coach at the University of Buffalo in 1949 when he was persuaded to go to Toronto and coach the Argonauts. "Al Dekdebrun, who was a Toronto quarterback and an All-American at Cornell, dropped by our training camp in Buffalo and said I should come to Toronto and coach," Mr. CLAIR recalled in 1980. "I had never seen an Argos' game but I was enthused about the spirit of the football people in Toronto."
Yet, when he looked at film Clips of the Argo games in 1949, he was appalled. "They had a terrible team, a bad program and the physical conditioning was bad," Mr. CLAIR said. "Recruiting was virtually non-existent. I put more emphasis on films and got the owners to do films of every game."
The result was the short-trap play. "I think that's what won the Grey Cup for us in 1950," he once said. "Billy Bass was the fullback and time and time again, the holes would open. It was something the other teams hadn't seen."
It was a simple play and one he always enjoyed describing. "It looked like a sweep, with both guards pulling. There was a lot of quick hitting. One guard would pull to trap the tackle and our tackle would block their linebacker, clearing a hole in the line."
Mr. CLAIR left Toronto after the 1954 season and worked for a spell at the University of Cincinnati only to be lured back to the Canadian Football League to take over the head-coaching duties in Ottawa in 1956. "Ottawa had a terrible team in 1955 -- terribly disorganized," he once said. "I told the Ottawa directors that it would take five years to build a championship team. And it was five years, right on the nose, in 1960 when we won the Grey Cup."
Over the years, Mr. CLAIR witnessed scores of talented Canadian Football League players such as Dave THELEN, Ron STEWARD/STEWART/STUART, Vic WASHINGTON, Bo SCOTT, Margene ADKINS, Whit TUCKER, Moe RACINE, Mike NELMS and Tony GABRIEL, but Russ JACKSON stood out as the "best ever."
"When he [ JACKSON] moved up behind the centre, he took command," Mr. CLAIR said. "He had a good voice... he made you think he was an army sergeant. We felt like we were going somewhere with him."
Mr. JACKSON and many others contend that one of the best offences ever assembled in Canadian Football League history was the late-1960s combo in Ottawa consisting of himself, Whit TUCKER, Mr. ADKINS, Mr. WASHINGTON and Mr. SCOTT.
"I spent some 12 seasons in Ottawa, all with Frank," Mr. JACKSON said. "The biggest memory I have of my time there was that he gave me a chance to play as a Canadian. He was very innovative in his offensive preparation when we practised Monday through Friday for a game on the weekend. We used the short-trap play in games some, but we also had the option play... in those days, I liked to run a lot."
Mr. CLAIR, a genius at snagging import talent, pulled off one of the greatest coups in the Canadian game by persuading two top-flight U.S. quarterbacks -- Condredge HOLLOWAY and Tom CLEMENTS to sign with the Riders on April 23, 1975. It was coincidence that they signed on the same day. Mr. CLAIR signed Mr. CLEMENTS in Pittsburgh and Mr. BRANCATO signed Mr. HOLLOWAY in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Frank CLAIR's run with the Riders lasted 25 years, a tenure that had its tenuous moments of rough waters, especially in the last two years when ownership wanted him out as general manager.
In 1978, in one of the stormiest controversies in Canadian Football League history, Mr. CLAIR was replaced as general manager by Jake DUNLAP. To compensate, he was offered a job as vice-president and director of player personnel with a $10,000 pay increase. Even so, Mr. CLAIR saw it as a demotion and quit. All he could understand was that he was losing his general manager's job and he wasn't being told why. Football fans were on Mr. CLAIR's side throughout the drama and club owner Alan WATERS and executive vice-president Terry KIELTY were seen as villains. The Rough Riders initiated new talks and Mr. CLAIR wound up with about $50,000 a season and the job the club had offered in the first place.
However, it was not the end of the affair. Several weeks before Christmas in 1980, the Riders said they wouldn't be renewing his contract. "I was disappointed, but I signed," Mr. CLAIR said at the time. "All I wanted to do was help the club."
All the same, he did not rule out the possibility that he would move to another Canadian Football League club. Indeed, he returned to the Argos in 1981 as a scout, tapping Canadian and U.S. college talent for seven years before heart surgery meant he finally had to pack in his football career.
Ottawa remained dear to the CLAIRs and for a time they kept their home in the Billings Bridge area and spent winters in Florida. In 1993, they moved permanently to Sarasota, Florida
That same year, Ottawa named the arena at Lansdowne Park arena the Frank Clair Stadium. Sadly, it hasn't done a thing for the city's football prospects. Ottawa hasn't come close to a Grey Cup since 1976 when Mr. CLAIR led his squad to a 23-20 victory over Saskatchewan.
Frank CLAIR was born May 12, 1917 in Hamilton, Ohio. He died March 27, 2005, in Sarasota, Florida, of congestive heart failure. He is survived by his wife and by a daughter.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-04-19 published
Clara 'Clibby' VERRIAN, Talent Agent: 1939-2005
Talent agent and casting director carved a niche in the Canadian film industry and made it her own. 'If somebody needed 100 extras for a commercial, she could pull it off'
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Tuesday, April 19, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- Justin LOUIS said there was something about Clibby VERRIAN's "anti-agent" persona. "There was nothing glossy or glitzy about her," Mr. Louis said.
Ms. VERRIAN, a do-it-all performer behind the camera, was an agent to budding stars, the first principal representative for such Canadian actors such as Mr. LOUIS, Sarah POLLEY and Cory HAIM. As a founder of the Toronto talent agency Faces and Places, she was also a casting director, located movie sites and supplied extras for movies, television series and commercials.
Ms. VERRIAN was born Clara HAYWARD in Peterborough, Ontario, where one of the best moves she ever made was to meet Dottie KINGSTON (now BABCOCK) in 1942. In search of a playmate, young Dottie had gone door-knocking in the neighbourhood and turned up Clara. "We were best Friends onward," Mrs. BABCOCK said.
The pair remained close throughout high school at Peterborough Collegiate Institute, where Clibby (a nickname she acquired in Grade 5) made her mark as a track-and-field star. "She was a fast runner," Mrs. BABCOCK said. "She was also the best water skier in the Peterborough area at the time."
After graduating from Peterborough Collegiate Institute in 1958, she took a year off and travelled in Europe before settling in Toronto, where she eventually got married and worked at a string of jobs. In 1980, the marriage ended and, as a single parent, she resolved to do something different. "I decided that if I had to work the rest of my life, I want to be doing something that I love," she once said. "I've always loved the movies and Hollywood."
So, never one to back away from challenges, she formed Faces and Places. "I knew no one in the business when I first started," she said in 1982. "The early days were a constant battle to prove myself."
Eventually, she proved herself and won the respect of the industry.
"Producers and casting directors had worked with Clibby so much, they trusted her," said Gail LIVINGSTONE, who worked as an assistant to Ms. VERRIAN on and off for 10 years. "If somebody needed 100 extras for a commercial, she could pull it off. "
By then, her stable of individual performers included Ms. POLLEY, Mr. LOUIS, Mr. HAIM and others. Before she moved on to other agents and bigger roles, such as The Road to Avonlea, Ms. POLLEY was cast by Ms. VERRIAN in principal roles in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Ramona, The Big Town, Hands of The Stranger and One Magic Christmas.
Mr. LOUIS, whose screen credits tally about 100, was cast by Ms. VERRIAN in 1986-87 in a number of productions, most notably Prom Night Queen: Hello Mary Lou. He currently stars in the television series Missing, and was recently cast as entrepreneur Donald Trump in an ABC biopic set to air in May.
"Clibby got me a lot of gigs," Mr. LOUIS said. "I needed six credits for a full Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists membership and I got all six credits with her."
Mr. HAIM was a heartthrob actor in the 1980s, before he faded into oblivion after he slipped into drug addiction following his move to Los Angeles from Toronto.
One of Ms. VERRIAN's first big productions for which she provided extras was the 1981 thriller Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper, a television movie about the U.S.-Iranian hostage drama and the part played by Canadian ambassador Ken TAILOR/TAYLOR. Ms. VERRIAN's then-partner in the company, Bob BOLDSOVER, scoured the city for locations for that production. "Clibby would look after the Faces and I'd look after the Places," he said.
"Clibby was kind of like a pioneer in the business -- sort of the first person to provide casting facilities," Mr. LOUIS said.
In recent years, Ms. VERRIAN downsized her operations and specialized in acquiring extras for commercials. One of the most demanding was a big-budget, blacks-only Nike commercial called Ruckers Park that featured National Basketball Association star Vince Carter. " Clibby saved my ass on that commercial," said Kim EVEREST, the president of Powerhouse Casting. "We needed to fill an entire stadium to create period Harlem with 750 black extras and Clibby pulled it off. I couldn't believe it."
Faces and Places, with close to 300 clients, has been a refreshing constant on the Canadian scene for 25 years. It will continue under the management of her son D.J. VERRIAN.
"She loved her work. She couldn't believe she was paid to do what she loved," Mrs. BABCOCK said.
Clibby VERRIAN was born May 12, 1939, in Peterborough, Ontario She died in a Toronto hospital on February 18, 2005, of a heart attack. She was 65.
She is survived by sons D.J. and Derek, mother Dorothy, and sisters Millie HILL and Robbie BILISKI.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-14 published
John O'NEILL, Educator 1947-2005
Ottawa baseball devotee and coach created a popular website for local high school sports results that is about to go national
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Saturday, May 14, 2005, Page S9
John O'NEILL was such an accomplished student that he skipped two grades in one fell swoop, thanks to one of his best teachers his mother.
Margaret O'NEILL taught John all through the lower grades at the Barr Line School near their home of Douglas, Ontario, a hamlet located 100 km. northwest of Ottawa. With that scholastic upbringing, he went on to become not just a teacher but a visionary, the convener and coach of many successful teams at Ottawa's Brookfield High School for 30 years before he retired in 2000.
Early on, Mr. O'NEILL easily combined sports with school, and established himself in Douglas as an accomplished baseball player, a star hitter and strong-armed pitcher-shortstop.
On a hot day in August in 1965, as a member of an elite adult team in the South Renfrew Senior Baseball League, he faced adversity in the seventh and deciding game of the championship series against Barry's Bay. In the middle of the game, he smoked a line-drive solo home run off Mike MURRAY into a pile of abandoned ice-rink boards behind an outhouse beyond the centre-field fence. A happy John O'NEILL waltzed around the bases and his teammates all ganged up at home plate to welcome him. But alas, those teammates apparently left no room for him to touch the plate, which was missing a piece at one corner. In the ensuing hoopla, Barry's Bay catcher Phil COULAS noticed that Mr. O'NEILL hadn't touched the plate he informed umpire Alfie BRACE. Barry's Bay appealed the play and the umpire called Mr. O'NEILL out. The Douglas team protested. Even Reverend Tom HUNT, the local Catholic priest, marched out to admonish the umpire, saying, "That man touched home plate." In any event, Douglas won 6-5 in 12 innings.
After attending Grades 9 through 12 at St. Michael's School in Douglas, Mr. O'NEILL took Grade 13 at Renfrew Collegiate Institute and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts following three years at St. Patrick's College in Ottawa. A year later, he obtained his honours degree in Canadian and American history at Ottawa's Carleton University and got his teaching certificate from St. Pat's in 1968. It was at St. Pat's that Mr. O'NEILL met Joan CARDINAL, who became his wife, and a city and regional councillor in Ottawa for many years.
John O'NEILL embarked on his teaching career with a two-year stint at East Northumberland Secondary School in Brighton, Ontario, before moving to Brookfield. Johnny O, as he was known, was a history and economics teacher who also brought a passion for track and field, football and baseball to Brookfield.
From 1980 to 1993, he was the Ottawa Board of Education's track-and-field convener. He coached Brookfield to eight consecutive Ottawa championships. In football, he found the same success, helping coach the Blues to six Ottawa board titles.
Still, baseball remained Mr. O'NEILL's favourite sport. An autographed photo of Mickey Mantle was one of his favourite possessions. So when the boards of education in the Ottawa area decided to introduce baseball in 1993, he jumped right in and took over Brookfield's entry. Not surprisingly, Mr. O'NEILL's team won the 1994 Ottawa crown and the 1995 and 1996 National Capital titles.
When he retired, Mr. O'NEILL didn't throw in the towel. The visionary side of him emerged, and he founded http: //www.fatdog.ca, an Internet high school sports-reporting system that has become Ottawa's venue to seek game results. He spent countless hours on the site and it was his way of showing students and coaches that they deserved recognition for the underappreciated roles they played on their teams.
"We wanted a catchy name and John and I tossed all kinds of names around," Mrs. O'NEILL said. "We looked at our dog Bailey, a pot-bellied beagle, so we decided to go with fatdog. John's idea was to do the website for Brookfield only -- but our son Sean suggested he do it for all of the school teams in the Ottawa area." Sean O'NEILL and his employer, Ottawa-based MarsWorks, are planning a major revision to the site next fall and are planning to bring in other high school associations from across Canada.
In 2002, the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association presented John O'NEILL with the Fellowship Award for 30 years of coaching and for creating http: //www.fatdog.ca.
John O'NEILL was born in Douglas, Ontario, on July 19, 1947. He died January 1, 2005, in Ottawa Hospital of pneumonia as a result of complications from cancer and liver disease. He is survived by his wife, Joan, and children Sean and Shannon. He was predeceased by his mother Margaret.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-23 published
Les BARTLEY, Lacrosse Coach and Executive: 1954-2005
As the man behind the Toronto Rock, he led a neophyte team to unsuspected heights in North American professional sport
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, May 23, 2005, Page S6
Toronto -- Over seven seasons of operation, the Toronto Rock lacrosse club has stick-handled its way from pro-sport obscurity to achieve cult status and a blaze of success both on the floor and at the turnstiles.
Suddenly, the National Lacrosse League's Rock is chic in Hogtown, and it's all because of Les BARTLEY. As head coach and general manager, he led the team to four league championships. Of course, he did not do it alone (former Toronto Maple Leafs executive Bill WATTERS is principal owner, and minority shareholders include Tie DOMI, Brendan SHANAHAN and Bobby ORR) but, as the mastermind of the team's success, he was the iconic head and leader of the current Rock dynasty.
Given that, it's all the more surprising to learn that Mr. BARTLEY himself was an unspectacular lacrosse player. Growing up in St. Catharines, Ontario, he also played football for St. Catharines Collegiate Institute. He was a defensive end when Malcolm ALLEN met up with him and discovered him to be "exceedingly strong" physically. "When he came into a room, he had a huge presence but not because he was 6-3 and weighed 250. He was a wiry guy about 5-10, 165 pounds."
Not long after graduating from high school, Mr. BARTLEY landed a job on the General Motors' V-8 assembly line in St. Catharines. He later became a union representative for United Auto Workers, which became the Canadian Auto Workers in 1985. He was what the union calls an "in-plant elected official" for the local in St. Catharines. For 20 years, he was a key negotiator in contract talks with General Motors both at the local and national level. As it happened, one of the people who worked with him at the Canadian Auto Workers office was Mr. ALLEN, his high-school crony and friend since 1968.
"Les was a compassionate, caring person," said Mr. ALLEN, who is financial secretary for the union's local in St. Catharines. "The employees he represented in contract talks, he put them first and foremost. When it came to family, he always wanted to know how you were and how the children was doing."
It was while at Canadian Auto Workers that Mr. BARTLEY decided to coach lacrosse on the side. In 1992, he joined the Buffalo Bandits for a short unpaid stint as a scout and then took on coaching duties when the team got off to an 0-3 start. So what did he do right off the bat? Well, he merely led the Bandits to 22 consecutive wins and a league championship. He followed that with title wins in 1993 and 1996.
In 1998, professional lacrosse evolved into the National Lacrosse League with the addition of the Ontario Raiders, the first Canadian franchise. Mr. HARTLEY became coach and the team went 6-6 playing out of Hamilton's Copps Coliseum. The following season, the Raiders were shifted to Toronto to become the Rock, and that's when Mr. BARTLEY spun his magic again, spearheading the team to four league titles in five years.
He also found a measure of success elsewhere. He coached Canada to international lacrosse titles, including the Heritage Cup served as the assistant coach of the St. Catharines senior A team that won its first Minto Cup in 10 years in 2001; and led Team Canada to the 2003 world indoor title.
"He's a guy who had no history in the game coming in to coach Buffalo and then he wins all these championships and becomes one of, if not the best coach lacrosse has ever known," said Jim VELTMAN, who was captain under Mr. BARTLEY in both Buffalo and Toronto for a total of 12 seasons.
Mr. BARTLEY was a legend at evaluating and acquiring talented players. As a motivator and coach, he was known for his pre-game pep talks and for his innovation.
He pioneered the use of specialists rather than two-way offensive and defensive players in a game that is dominated by offence.
"It was Les who implemented that style of having special offensive and defensive players and other coaches started doing the same thing," said Mr. VELTMAN. "I was a multi-faceted player and he wanted me to go out the offensive door but he allowed me to run back on defence. He gave me that latitude and I appreciated that."
"We have been and will be successful because we have depth with role clarity," Mr. BARTLEY once said. "Each player buys into playing their specific role. It simplifies everything. Each guy just does his job at the best level they can." But Mr. BARTLEY wasn't just a coach who stood behind the bench. Off the floor, he held team-bonding sessions at hotels in places such as Orillia, Ontario, and he would bring in sports psychologists to help bring out the best in his players.
"Les used mental imagery and exercises a lot," said Mr. VELTMAN. "He'd take you in a high school and have you jumping 20 feet off a platform in a harness -- stuff like that. That was a way to deal with the rougher edge in a person and lacrosse player. He was very fanatical and when he spoke, he was intense and passionate but he wasn't an in-your-face coach."
At first, some team members were puzzled by the techniques but soon discovered his off-the-floor tactics contributed to the team's success. "I can see now where he was coming from with his ideas," Rock goaltender Bob WATSON told reporters after the team won this year's National Lacrosse League championship without Mr. BARTLEY behind the bench.
One way or another, he brought it all together with the result that his overall coaching record of 93-38 (.709) in the regular season and 18-4 in the playoffs remains the best of any coach in National Lacrosse League history.
Mr. BARTLEY fell ill at the end of the 2003 season and was forced to relinquish his duties, although he stayed on as vice-president. Last year, he drew on his labour-negotiating experience and set aside his illness to coax the National Lacrosse League and its players' association to agree on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement at a time when the players had threatened to go on strike. As it turned out, he was a voice of reason when one was most needed.
"The players hold him in such high regard that his presence at the bargaining table elevated the level of trust in the process," National Lacrosse League commissioner Jim JENNINGS said.
In recognition, on May 9, the league named him executive of the year and renamed its coach-of-the-year award the Les Bartley Trophy.
On May 14, just before the Rock won its fifth league championship against the Arizona Sting in front of a crowd of 19,432, Mr. BARTLEY's story was told in a three-minute video that earned a standing ovation.
Les BARTLEY was born on March 11, 1954, in St. Catharines, Ontario He died there on May 15, 2005, of colon cancer. He is survived by his wife, Gloria, and children Matt and Laura. A private family service was held on May 16.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-30 published
Ted ATKINSON, Jockey: 1916-2005
Canadian-born rider unfairly known as The Slasher was the first rider in the United States whose mounts won more than $1 million in a year of racing
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, May 30, 2005, Page S9
As one of the glamour jockeys of his generation, Ted ATKINSON was undeservedly known as The Slasher. For a rider who never got on a horse until he was 18, it was a sobriquet he rejected but one which emerged out of a signature whipping style and a knack for getting the most out of his mounts.
Mr. ATKINSON was a token Canadian, born in Toronto, but he didn't hang around for long -- three years to be exact. His father Fred had moved to Canada from his native England to work as a glass blower in a Toronto factory and then in 1919, moved again when recruited by Corning Glass in Corning, N.Y.
Ted ATKINSON was gifted academically and was valedictorian of his graduating class in high school at Corning Free Academy and his desire was to enter Annapolis Naval Academy in Maryland, but at 5-foot-3, he didn't meet the height requirements. He faced the same sobering rejection when he tried to become a forester.
During the Depression, he toiled at different jobs, including tree planting as part of a U.S. federal program that emphasized work in national parks. He also worked for $8-per-week loading and labelling bottles at a chemical plant. It was there that a truck driver remarked, "With your build and size, I'd get a job as a jockey" and gave him the name of a contact at Greentree Stable in New Jersey. Even though he had never ridden a horse, the introduction led to a job as an exercise rider. By all accounts, he practised mounting by swinging his legs over bales of hay. Later, he served an apprenticeship as a rider in both Cuba and England and by the time he finally mounted a horse in an actual race he was 21 -- mature for a jockey.
Mr. ATKINSON rode his first winner at Beulah Park in Columbus, Ohio, on May 18, 1938. A trainer had asked him to ride a horse called Musical Jack. The jockey, who was known as The Professor, for his fondness for reading between races, set aside his copy of Hamlet long enough to take the 2-1 favourite to a first-place finish.
By the time Mr. ATKINSON returned from Ohio, the big stables in New York were pursuing him, especially after he rode his first stakes winner in the Governor's Handicap at Suffolk Downs in Boston aboard Dunade. But it was in 1941 that a long-shot renegade named War Relic nudged Mr. ATKINSON into the limelight by capturing the Massachusetts Handicap and the Narragansett Special.
War Relic had a reputation for being arrogant and nasty. In fact, he had even killed one of his handlers. Yet, Mr. ATKINSON's patience, diplomacy and penchant for working with long shots, enabled him to make a winner out of the horse. "My dad never expected any problems with War Relic and he had no problems with War Relic," said his son Mark ATKINSON. The mount proved to be Ted ATKINSON's all-time favourite horse.
In 1944, Mr. ATKINSON led U.S. jockeys with 287 wins and, after sorting through a maze of big-stable offers, returned to Greentree Stable as a contract rider. In 1946, he was leader again when he became the first jockey to ride horses that earned more than $1-million in a year.
Mr. ATKINSON was known by the U.S. media as "the great Canadian rider" who returned home to compete in the King's Plate in Toronto on May 24, 1948. He rode All British, a bay gelding, finishing 13th in a field of 16 that saw Last Mark win. All British had won the Plate Trial Stakes the week before and went off at odds of $3.30 to $1 and was second favourite in the field.
The race chart said All British ran close to the lead but faltered badly in the backstretch when the pace quickened. In an article in the June of 1948 issue of Canadian Horse, Mr. ATKINSON said All British "just stopped." That same year, Capot, with Mr. ATKINSON aboard, almost won the U.S. Triple Crown. Capot finished second in the Kentucky Derby and then captured the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.
Mr. ATKINSON was the leading rider in New York 11 times, a record that still stands, and much of his success came in the 1950s when his mounts included superstar Tom's Fool. He was also atop such champions as Hall of Fame superstar Bold Ruler, Coaltown, Devil Diver, Misty Morn, Gallorette and Nashua but Tom's Fool was the best. "None of the other horses I ever rode, on their best days, could measure up with him," he once told Blood Horse magazine.
Mr. ATKINSON's whipping style provided fodder for debate and criticism in the media. The belief was that because he held the whip straight-armed and high above him, the horses were hit in an unduly abusive manner. Thus, the moniker The Slasher, was something he detested.
"There was no sting," he told the London Evening Standard in 1993. "I never hit a horse just to beat it out of him, but merely to impress on him the urgency of the situation. I can't ever recall leaving a welt, and I never had a trainer complain that I had abused his horse."
In fact, the end of his whips were always feathered.
"He won on horses that hadn't won in the past and the reputation is that he had to hit horses harder than usual," his son Mark said. "He held the whip high up and brought it down and there was a popping noise. He loved horses and all animals. He had a reputation that he never gave up on a horse. If the horse wasn't going to win, he'd try to get second or third and that made him popular with the fans."
H. Allen Jerkens, a trainer who was inducted in the Hall of Fame and who knew Mr. ATKINSON told the New York Times the nickname was unfortunate. "He never put a mark on a horse. He had a different way of whipping."'
Jim Gaffney, an exercise rider who knew Mr. ATKINSON in his racing days, told Blood Horse magazine that Mr. ATKINSON was a "very smart, intelligent rider... He could gauge the way a horse was running and was a good judge of pace."
Two years before he retired at age 43, Mr. ATKINSON was inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga, New York He was inducted into the Canadian equivalent in 2002 and was, indeed, the first, great jockey in Canada's history. Mr. ATKINSON was held in such esteem that a story in Blood Horse in 1954 went like this, "Theodore Francis ATKINSON, the Lord Chesterfield of the jockey ranks, came under the wire first aboard the heavily favoured Devastation in the third race at Aqueduct, N.Y."
When he finally retired, his accomplishments included 3,795 victories in 23,661 mounts, collecting what was considered an excellent win percentage of 16. He later became a racing official and steward in both New York and Illinois ovals. "He was proud of that job, probably more proud of that than when he was a jockey," his son said.
Ted ATKINSON was born June 17, 1916 in Toronto. He died in his sleep May 5 in Beaverdam, Va., after a long illness related to cancer and a series of strokes. He was 88. He leaves his wife Martha, sons Mark and John and daughter Cathie METZLER.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-20 published
Phil BALMER, Dew-Line Engineer: 1923-2005
Wizard with electrical circuitry also worked on the ill-fated Avro Arrow
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, June 20, 2005, Page S8
Phil BALMER was a prominent figure in two of the greatest Canadian engineering stories of the 1950s: The Distant Early Warning line and the Avro Arrow.
Mr. BALMER was so well acquainted with electrical equipment that he owned a ham radio by the time he was barely a teen. As the Second World War loomed, the then 16-year-old was puzzled to learn that government authorities wanted him to dismantle his ham-radio operation at the family home in west Toronto.
"The government people came in and watched him tear down his aerial," recalled his widow, Ruth, who had known him since the age of 4. "They thought there was a chance he would contact the enemy. They didn't want ham-radio operators sending signals out."
Mr. BALMER graduated from Humberside Collegiate Institute in Toronto before obtaining his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and his master's degree, both from the University of Toronto.
"Phil was the brains of our family," said his sister, Ruth Job.
After getting his master's in 1947, Mr. BALMER embarked on a 35-year career with Canadian General Electric. His expertise came in handy when the Distant Early Warning-line era dawned in February, 1954. He worked on the electrical equipment needed for the Distant Early Warning line, which was established during as a first line of defence against attack by nuclear bombers and missiles over the North Pole.
The Distant Early Warning line was established across the tundra of Canada, Alaska and northern Greenland. Working out of Toronto, Mr. BALMER helped design the tons of equipment needed for the Distant Early Warning line stations.
"The Distant Early Warning line work was something he didn't talk about much," Mrs. BALMER said. "It was the Cold War and the United States was worried about the Russians back then."
Later that decade, Mr. BALMER's services again were required this time on the development team for the highly prized, ahead-of-its-time Avro Arrow CF-105, which became a symbol of Canadian excellence.
"Phil worked on the electrical circuits for the Arrow and spent considerable time on the project in Montreal," said Mrs. BALMER, a physics and chemistry major at the U of T. "He made many visits to Montreal to work on it. He was close-mouthed about it because it was a security thing all the time. He worked quietly on it. He was a very private person. He kept a lot of stuff to himself."
Alas, the Arrow was never allowed to fulfill its mission as a supersonic, all-weather interceptor. The Arrow project was shot down on Black Friday, February 20, 1959, an infamous day in Canadian history.
"Phil was in Montreal working on the Arrow when it was cancelled in Parliament," Mrs. BALMER said. "As soon as he found out, he came home. He was so disappointed when it collapsed.... It would have been a boon to our manufacturing if the project had kept going. It would have put us in the forefront.... This was long before the Americans went into space. As it turns out, we lost a lot of our aeronautical engineers who went to work in the U.S. on other programs after the Arrow was scrapped."
But Phil BALMER wasn't one of those who defected. He remained loyal to Canada and Toronto, working for Canadian General Electric until his retirement. As part of his job description, he worked as a patent agent, designed and operated radio equipment for the Toronto police force and taught Morse code at night.
"He was a perfectionist," Mrs. BALMER said. "He was very slow, but things had to be done right. When he was in quality control at General Electric, they thought he was too slow and was slowing down the assembly line."
Mr. BALMER retired at 63 as a patent agent just when General Electric was shutting down its Toronto patent office and transferring operations to Fairfield, Connecticut. To all intents and purposes, he was a de facto lawyer in the patent department.
"All of what he did as a patent agent was associated with the legal department," said his boss, Ray ECKERSLEY, the director of patents and licensing at General Electric for many years. "There's the preparations of patents, the legislation of patents, licensing agreements, obtaining trademarks, registering trademarks that wouldn't infringe on other companies. There were all kinds of legal questions."
After a routine day on the job, Mr. BALMER would soothe his soul at home by listening to the music of Scott Joplin. He also loved baseball and collecting tartan plaid ties.
"Over the years, he had collected 57 tartan ties and at his funeral, all 57 were given out to family and Friends," Mrs. BALMER said.
Phil BALMER was born March 7, 1923, in Toronto and died there of heart failure, aged 81. He is survived by his wife; sons David, Richard, James and daughter Heather; and his sister.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-25 published
Bill LAFORGE, Hockey Coach: 1951-2005
He was a coach with good intentions, but his 'goon hockey' Ontario Hockey League methods were not suited to the National Hockey League. He lasted only 20 games behind the Vancouver bench
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Saturday, June 25, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- If you played for Bill LAFORGE, you loved him. If you were an opposing player or coach, you hated him. If you were a league commissioner or president, you would wince at his methods to win games.
His legacy is mayhem hockey. More often than not in any game in which he was involved, the gloves came off and the penalty minutes soared. It was a successful tactic that won games in the Canadian major junior ranks. The bad-boy coach extraordinaire of his era, Bill LAFORGE and his boys were fabled for physical play, brawling and instilling fear in the opposition. It was called goon hockey.
Yet, his coaching also produced explosive offensive talent. Among his proteges were such future National Hockey League players as Keith Primeau, Mark Habscheid, Gary Leeman, Garth Butcher, Brad May, Tony Tanti, Rob Brown, Lyndon Byers, Shayne Corson, Ken Daneyko and Doug Bodger -- not to mention Barry Trotz, who has been head coach of the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators since their inception.
Mr. LAFORGE's success at the junior level led to a failed experiment as head coach of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks. That, however, is not his legacy.
"His legacy is his success in junior hockey and how he loved his players and how his players loved him back," said Garth Butcher.
As a teenager growing up in Edmonton, Bill LAFORGE was like a lot of youngsters and enjoyed playing all sports. What made him different was that he excelled at hockey and football -- with a decided preference for the latter. As a bruising fullback, he starred for both Archbishop MacDonald High School and the Edmonton Huskies of the Prairie Junior Football League. He dreamed of suiting up in the Canadian Football League. In 1974, he seemed set to join the Calgary Stampeders. But he failed a physical at training camp.
"Bill had gotten hurt not long before while working on a construction site when he was hit in the head with a piece of concrete," said his cousin, Pat LAFORGE, the president of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. "That's why he didn't pass the physical."
His playing career over before it had really begun, Mr. LAFORGE plunged, instead, into coaching recreational hockey in Edmonton and at nearby Enoch, a Cree reserve where he was sports director. He must have been doing something right because a few years later, Sherry BASSIN, general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals, came calling. Mr. BASSIN had been searching for someone to replace Paul THERIAULT as coach for the 1980-81 season and knew something about a junior coach from Alberta who possessed winning ways. He returned home to Ontario and announced he had hired a no-name coach, something unheard of in the junior hockey world. Thus began Mr. LAFORGE's tumultuous career behind the bench.
"It was great perception on Sherry's part to see something in Bill," said Stew MacDONALD, who at the time was working for the Generals as an intern and as assistant to Mr. BASSIN.
"I had never heard of Bill until he sent us a letter with a resumé that wasn't that fancy," Mr. BASSIN said. "The resumé was half blotted out. So I met him in Vancouver when I was on business. His team had won a junior C championship somewhere in Alberta and I found him to be extremely enthusiastic."
All things considered, with an unknown calling the shots, no one expected the Generals to make the playoffs. To everyone's surprise, they did -- largely because of Mr. LAFORGE's tough-guy tactics. As the regular season wore on, his aggressive strategy earned a number of short suspensions for him and his players. But nothing compared to what happened one night in March of 1981 during the first round of the playoffs against the Peterborough Petes. It was in that series, one game specifically, that the LAFORGE legend began to take shape. In the pre-game warm-up, a shoving match developed on centre ice between Oshawa and Peterborough players. Dave DRYDEN, the Petes coach, tried to restore order. Mr. LAFORGE shot out of his office to investigate and discovered his opposite number among the players.
"Keep your hands off my players," he bellowed at Mr. DRYDEN. Within seconds, the two men were poking at each other's chest and screeching back and forth like two roosters at a cockfight. Not surprisingly, their behaviour did nothing to cool the players' tempers. Mr. LAFORGE was later reported to have had an altercation with Peterborough player Doug EVANS; but, as Mr. MacDONALD tells the story, the two coaches never actually traded blows.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-08-24 published
Joe DOYLE, Athlete And Poet (1912-2005)
He was one of the first players to slice the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens -- as a lacrosse player -- and played hockey in England but was considered too small for the National Hockey League
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, August 24, 2005, Page S7
Toronto -- He cherished the meeting and photo-taking session he had with Maurice Richard and the time he was feted at a banquet when his idol, Jean Beliveau, showed up to pay homage to him. Joe DOYLE was not the calibre of those two Montreal Canadiens legends on the ice. But whether it was speed skating, lacrosse, hockey, musical entertainment or poetry, he was a master of all of them.
The 5-foot-5-inch athlete was rated the fastest lacrosse skater in the 1930s in Canada when skates, not shoes, were the norm in footwear around the time box lacrosse was introduced in 1933. He was a flash on blades -- considered even speedier than National Hockey League star Howie Morenz, who had earned the moniker The Stratford Streak.
Mr. DOYLE's roots lay in Toronto, where he attended East Riverdale High School. It was there that he won the Toronto city championship in speed skating in both the 220-yard and 440-yard sprints. He also played forward in the Ontario Hockey Association's Big Four junior loop with the Toronto Canoe Club against the Marlboros, Varsity and Parkdale Community Club.
Mr. DOYLE was one of the first players to slice the ice at the new Maple Leaf Gardens -- as a lacrosse player for the Toronto Nationals. He helped the Nationals to the city of Toronto championship in 1933 and he would ply his trade at the Gardens many times thereafter with such other teams as the Leslie Grads and National Sea Fleas.
"I remember watching the construction of the Gardens as I passed every day on my way to school," Mr. DOYLE told the Sherbrooke Record 20 years ago. "Then the first thing I knew, we were playing there. Those coloured seats caught my eye, as we had never seen such a grand arena before. We played in the Gardens for Canada's Diamond Jubilee celebration."
In 1932, he was offered a place on Canada's speed-skating team at the 1932 Olympics but chose, instead, to continue his lacrosse and hockey career. "Joe DOYLE, one of the most prominent athletes in Toronto's East End, is certainly a star lacrosse and hockey player, playing in the junior Ontario Hockey Association at 16. He's something to be proud of and we hope he does not get a swelled head as he has the goods," wrote Toronto reporter Len SMITH.
During the 1936 lacrosse season, Mr. DOYLE was the star attraction for the Cornwall Islanders, and the highlight was his seven-goal, 10-point performance in a 22-14 win over Ottawa in the Eastern Ontario Amateur Lacrosse Association.
It was not uncommon, as newspaper reports indicated, that Mr. DOYLE would fashion numerous, multi-goal games in a lacrosse game for Cornwall. While lacrosse on skates was in vogue for some time, it was abandoned when it was considered too dangerous. On one occasion, Mr. DOYLE suffered a serious bash in the mouth. "Jake Buckshot nailed me with his lacrosse stick during a game one time and I never did figure out which country my teeth stayed in as we were playing in St. Regis Island in Quebec, where the playing surface spread across a bit of Quebec, Ontario and New York state," Mr. DOYLE said years later.
After he finished his lacrosse season in 1936, Mr. DOYLE decided to play intermediate hockey for the Cornwall Flyers of the Ottawa Senior Hockey League, an upscale component of the Ottawa District Hockey Association.
While the goals in hockey were less plentiful than those he scored in lacrosse, Mr. DOYLE was still a very useful ice artist for coach Billy Boucher, the former Montreal Canadiens star.
The following year, Mr. DOYLE was back in a lacrosse uniform for Cornwall. He then decided to play the 1937-38 hockey season with the Brighton Rebels of the English Hockey League, following Mr. Boucher, who was coach of the team. He played all across Europe with Brighton, including two goal scored against The Hague. He also recalled being intimidated by the fierce noise of the opening ceremonies at a game in Düsseldorf.
"There were swastikas everywhere, a 21-gun salute was fired and Rudolph Hess [Nazi party deputy leader] took the salute," Mr. DOYLE said years later. "I have to admit even though there was already talk of war, the whole picture was rather frightening and brought home the fact to us all."
Mr. DOYLE didn't play with Brighton again, nor did he crack the lineup of an National Hockey League team. Size-wise, he just wasn't up to it. "Because I was only 5-foot-5, 140 pounds, it didn't help me in graduating to the National Hockey League," he said. "In that era, it wasn't easy getting to the National Hockey League. The teams were very good."
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Mr. DOYLE decided to stay in Canada, where he met his future wife, Laura, and settled in Richmond, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships. He continued to play intermediate hockey, while plunging into full-time employment. He worked for five years with Canadian National Railways and later was employed by Brown's Shoes in Richmond for 18 years until he retired at 65.
Three years after he retired, Mr. DOYLE took four years of English courses at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, where he liked to join the varsity hockey team's practice sessions, prompting younger players to marvel at his magic and ability on ice. At 70, he also played for a Richmond team called The Last Chance.
On January 11, 1985, Mr. DOYLE's exploits were recognized when he was feted at a reception where Jean Beliveau was the main speaker. At centre ice before a local game, Mr. Beliveau stunned Mr. DOYLE by presenting him with a Canadiens sweater that bore the number 72 on the back.
"I have attended all kinds of events and evenings of this kind across the world," Mr. Beliveau told the crowd. "But nowhere has this family feeling of pride in one's fellow man been so strong and I will cherish my visit here always."
Away from the sports arenas, Mr. DOYLE, an Irish tenor, performed at St. Patrick Society festivities. Over the course of about 50 years, he sang at funerals, weddings and concerts.
He was also a solitary figure who loved to walk for hours, studying nature and composing poems in his head. His poetry drew on his Irish background and the study of contemporary authors and poets. "Studies at university and poetry have opened a new world. It's not only the courses themselves but participating with folks much younger than myself," Mr. DOYLE once said.
"Joe had a sense of humour, second to none," his wife said. "He kept you in stitches. Everybody wanted to be around him. He had a great love of song, performing and poetry."
He found a publisher for his poetry, too, but two heart attacks in 1994 put his book, Neath the Surface, on the back burner. Eleven years later, his granddaughter Rosie KOMADINA is resurrecting the book with the intention of also including his memoirs. She hopes to release the book this fall.
Joe DOYLE was born in Toronto on September 8, 1912. He died on June 8, 2005 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, of pneumonia and cardio-vascular disease. He is survived by his wife, Laura, son Shaun and daughters Teresa, Colleen, Alana and Angela.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-09-02 published
Chuck RATHGEB, Businessman, Sportsman (1921-2005)
Multi-millionaire raced cars, flew hot-air balloons set transatlantic records in a Tutor jet, hunted big game and led four Canadian bobsledders to Olympic gold
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, September 2, 2005, Page S7
Toronto -- You could say that Chuck RATHGEB did it all. He (a) raced a balloon across the Alps; (b) drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans; (c) flew a single-engine jet across the Atlantic; (d) gained an international Explorers Club award for hunting and bagging the "big six" (a lion, a leopard, an elephant, a buffalo, a rhino and a tiger); and (e) coached the Canadian bobsledding team to a gold medal at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics.
Along the way, he was also a Mountie, a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Canadian Navy and, lastly, a multi-millionaire who led the family firm of Comstock International to global success.
From building mega projects to piloting balloons to his orchestration of Canada's gold-medal bobsledding win, Mr. RATHGEB's role in shaping the country is undeniable.
"He did everything for the Canadian flag," said his wife, Rosemary. "He always had a project to look forward to, to organize and to be in."
It all started in 1939 when Charles RATHGEB, a Quebec lad of German-Swiss heritage, graduated from Toronto's Upper Canada College. His dream was to join the Royal Canadian Navy, except that he wasn't old enough. Instead, he signed up with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, serving in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. It was while he was training in Regina that he learned the ropes of harsh discipline. One night, with the lights turned off in a cold building while his supervisor was not around, Mr. RATHGEB and his fellow recruits pulled down the window blinds to create warmth. When the supervisor returned to find out what had happened, he smashed all the windows; the trainees spent the rest of the night in the building in the fierce Saskatchewan cold.
When he became eligible for the navy, Mr. RATHGEB quit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and served in the Battle of the Atlantic, in the Bay of Biscay, on three Murmansk convoys and the invasion of Europe.
In 1946, he left the navy with the rank of lieutenant-commander and joined his father's company, Comstock International Ltd. Around that time, he met Rosemary CLARKE of Quebec City at a resort on the St. Lawrence River and proposed on their first date. Within months, they were married.
As chairman of the board of Comstock, he turned the engineering and construction company into a global powerhouse. In one of the largest electrical contracts undertaken in Canada, he was involved in Comstock's 25-to-60-cycle conversion contract for Ontario Hydro.
"They went into every home in Ontario and changed every appliance from 25 cycles to 60 cycles," Mrs. RATHGEB said.
Other Comstock projects included the Trans Mountain oil pipeline in Western Canada, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Distant Early Warning radar system in the Far North, the Toronto subway system, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space facility at Cape Kennedy, Florida, the trans-Sahara Algerian gas pipeline and the Okosombo dam in Ghana.
Other men would have been overwhelmed by the work, but not Chuck RATHGEB. Nothing stopped him from taking on new sports and new horizons. The 6-foot-3, bluff and cheery sportsman responded to every siren call of adventure. He was once a member of Canada's Commonwealth cricket team, and he was a fanatic about hot-air ballooning, mountain climbing and big-game hunting. He shot the last legal tiger in India. In 1982, he and Vladimir Kavan, a Czech-Canadian businessman, trekked through Mongolia to hunt the Siberian ibex, the world's biggest mountain goat. It's a tough shot because the ibex has excellent vision. "If you were at King Street, the ibex could see you from Bloor Street," Mr. RATHGEB told The Globe on his return. "We were camped at 10,000 feet, and climbing after them at 12,000. The height affects you, but ibex just keep climbing." He and Mr. Kavan bagged four.
The pair became the first Canadians to balloon over the Alps in their personal Canadian centennial project of 1967. A year later, Mr. RATHGEB and then Ontario premier John ROBARTS experienced a misadventure near London, Ontario, when their balloon went out of control in inclement weather and wandered seriously off course. The police were called in, but, no problem: Mr. RATHGEB safely guided the balloon into a field.
Mr. RATHGEB managed Comstock's car-racing team and, in many instances, he would jump into the car himself to compete in such races as the 24-hour Le Mans, the 12-hour Sebring, the 24-hour Daytona, the London-to-Sydney rally, the Trans-Sahara rally and the 15,000-kilometre London-to-Peking Motor Challenge.
The Sahara trek proved to be a barnburner because his car broke down in the desert and he was reduced to drinking water from the radiator to survive. Eventually, the car was towed by camels to the nearest town. The car's undercarriage had been ruined by rocks and other debris. So, using his unlimited financial resources, Mr. RATHGEB had a four-wheel-drive Jeep Comanche pickup specially built in Toronto for the 1990 London-to-Peking trip. The overhaul of the truck included doubling the shocks and steel-plating its undersides.
"The London-Peking race was an endurance test," Mrs. RATHGEB said. "It lasted 56 days. Chuck spent many nights sleeping under the stars. It took him a few weeks to get over it."
Mr. RATHGEB was a member of the board of directors for about a dozen major Canadian companies over the years, and it was while he was with Canadair (now Bombardier) that he talked company officials into training him as a pilot. Participating in the British Columbia Centennial air race from London to Vancouver, he set a record for the smallest single-engine jet -- a CL41 Tutor -- to cross the Atlantic. "We landed in Iceland," he told The Globe. "Turning around on the runway, suddenly all the lights came on in the cockpit. We were out of gas."
For years, he was also the only Canadian to own an international offshore powerboat-racing licence. In a sport in which speeds exceed 180 kilometres an hour, he was the only Canadian entrant in the London-to-Monte Carlo and Miami-Nassau powerboat events.
On the side, Mr. RATHGEB ran a small thoroughbred-racing stable that experienced some success. He also ventured into show business to produce the Rex Harrison Broadway play Staircase and to promote a Doors rock concert.
But, in what may have been his most defining moment, he was first coach and then manager of Canada's bobsled team. As it happened, it was one sport he had never tried. The suggestion that he become involved came out of the blue at a cocktail party in Toronto in 1959. A friend, Doug CONNOR, asked him: "Chuck, how'd you like to represent your country in a world championship?"
"What game?" he asked.
"Take a guess."
"Hmm, do I have to train?"
"Nope."
"Do I have to quit drinking?"
"Nope."
Thus began an Olympic saga and a team made up of four Quebeckers: driver Vic Emery, his brother Dr. John Emery, Doug Anakin, and brakeman Peter Kirby.
Their first event was a world championship in St. Moritz, where they did much of their early training. "We arrived by train at night, so we weren't aware what we were in for," Mr. RATHGEB said. "See, everywhere else, you arrive at the bottom of the hill; in St. Moritz, you're at the top. You can look down a bit and it looks fine and then it curves off. But, in the morning, I walked down 100 yards and suddenly, my God, it's like falling off a 10-storey building."
Early in the going, Mr. RATHGEB occupied a spot on the sled. "It was enormously exhilarating to rush down a mountain at 150 kilometres an hour, pulling six Gs on the curves."
There were 20 teams that first year. "We won the Spanish-Canadian Cup.... It went to the team that wasn't last. The Spaniards crashed three times and we crashed three times, but our time was faster, so we were 19th."
Gradually, the team improved, moving up from 19th to 11th to fourth in successive world championships. By the 1964 Olympics, Mr. RATHGEB had become the team manager.
"The night before their run, they didn't seem too confident," he recalled in 1984, "so I gave the young woman on the switchboard a box of chocolates to fake a cable from the prime minister. 'All Canada rides with you today! Signed, Lester B. Pearson.'"
It did the trick. On the big day, 10,000 people lined the course. In one of the most electrifying triumphs in Canadian Olympic history, Vic Emery and Co. guided a half-ton sled down the 14-curve course at speeds of close to 150 km/h to win the gold medal, besting the favoured Italians with a time of 4 minutes 14.46 seconds. It was Canada's only gold medal at the Innsbruck Olympiad, the first year bobsledding was an Olympic sport.
"It was the last event at the Olympics," Mr. RATHGEB recalled years later. "We were the final team to race and we came out of it with gold medals. The pressure was even greater than competing in a Stanley Cup because you only have one chance and it's a chance you get once in a lifetime."
In a telephone interview from his home in London, England, Vic Emery said: "Chuck was a damn good manager. We didn't ask him for any extra financial help and he didn't offer any. He got us the equipment needed to fine-tune the sled. He arranged to have spring-loaded handles installed on the sides of the sled. It was a little innovation."
Ten years ago, Mr. Emery flew to Toronto to visit Mr. RATHGEB after he wound up in hospital as a result of a mosquito bite that had turned almost deadly. "I would tell Chuck stories in hospital to try and jaw him up and, sometimes, I'd get a slight smile out of him because he was out of it for four or five months."
Mr. Emery says he will be forever indebted to Mr. RATHGEB. "He was one of the most instrumental people in my life. If it were not for him, we might never had gotten the gold medal."
For all that, the triumph at the Olympics was just one of Mr. RATHGEB's many roles in a life that was as large as they come. "There's a little Walter Mitty in everybody," Mr. RATHGEB once said. "Some just dream, some mean to but never get around to it, and some do it."
His personal credo, he liked to say, was: "Rather than going to see the Grand Prix, why not be in it?"
Charles (Chuck) RATHGEB was born on December 2, 1921, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec He died of cancer on June 24, 2005, at his home in Toronto. He was 84. He leaves his wife, Rosemary. At his request, 12 uniformed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were pallbearers at his funeral.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-09-09 published
Arthur TOWNEND, Architect (1924-2005)
Sudbury practitioner's designs included the stunning Revenue Canada Taxation Data Centre and brought the city into the 21st century
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, September 9, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- Not long after Arthur TOWNEND had designed and erected the first, flat-roofed house in Sudbury, Ontario in 1953, his son Gordon came home from school a little perplexed after his teacher had asked him to produce a drawing of their family home.
Gordon asked his father why he wanted a flat-roofed house erected and his father replied, "So Santa Claus and his reindeer can land safely with their sleigh on Christmas Eve." Whether it was flat roofs or other projects, Arthur TOWNEND's work as an architect was unique, contemporary and modern -- all characteristics that arose from his empathy for the famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Thanks to Mr. TOWNEND, the stereotype image of Sudbury as a depressing, rough, transient, mining town built on unforgiving Cambrian Shield rock was dramatically swept aside. His imaginative approach to architecture changed the cityscape, whether it was the Civic Square municipal government office project, the huge Revenue Canada Taxation Data Centre, the original Laurentian Hospital, or St. Andrew's Place (a combined United Church and senior citizens' complex). He also designed hospitals in the Ontario communities of Sault Ste. Marie, Smooth Rock Falls and Thunder Bay, and fashioned a nautical-themed look with a multi-curved roof for the Canadian Coast Guard building in Parry Sound, Ontario
He is also responsible for 17 rather spiffy houses, most of them built in the tony Ramsay Lake section of the city. They are desirable, prized and elegant properties. "Anything designed by Arthur is a very classical home, compared to the modern bungalows." said Blaine NICHOLLS, one of Mr. TOWNEND's former partners.
"Arthur took Sudbury into the 21st century," said Janna Ramsay BEST, who is an acknowledged TOWNEND expert. "It's a mining town that has become a sophisticated regional capital and a Northern Ontario hub for education, health and government, and Arthur played a big part in that.
"Sudburians were very accepting of Arthur's cosmopolitan vision which brought pleasing contemporary architecture to Sudbury that was synonymous with progress," said Ms. BEST, who, as an M.A. student at Laurentian University, wrote a 160-page thesis titled The Architectural Imagination of S. Arthur TOWNEND. "He helped bring the latest styles and techniques to a city on the verge of change and expansion."
Sidney Arthur TOWNEND was born under a table in Banes, Cuba, during a hurricane. He spent his first three years on the Caribbean island where his parents operated United Food Company. Later, his parents moved to Union Hill, Jamaica, where he was raised on a family-owned plantation that employed 150 workers.
He left home as a young man to attend McGill University in Montreal where he first studied engineering and then switched to architecture. In the fall of 1942, he answered a wartime call for students to help the farmers of Western Canada bring in that year's harvest. He was placed on a squalid farm near Regina where he soon came down with polio. He spent a month in hospital in Regina until McGill officials arranged for him to be transported back to Montreal. Most of the next year was spent recuperating in Jamaica and he did not return to McGill until the fall of 1943.
Mr. TOWNEND graduated in 1948 and found a job with the Sudbury architect Louis FABBRO, who, three years before, had given him a summer internship. He fell in love with Sudbury and the North, resisting the pleas of family and Friends who tried to persuade him to return to Jamaica. He also fell in love with a girl. Soon after joining Mr. FABBRO, he and a draftsman from the firm were riding a bus when they noticed a pretty young lady standing on the sidewalk. "I'm going to marry that girl," Mr. TOWNEND told the draftsman.
Sure enough, he did. After meeting Evelyn SHEAHAN several days later at a dance, he proposed on their first date.
Meanwhile, building projects piled up at the firm. Mr. FABBRO was one of the few Sudbury architects to receive contracts during a time when most of the new buildings in town were designed by big-city firms that sent plans up North without studying the sites or understanding the climate and environment of Northeastern Ontario.
After a number of years in partnership with Mr. FABBRO, Mr. TOWNEND broke away to freelance. As a result of intuition, aggressiveness and the pressing demands of a growing family, he landed a job in 1964 to design the new Laurentian Hospital.
"It was risky for Arthur to leave Mr. FABBRO because he had eight mouths to feed so he was very happy to get the hospital project," Evelyn TOWNEND said.
It was also the beginning of a partnership involving Mr. TOWNEND, John STEFURA, Corky BALESHTA and Mr. NICHOLLS.
"Laurentian Hospital is very modern-looking considering it's over 30 years old," Mr. NICHOLLS said. "Hospitals are very complex inside, especially from a functional perspective... not just for staff, but visitors. Arthur was able to do something great with it. It was supposed to be a whitish colour on the outside but the hospital people wanted to save $50,000 so it became a brown colour."
The Civic Square building (now called Tom Davies Square) also boasted a distinct TOWNEND flavour. It wasn't a stock approach to a government building. Instead, Mr. TOWNEND designed a four-level building and all the levels open to a common public space and atrium.
"Arthur broke away from the typical departmentalized approach to an office building," Mr. NICHOLLS said.
He applied the same approach in the early 1970s when he designed the federal taxation centre, the place where thousands of Canadians send their tax returns. Once the site of Sudbury Stadium, which housed several baseball fields, the taxation centre was designed to open up two main levels to an open atrium space that doubled as a dining area. He designed it in such a way as to produce natural light into a lobby area, making it attractive for staff and visitors. To blend buildings in harmony with nature, he gave the exterior a light-coloured skin of pre-cast cement.
"Arthur looked at the site to see how the site would do for the building not what the building would do for the site," Mr. STEFURA said.
In 1986, Mr. TOWNEND's firm obtained the contract for the Northeastern Ontario Regional Cancer Centre (located at Laurentian Hospital) and he retired two years later.
Over the years, he won two national design awards but chose not to write about his projects. He acknowledged that while many of his fellow architects were very good at writing about architecture, he chose not to do it himself. "I'd rather the buildings speak for themselves," he said.
Sidney Arthur TOWNEND was born in Banes, Cuba on November 8, 1924. He died in Sudbury, Ontario on July 9, 2005 after several years of frail health. He is survived by his wife Evelyn and children Gordon, Arthur, Deborah, Mary, Barbara, John and Jane.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-09-17 published
JONES, Edward▼ George▼ " Ted▼"
On September 15th, 2005 at Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto. Caring and loving husband of Janet (GALLAGHER) JONES. son of the late Robert and Elsie JONES. Brother▼ of Clifford and Paulette of Parry Sound, Murray of Toronto and predeceased by his twin Bill (William JONES.) Ted▼ will also be fondly remembered by his brothers and sisters in-law George and Nola GALLAGHER of Burlington, Fred GALLAGHER of Barrie, Agnes GALLAGHER of Winnipeg, Pat and Einar FISKVATIN of Kitchener and Barb and Jim CRAGG of Ottawa, as well as his many nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Ted's Life will be held at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home, 6150 Yonge Street (at Goulding, south of Steeles) on Sunday September 25th at 2: 00 p.m. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Parkinson Society would be appreciated.
R.S. Kane 416-221-1159

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-10-04 published
Namir KHAN, Lecturer (1955-2005)
University of Toronto teacher, film buff and some-time actor who enjoyed performing in front of his classes nurtured a dark secret
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- Namir KHAN's life was a dichotomy. In his professional domain, he was an eloquent, fiery orator, whose speeches roused lecture rooms at the University of Toronto. In private, he was a complex, bland man, who kept many secrets to himself.
"He had a brilliant flair for performing. It contrasted with his private life of simplicity and frugality," said one of his Friends, Greg KLYMKIW.
Mr. KHAN's animated, note-less lectures puzzled the most hardened of freshmen students in the U of T's engineering department. These students were accustomed to no-nonsense, cold, hard facts in math and science and wondered why Mr. KHAN, who stood a mere 5-foot-1, sprinkled his lectures with environmental, political and psychological perspectives. The one-time supporting-role actor even interjected his love of cinema, literary and pop culture into his talks.
"He loved performing strategically and that also fed him as a lecturer," Mr. KLYMKIW said. "Seventy five per cent of his speeches had to do with movies. I watched Lawrence of Arabia with him over 20 times. He saw it hundreds of times. Lawrence as a human being was a complex person and there were parallels with Namir."
Mr. KHAN sought to make his lectures entertaining and many students stick-handled to get into his classes. His chief intellectual influences were German philosopher Martin Heidegger and French sociologist Jacques Ellul.
He would start each day drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea and tackling the cryptic crossword puzzle in The Globe and Mail. By midday, he would have finished an academic treatise, with evenings devoted to polishing off one or two mystery, science-fiction or historical books.
Born in India, Namir KHAN was 18 when he arrived in Canada. He soon enrolled at Carleton University, graduating in 1979. He got his master's in 1983 and then switched to the University of Toronto to start work on his doctorate, which he never completed. He became a teacher's assistant at the University of Toronto in 1984, teaching social sciences and engineering courses before joining the university's faculty of engineering full-time in "He was such a large part of my mind and my vocabulary," said Wendy DIX, one of his former girlfriends. "He was one of the most creative intellectuals I've ever known. I was a bit of an observer but he never condescended. He was probably the most brilliant mind in the room, and where people were not as smart or educated, he didn't exclude them."
Filmmaker Cynthia ROBERTS, another former girlfriend, recalls meeting him at Carleton University in 1981 when both were photography buffs. She was toting around a large-format Mamiya camera, prompting him to remark, "That's a big camera." He then asked her out on a date.
For all the passion he produced in front of a classroom, Mr. KHAN's real love was cinema. He not only watched movies frequently, he played roles in a number of them. In 1989, Mr. KHAN ran into Queer as Folk director Bruce McDonald and soon found himself cast as an undertaker in Highway 61. Later, Mr. McDonald used him as a bartender in Dance Me Outside, as a photographer in Elimination Dance and a cameraman in Roadkill. At Ms. ROBERTS's request, Mr. KHAN wrote a screenplay for an underground production called Jack of Hearts about a scientist involved with body implants. One of his last acts in the movie business was a voice-over in the 1997 film City of Dark.
By 1997, Mr. KHAN had decided to cut back on the movie business to spend more time teaching and to edit the U of T's Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society.
A few years ago, Mr. KHAN discovered he had Korsakoff's syndrome, a brain disorder that stems from excessive alcohol use and is usually coupled with poor eating habits. Although he was known to be a binge drinker who loved rum and coke, the news astonished his Friends. "He was the life of the party but he kept his close Friends at bay," said his friend Arnd JURGENSEN. "To find out that he had a serious drinking problem was of considerable shock."
In Korsakoff's syndrome, prolonged alcohol causes growths on the brain; eventually, Mr. KHAN was forced to give up teaching. As a lecturer who didn't take notes and relied strictly on memory, the illness came as a severe blow. However, when told the problem was reversible if he stopped drinking, and that he would be "good as new" within six months, Mr. KHAN refused to quit.
"He was very gifted but he drank himself to the grave," said one of his university superiors.
Others did not know until near the end. "I never realized Namir was so close to death," Ms. DIX said.
Ironically, near the end of his life, Mr. KHAN began working on a screenplay that involved a detective who had developed Korsakoff's syndrome.
Namir KHAN was born January 11, 1955, in Allahabad, India. He died in Toronto on July 10, 2005. A coroner's report on the cause of death proved inconclusive. He had been suffering for several years from Korsakoff's syndrome. He is survived by brothers Nadir and Nazir and sisters Nazish and Nigaf. He was predeceased by his parents Faiyaz and Mumtaz Jahan KHAN and a brother, Nasir.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-04 published
Bob MacWILLIAM, Aviator: (1937-2005)
Pilot became aviation detective who sifted through the evidence for royal commissions that investigated two fatal air crashes
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Friday, November 4, 2005, Page S7
Toronto -- As a young child, Bob MacWILLIAM loved to build model airplanes. He realized his boyhood dream of becoming a pilot, logging more than 20,000 hours with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Qantas and Air Canada.
Air Canada thought so much of Mr. MacWILLIAM, he was hired to be a trainer and check pilot. His expertise also made him a renowned hired hand at special hearings, commissions and tribunals. When fatal air crashes took place in Cranbook, British Columbia, and in Dryden, Ontario, Mr. MacWILLIAM was hired as a technical adviser to the royal commissions of inquiry.
Mr. MacWILLIAM joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in the mid-1950s and stayed for 10 years. He flew CF-100s, all-weather fighter planes, in Baden-Solingen, Germany, during the Cold War of the late 1950s. He married his wife, Nancy, an Royal Canadian Air Force nurse, while posted in Germany.
In 1962, he completed his flight instructor's course. "I used to envy Bob a lot because he loved his job so much," his widow said.
He retired with the notion of joining Air Canada but there were no openings, so he headed to Sydney and flew for Qantas, Australia's national airline. Less than two years later, Air Canada offered him a job. For the next 31 years, he flew as captain of the Airbus A-320, Boeing 767 and 727, and was chief instructor for the 727.
Along the way, Mr. MacWILLIAM helped design and implement the pilots' safety awareness program for Air Canada, a scheme that includes a system of anonymous incident reporting.
His expertise was also required when Transport Canada, through initiatives of Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and transport minister Otto Lang, came up with the idea that air traffic controllers should be bilingual. Mr. MacWILLIAM was appointed technical representative for the Canadian Airline Pilots' Association at a commission of inquiry. His report to members was unflattering.
"French is not the international language of the air," Mr. MacWILLIAM said. "Imposing the use of two languages into air traffic control... constitutes a degradation in the safety of the Canadian air traffic control system. To impose, for political reasons only, the use of another language into that environment is irresponsible."
His remarks made their way to the 1976 annual meeting of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations, where they were endorsed by 65 member countries. Because of that, Canadian Airline Pilots' Association declared Canada's air traffic control system unreliable and on June 19, 1976, the pilots went on strike. Air traffic controllers had already declared job action and for nine days nothing moved at Canada's airports.
"Bob was my technical safety expert from 1974-78 when I was president of Canadian Airline Pilots' Association," said Ken MALEY, then a senior captain with Canadian Pacific. "Trudeau was interested in bilingualizing everything in Canada. Bob and I and the pilots wouldn't accept this idea. The issue festered for about 18 months and we drew the line and decided to close Canadian air space for safety reasons. I felt it wasn't safe for the pilots to fly when we didn't know if the air traffic controllers were working or not working."
On February 11, 1978, a Pacific West Airlines Boeing 737 crashed at the airport in Cranbook, British Columbia, while trying to avoid a giant snow blower. Forty-two people died and Mr. MacWILLIAM was made the senior technical adviser at the ensuing Dubin royal commission of inquiry. In his report, Mr. Justice Charles DUBIN criticized the Ministry of Transport for its procedures regarding clearing aircraft to land at airports that do not have a control tower. He also was critical of the fact that the company operating manuals and training did not inform pilots that once the "reverse thrust" was applied after landing, the throttles could not be advanced to take-off position for a "go around." Much of the technical data had originated with Mr. MacWILLIAM.
"The people involved with that inquiry thought the world of Bob," said Fred VON VEH, then legal adviser to transport minister Don MAZANKOWSKI.
In 1989, Mr. MacWILLIAM served a similar role after an Air Ontario Fokker F-28 jet crashed in Dryden in March of that year, killing 24 people. The plane had been headed for Winnipeg but crashed shortly after takeoff. It had sat on a runway under an accumulation of snow and then tried to get airborne. The crash prompted another royal commission, one headed by Mr. Justice Virgil MOSHANSKY.
The inquiry became the definitive study on the problems of deicing aircraft. Among its recommendations, the report said planes should be deiced at the gate holding area and then the process repeated before they queue for takeoff.
"Bob was very helpful... really smart. He brought a lot of expertise to the table," Judge MOSHANSKY said from Calgary.
After he retired, Mr. MacWILLIAM formed Macavia Aviation Consultants and was president of both the Canadian International Air Show and the Canadian National Exhibition.
Bob MacWILLIAM was born October 26, 1937, in Salisbury, New Brunswick He died of respiratory failure stemming from pulmonary fibrosis on July 22, 2005, in Toronto. He is survived by his wife Nancy, sister Valerie, daughter Barbara and sons Casey and Michael.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-16 published
Chris TOLOS, Wrestler (1929-2005)
Elder half of the Tolos Brothers who intimidated wrestling 40 years ago shunned the spotlight in retirement, wrote a cookbook and stayed home to care for his elderly mother
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Wednesday, November 16, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- The elder of the two famous TOLOS brothers from Hamilton, Ontario, Chris enjoyed the bulk of his success in the ring in tag-team matches, while John TOLOS gained more stature in singles' events.
Nicknamed The Body, Chris TOLOS was a natural athlete. Growing up in Hamilton, he participated in track and field, lacrosse, hockey and football. A six-footer and shorter than John TOLOS by two inches, Chris TOLOS took up wrestling some time around 1950 under trainer (Wee) Willie DAVIS. He made his debut as a bad guy or "heel," losing preliminary bouts to such stalwarts of the mat as Sandor Kovacs and Johnny Barend.
In an era when wrestlers travelled around North America and performed many nights a week, Chris TOLOS soon had his brother accepting the call into the ring. Together, the two developed one of the best tag teams in the sport. In the 1950s and 1960s, the duo won a number of championships, including the world and Canadian titles in 1967. Along they way, they also won wrestling crowns in Florida, Texas, New York and Northern California. In 1963, they took the top tag title in the World Wrestling Federation by defeating Killer Kowalski and Gorilla Monsoon. Oddly, the TOLOS brothers seldom competed at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, a famed venue for wrestling. They appeared at the Gardens only in 1957, and then for a few months. They preferred to travel and didn't return until 1960.
"Travel broadens one. It also makes some persons mean, such as Chris and John TOLOS," reported the Toronto Telegram on August 21, 1960. "The TOLOS Brothers, who went away two years ago as real good guys, came back meaner than hungry piranhas." By then the TOLOS Brothers had come to be known as the Canadian Wrecking Crew or the Golden Greeks. They were rarely demonstrative or relied on props; instead they preferred to show up in simple athletic tights. Their techniques and holds varied: Chris TOLOS was known for his flying head scissors and Boston Crab while John TOLOS used knee drops and body slams.
However, for all their ringside reticence, the brothers weren't above indulging in prolonged grudges. One of their greatest feuds developed in Buffalo when they repeatedly came up against the Gallagher Brothers, Doc and Mike. It was a classic battle between two bad-guy combos. According to the website Slam! Sports, those encounters often resulted in a bloodbath and it was not uncommon for them to end in double disqualifications.
For all the terror they spread among wrestlers, the TOLOS boys conveyed the kind of comfortable jocularity only seen among brothers. Their hype and banter at the end of an interview with a ring announcer was a familiar sight. Relaxed and generally pleased with themselves, they would pat each other warmly on the back. "Right, brother John?" Chris would ask. Taking the microphone, John would reply, "Right, brother Chris? Right." Often, they would triumphantly clasp hands and Chris would declare: "Me and John are the greatest."
Their devotion was legendary. Chris TOLOS was featured in the 1988 book Drawing Heat by Jim Freedman who wrote, "Neither brother would stop at anything to defend the other. This solidarity, a fanatical loyalty that called organized crime to mind, became their secret weapon, a mindless brotherhood. They flogged it weekly on television appearances with a steady drone of mutual admiration and threats addressed in unison to their adversaries."
In an interview with Mr. Freedman, Chris TOLOS spoke of the importance of connecting with fans. "We don't need no clips, no pens or robes. We had a natural gimmick. Nobody really needs that stuff foreign objects and all. The gimmick is to reach the fans. Understand them. Look them in the eyes."
During his singles' career in the 1960s, Chris TOLOS made a number of bids for a National Wrestling Alliance title and survived a lengthy feud with Iron Mike DiBiase. Notably, he also fought the likes of Fred Atkins, Billy Red Lyons, The Sheik, The Beast, Pampiro Firpo and Canadian legend Gene Kiniski.
"I only fought Chris a few times but one thing about him is that he always kept in fantastic shape," Mr. Kiniski said from his home recently. "With the shape he was in, once he got in the ring, he gave fans their money's worth. He was a guy who worked on your neck and upper part of the body. He didn't do many leg take-downs."
In 1971, Chris TOLOS decided it was time to get married and raise a family. After that, he spent most of his time wrestling close to home for Ontario sport promoters Frank Tunney and Dave (Bearman) McKigney. Domesticity must have suited him because some time in the mid-1970s he came out with a cookbook.
By 1983, Chris TOLOS had quit competitive wrestling and returned to Hamilton for good. He looked after his disabled sister, Mary, and cared for his mother until her death at 101.
Chris TOLOS was an extrovert in the ring and an introvert in private. He became a recluse after retiring from the ring and he seldom spoke to reporters. He was rarely seen in public, spurned publicity and did not attend wrestling engagements. In the end, the limelight had lost its appeal. Ditto for John TOLOS, who declined to be interviewed.
Chris TOLOS was born December 5, 1929, in Hamilton, Ontario He died August 12, 2005, of cancer in Hamilton. He is survived by his brother John, sister Mary and son Nicholas. He was predeceased by his wife.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-21 published
Louis PITOSCIA, Wrestler And Actor (1928-2005)
King-size regular on The Wayne and Shuster Show first used his strength to deliver bananas around Toronto and then took up grappling. Later, he switched to acting but was, in truth, 'hired for his appearance. He didn't have to do anything. He'd just stand there'
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, November 21, 2005, Page S11
Toronto -- Omnipresent, long cigars, fedoras, a booming voice, a hulking mass, wrestling and The Wayne and Shuster Show -- that was Louis PITOSCIA.
When his brother visited him in hospital in the waning days of his life, the person Mr. PITOSCIA most mentioned was Johnny Wayne. Together with Frank Shuster he had appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation comedy show until 1990 and along the way had provided a regular supporting roles for Mr. PITOSCIA.
Before he got into wrestling and acting, Mr. PITOSCIA was a blue-collar worker who had been employed for many years in the banana-export business with his brothers James and Tony and with their Italian-immigrant father, Carmen. After school and on weekends, he would help sell Central American bananas out of the family home in mid-town Toronto. After he finished school, he delivered the fruit to stores throughout the Toronto area. The business is still run by family members today.
When wrestling beckoned, Mr. PITOSCIA soon vacated the family business. For a few years in the 1940s and 1950s, he relished his new career and performed in such venues as Buffalo, Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto and other spots in North America.
"Lou wrestled mostly in preliminary matches, not main bouts," recalled Canadian wrestling legend Gene KINISKI.
"Lou was a bad guy in the ring," his brother James PITOSCIA said, laughing.
"He took me a lot to his wrestling matches at Maple Leaf Gardens," his sister Lucy said. "He'd sit me in the front row all the time and tell me, 'Now, don't you move from there.' He was a wonderful guy. I miss him so much. He loved everybody and everybody loved him. He was good to everybody -- especially the kids at his matches."
The bad-guy image in the ring was one he milked to the maximum he also milked it in his career as an actor. With a 60-inch chest and 48-inch waist, he was a big, burly man of 6-foot 2-inches who reached close to 300 pounds in his heyday as a wrestler. It was a weight he carried to the end of his life. A predilection for long cigars and rum-and-coke drinks completed the picture.
The transition from wrestling to acting was a natural one because, for him, wrestling was like acting. His interest in acting got started in the early 1950s when American wrestler Mike Mazurki jumped to Hollywood and invited Mr. PITOSCIA along. Mr. PITOSCIA hung around California for only three weeks -- just long enough to land a small role in the Bob Hope movie My Favourite Spy.
"I was sort of a hood in My Favourite Spy. I got killed," Mr. PITOSCIA told the Toronto Star in 1960. "Anyhow, that experience gave me confidence in my hidden talents."
As it happened, however, he had no interest in remaining in Hollywood or in the U.S., for that matter. He wanted to stay in Canada and earn his trade as a Canadian -- just like Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster.
"Lou was a great actor on the Wayne and Shuster Show," Mr. KINISKI said. "If the producers were looking for a fairly big role for someone on the show, Lou pretty well had it sewn up. He had some wonderful roles."
Mr. PITOSCIA's tenure with the Wayne and Shuster Show included some appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show which required him to go to New York for tapings.
"The time I was on The Ed Sullivan Show, I had to get knocked through a lousy brick wall," Mr. PITOSCIA told the Toronto Star. "Out of my pay, they took 53 bucks, tax. Fifty-three bucks they charge to let you fall through a crummy wall."
Fellow Wayne and Shuster regular Don Cullen hailed Mr. PITOSCIA as the "Great Wall of China" and recalled the episode in which he had to lean his head on Big Lou's massive frame. "I'm a small man and I looked ridiculous leaning on him."
To Tom Harvey, another Wayne and Shuster Show regular, Mr. PITOSCIA was not always the menacing type that he was cracked up to be.
"He was a big, tough guy outside but he was very soft inside. He was a baby," Mr. Harvey said in an interview. "Not to be detrimental in the theatrical sense, Lou was not really an actor. He was hired for his appearance. He didn't have to do anything. He'd just stand there. He was untheatrical in reading a line but he was a funny, lovable guy."
Actor Alfie SCOPP recalled a rather threatening experience during which they taped an episode of the 1959 television series Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa and Mr. PITOSCIA took his role and strength a little too seriously.
"I was the derelict bum with a drinking problem and Lou was the muscle man for the mob," Mr. SCOPP recalled. "The script called for him to catch me and choke me. He was such a big man and he wasn't just acting in this scene."
Mr. SCOPP said his air was cut off and he began to choke. "I began to lose my grip on reality. The director finally noticed what was happening and two guys had to pull Lou off me. He apologized a lot to me afterward."
In 1990, Johnny Wayne died. The end of the Wayne and Shuster Show signalled a drop in work for Mr. PITOSCIA. He had just three film roles in the 1990s, one in the feature film Baby on Board. His last roles were as as Gato Ciccone in Snow on the Skeleton Key (2003) and as Calzino in Moss (2004).
Along the way, Mr. PITOSCIA played roles such as a thug, gangster and prisoner, when he wasn't involved in a side job in hotel security in Toronto. He posted semi-regular appearances in a number of television series, including Adderly, Robocop, SCTV Network 90 and Seeing Things. Perhaps his best-known movie was Moonstruck, the popular 1987 film by Canadian director Norman Jewison that starred Cher and Nicholas Cage. He was seen, too, in a number of commercials, notably for Shell Oil Co. He also made a United Way commercial -- as a wrestler.
Louis (Big Lou) PITOSCIA was born November 11, 1928, in Toronto. He died July 28, 2005, in Toronto of a lung ailment. He was 77. He was buried with some of his favourite cigars. He is survived by his brother James and sister Lucy.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-05 published
Don SCOTT, Athlete and Chief Executive Officer (1927-2005)
Argonaut player who competed in the famous 'mud bowl' Grey Cup of 1950 went on to head the country's largest accounting firm
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, December 5, 2005 Page, S11
Toronto -- Don SCOTT's athleticism led him to one of the most famous football games in Canadian history, his brains took him atop the leading accounting firm in Canada and his influence made him instrumental when Ontario moved to no-fault automobile insurance in the early 1990s.
He grew up in Windsor, Ontario in the Depression years, when times were tough for him, his father, a Ford Motor Co. employee, and his bookkeeper mother. He attended Patterson Collegiate Institute where he excelled at football, basketball, and track and field. He was the head boy at the school, a two-time member of the all-city, senior basketball team, and he won the Arthur Currie Memorial Scholarship to attend the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, where he played both football and basketball. In 1949, he graduated with a business degree, began studying for his chartered-accounting exam and found himself playing pro that same year for the Toronto Argonauts. He was an offensive end, packing no more than 160 pounds on a 6-foot-1 frame.
"He was very skinny, the lightest man on the field," his daughter Barb said.
"He was a tall, rangy kid, who worked hard and was very modest. He was well-liked as a teammate, said former teammate Nick VOLPE.
"He wasn't really a star but he was a good outside end, a good catch," said ex-teammate Don DURNO. "He wasn't a hefty man. He was probably more of a basketball player with his size."
Buddy FOWLER, another old Argo mate, recalled Mr. SCOTT as a "wonderful guy and great athlete with a great attitude on life."
Mr. SCOTT played three seasons for the Argos, the second of which was his most memorable because they went all the way to the Grey Cup. Mr. SCOTT, Rod SMYLIE, Marv WHALEY and Jack WEBLEY made up Toronto's potent wide-receiver corps as the Argos rolled along that year. As each November week passed, Mr. SCOTT and his fiancée, Eileen, had to keep postponing their wedding. They had picked November 4 as the date but a winning streak put the nuptials on the backburner.
How good was this Toronto team? At the time, Globe and Mail football writer Hal WALKER described the club as "the greatest Argonaut team of all time." Later that year, sports writers picked them as the top football team of the first half century in Canada.
The Frank Clair-coached Argos started off post-season play by disposing of the Hamilton Tiger Cats 35-19 in the two-game, total-points division championship. The Grey Cup game on November 25 at Toronto's Varsity Stadium became known as the "mud bowl." It was a classic game, but not in the offensive sense. At least a foot of snow had hit Toronto the day before, then melted, and the game became a defensive struggle marred by a muddy morass. Mr. VOLPE kicked two field goals to help Toronto beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers "The field was a sea of water," Mr. VOLPE said. "Bulldozers tried to clear away the water but [they] made it a muddy mess instead. We were literally playing in mud. Bud Tinsley of the Blue Bombers almost drowned. He was face down in the mud and water and he was gasping for breath. He was saved by a referee."
With the big game over, Mr. SCOTT and Eileen finally made firm plans for their wedding. They were married in London on December Mr. SCOTT played one more season for the Argos in 1951 and then decided to retire because his playing time had diminished. "1951 was the year they started bringing in a lot of Americans and didn't use the Canadians as much," his wife said. "After the mud bowl, Don didn't play much."
By that time, Mr. SCOTT had already found a job with Clarkson Gordon. Now part of Ernst Young, it was then Canada's largest accounting firm. He rose to become chairman and chief executive officer, posts he held for eight years.
"Don had a tremendous intellect," said Jim BUNTON, a former associate at Clarkson Gordon. "He kind of glowed. He had a lot of charisma and was very good with staff and people."
Fending off retirement, Mr. SCOTT listened to a number of offers from various groups and companies, finally heeding the call of the provincial government to become head of the Ontario Insurance Commission just when no-fault automobile insurance was coming into play. But in going from the private sector to the tangled red tape of government Mr. SCOTT experienced endless frustrations.
"It was a very trying time," his daughter said. "It was a completely different scenario. In the private sector, he could get something done quickly but, in the public sector, it's not easy. It's a different mindset."
For all that, he left a distinct impression at the Ontario Insurance Commission, said Bernie WEBBER, a former deputy-commissioner under Mr. SCOTT. "He was skilled in athleticism, he was the head of one of Canada's largest accounting firms and he became a top civil servant. We shared a love of language and a mutual disdain for sloppy USAge, particularly by media reporters and announcers whose stock-in-trade is language and who should, by definition, be more precise. You always knew where you stood with him."
Don SCOTT was born July 30, 1927, in Windsor, Ontario He died of cancer on November 3, 2005, in Toronto. He is survived by his wife Eileen and children Christy, Lauren, Barb and Rob.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-19 published
Pat CURRAN, Traffic Reporter (1939-2005)
Until helicopters cut her out of a job, the Canadian Automobile Association traffic reporter did her daily best to make sure everyone in Toronto got home safely
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Monday, December 19, 2005, Page S11
Toronto -- Pat CURRAN was the Voice of the Canadian Automobile Association in Toronto and an authority on school-safety patrols and road and vehicle safety. Every day, she did her best to try and make sure people got home safely.
From 1962 to 1977, Pat CURRAN broadcast radio reports on most Metro Toronto stations. The motor league had its own studio -- with direct lines to most of the city's big radio stations -- where she put on her headset and went to work smoothing the way for Toronto commuters.
According to the Canadian Automobile Association, Ms. CURRAN was only the second traffic reporter in the city and the only woman to hold such a post, prompting a Toronto Telegram reporter to write: "Pat CURRAN, the dulcet, if not downright sexy voice you hear giving the morning traffic reports on such stations as CKFH, CHIC and CHFI."
Ms. CURRAN gave her reports during rush hour in the early morning and then in late afternoon -- both for about two hours at a time. Her information came from the Canadian Automobile Association's own patrol vehicles, the police, from emergency call boxes on the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway and from tow-truck drivers and the like.
Pat CURRAN was a graduate of the radio-and-television-arts course at Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnic Institute who ached to be an announcer. One week before graduating, she sent an application to the Canadian Automobile Association and was hired almost immediately. Making use of what her mother Norma CURRAN called a "very nice, modulated voice," she also enjoyed two five-minute spots per week on radio shows by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcaster Elwood GLOVER.
"I was in Toronto, the major market, and doing what I wanted," Pat CURRAN told her company publication Canadian Automobile Association Today in 1995, the year she retired. "The part I enjoyed doing most were the traffic reports. Women were frowned upon in radio, so I think I broke the ground for the coming crowd."
In 1977, radio stations began using reporters aloft in helicopters and that signalled the end of her traffic reports. Her role became redundant.
"The Canadian Automobile Association's service was no longer required when the helicopter era began," Norma CURRAN said. "The radio stations were feeding Pat's information to the helicopter reporters. Pat was doing all the work and the helicopter reporters weren't doing much and the Canadian Automobile Association felt that wasn't right. The Canadian Automobile Association did these traffic reports as a public service and decided it was time to end it. The radio station at the Canadian Automobile Association was taken out immediately."
But it wasn't the end of Ms. CURRAN's tenure with the Canadian Automobile Association. She became manager of consumer and public information for its consumer and technical services division. When media outlets wanted an opinion on traffic and other travel issues, Ms. CURRAN was the Canadian Automobile Association person most often quoted.
Her specialty, however, was school patrols and vehicle and road safety. She worked closely with Transport Canada to promote the proper use of child-restraint systems and she implemented a wide variety of safety programs for drivers and pedestrians. She campaigned incessantly for seat-belt legislation and promoted the concept of government-approved standards for seat belts in automobiles manufactured in North America.
From 1969 until 1995, Ms. CURRAN co-ordinated the Canadian Automobile Association's training camp for school safety patrol officers and pioneered the introduction of guards at street crossings near schools.
"Pat originated all the safety patrols and crossing guards at schools in conjunction with the police and the boards of education," said Sam CASS, for 39 years Toronto's commissioner of roads and traffic. "She threw her weight around considerably. She persuaded the provincial government to include traffic safety in their policies on highways and roads.
"Way back then, traffic safety wasn't considered that important by the police. To some police officers, traffic duty was a punishment. But now it's a major part of policing."
Mr. CASS said Ms. CURRAN even convinced the Ministry of Transportation to widen the shoulders on the sides of Ontario roads and to move poles and posts even farther back so that drivers would be less likely to run into them. She also served on the Toronto Metro Safety Council, the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals and the Better Roads Coalition.
It would be safe to say that Pat CURRAN was obsessed with safety. After her death, Norman CURRAN discovered the trunk of her daughter's car held enough winter emergency equipment to supply an alpine ski patrol. "I couldn't believe the stuff that was in there," Norma CURRAN said. "If she was in trouble in bad weather, she was prepared. She practised what she preached."
Pat CURRAN was born March 29, 1939, in Hamilton, Ontario She died of leukemia in Toronto on July 19, 2005. She leaves her mother Norma. She never married and was predeceased by her father, William, and brother, Robert.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-22 published
Brian KIRKWOOD, Wine Merchant: (1943-2005)
Former musician with the Canadian band Magic Bubble gave up rock 'n' roll to find work in the food industry and survived a devastating layoff to start his own wildly successful company
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲▼ to The Globe and Mail, Thursday, December 22, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- When he was a long-haired member of a rock band in his 20s, Bruce KIRKWOOD was admonished by a family member who told him that he wouldn't amount to anything. The remark didn't faze him. Years later, when he was suddenly laid off from a good job, he didn't let that bother him, either. Instead, he formed his own company and acquired distribution rights to Yellow Tail Shiraz, an Australian product that has become a Canadian wine craze.
In his first career choice, Mr. KIRKWOOD had been bass guitarist and trumpet player in the bands Magic Bubble and Seadog, groups whose 36 recordings included five albums. Magic Bubble was so chic in Canada that it earned a full-page feature in the Toronto Star on December 23, 1973. "Brian was a natural comedian," said Frank CHIARELLI, a band mate for five years. "He did a lot of comedy sketches on stage."
Later, when he sought a more stable life, Mr. KIRKWOOD got involved in selling food and beverages, first with Campbell Soup Co. in Alberta and then later in Ontario where he became sales manager of its canned-food division.
"I sort of broke company rules at Campbell by hiring Brian when he was over 30," said Les ROBINSON, one of Mr. KIRKWOOD's bosses. "But he had some experience with a prepared-meats company and he played in a band, which meant he had experience meeting the public. We put him on our watch list."
Mr. KIRKWOOD stayed with Campbell for close to five years before jumping to Bright's Wines (now Vincor) in 1980 where he was responsible for its retail stores. In 1988, he moved to United Distillers, which later became the huge conglomerate Diageo Canada. He rose to become national vice-president of sales but left the company when he was laid off in 1993.
While being suddenly jobless was devastating, Mr. KIRKWOOD returned to the industry at the head of a company that would sell and market international wines, beers and spirits. In its early days, the Kirkwood Group had just one product -- DAB beer from Germany and struggled to stay in business. Then, in 2000, everything changed. He attended a trade show in Bordeaux, France, where he met Australian John Soutter, Yellow Tail's export director, with the result that the KIRKWOOD Group beat out industry giants Diageo and Maxxium for the prized account.
That hurdle removed, Mr. KIRKWOOD then had to convince the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to put Yellow Tail on its store shelves. "The first cases rolled into Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores in late summer of 2003," said Peter KIRKWOOD, one of Mr. KIRKWOOD's sons. "We knew it would be a great success and we believed in the product. The wine changed the focus of the company."
Yellow Tail Shiraz has since supplanted Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon as the top-selling red wine in Ontario and Canada. Yellow Tail Chardonnay is also a popular product and ranks second in white-wine sales behind Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay.
In the fiscal year that ended in September of 2005, 495,000 cases of Yellow Tail wine were sold in Canada, including 345,000 in Ontario. In addition, the company retains DAB, along with Dooley's, a toffee-flavoured cream liqueur, and a slow-aged Nicaraguan rum, plus a number of French wines.
"Brian helped turn that company into a multi-million dollar operation," said Les ROBINSON.
Brian KIRKWOOD was born April 1, 1943, in Kitchener, Ontario He died on August 31, 2005, of cancer at his home in Oakville, Ontario He was 62. He is survived by his wife Liz, brother David and children Peter, Katie, Justin and Kevin, plus stepchildren Jenn, Christopher and Tim. He was predeceased by his parents Alan and June.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-12-24 published
Lucy HOPKINS, Real Estate Agent (1926-2005)
In 1969, Toronto's first millionaire female realtor was declared champion of all agents in North America regardless of gender
By Danny GALLAGHER, Special▲ to The Globe and Mail, Saturday, December 24, 2005, Page S9
Toronto -- In 1970, a headline in the Toronto Telegram proclaimed "The best salesman is a lady called Lucy." That was Lucy HOPKINS.
Mrs. HOPKINS was a pioneering real estate agent, whose aggressive sales impetus spawned an entry of females into the industry en masse as the 1970s dawned. In an industry where most real estate agents were, and are, still male, Mrs. HOPKINS was a star, earning the distinction of commanding more than $60,000 in commission in 1969, exceptional coin for that era. That made her the champion of real estate agents in North America, including men and women.
Mrs. HOPKINS sold 80 homes in 1969, some for as much as $2.5-million, thus vaulting her into the Millionaires Club and into the headlines with the result that many women flocked to real estate. Nowadays, the Toronto Real Estate Board says about 40 per cent of agents under its jurisdiction are women.
"We're always the last people to arrive at parties or things like that because just before we leave I always get an offer I have to check," Mrs. HOPKINS told the Telegram, explaining her success.
"She's sold just about every type of house there is -- except hydro substations," her husband Richard said in the same story.
The joke about hydro substations was in reference to the time she was making cold calls as an Avon salesperson. One day, she stumbled upon a hydro substation that was disguised to look like a residential property. No one answered the door. She peered through the window and discovered the occupants of the property were transformers, not human beings.
"They make the substations look like houses in the residential areas with venetian blinds, even," Mrs. HOPKINS said, in explaining the embarrassment. "It's hard to recognize them."
That occurred when the Avon lady slung the bag on her shoulder, her daughter Barbara PAYNE said. "Today, they do a lot of their selling by phone or on the Internet."
Lucy HOPKINS was born in Ukraine and spent time in a labour camp in Germany during the Second World War. Later, to escape hardships, her mother brought her to Canada without knowing if her husband survived the war. Eventually, they found out he was alive but never saw him again.
In Toronto, Mrs. HOPKINS first worked as a legal secretary for $60 a week. In no time, she was selling cosmetics for Avon, winning many awards in the process, one of which was presented to her at a U.S. convention by actress Joan Crawford. Two years later, her shoulders complaining from all the constant lugging of the product bag, she decided to switch to real estate. She reckoned all an agent needed was a light bag or purse.
"Although she won many awards with Avon, this did not challenge her ability to develop new ideas," said her friend Al CAMERON.
She remained in real estate for about 20 years, routinely working 10 hours a day, and formed her own company in Toronto's Markland Wood district, which was her own West End neighbourhood. "I doubt if there is a house in Markland Wood that she didn't sell at some time or other," Mr. CAMERON said.
In the process she became a millionaire.
"My mother worked very hard at real estate," her daughter said. "Even if it was Christmas, she was off checking out property with clients."
In 1985, Mrs. HOPKINS retired for health reasons and instead devoted much of her time to Probus activity groups that are aimed at retired business people.
"Lucy was a kind person who liked to work in the background and didn't expect credit for her accomplishments," Mr. CAMERON said. "She was intelligent, classy and charming. She was a founding member of Probus Etobicoke and was instrumental in finding a core of people to start the club by door-to-door canvassing for members and by advertising in local newspapers."
Because of her, Probus membership leapt by 200 per cent within three years.
Lucy HOPKINS was born January 11, 1926, in Ukraine. She died of cancer on October 5, 2005, in Toronto. She is survived by her daughter Barbara. She was predeceased by her husband Richard.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-11 published
FAIRBANKS, Mary Ellen
Passed away quietly at her home, on January 3, 2005. Daughter of the late Fred and Alice FAIRBANKS. Sister of Eva GALLAGHER and the late Fred and Wilf FAIRBANKS. Loved by many nieces and nephews. A Memorial Service will be held at the Jerrett Funeral Home - North York Chapel, 6191 Yange Street (2 lights South of Steeles Ave.) on Friday, January 14, 2005 at 11 a.m.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-11 published
GALLAGHER, Ethel I.
Peacefully at the Ina Grafton Gage Home on Monday, January 10, 2005, in her 96th year. Ethel, beloved wife of the late Malcolm Stuart GALLAGHER. Predeceased▲ by her sisters Ana FENTON and Edith JACKSON. Long time companion of Margaret MISKELLY. Loving aunt of her many nieces and nephews. Ethel was a member of Kew Beach United Church for over 50 years. A special thanks to all the caregivers at the Ina Grafton Gage Home. Friends will be received at Sherrin Funeral Home, 873 Kingston Road, west of Victoria Park Ave. (416-698-2861) from 9 a.m. Wednesday morning until the time of the Service in our chapel at 10 a.m. Interment Resthaven Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Building Fund of the Ina Grafton Gage Home.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-16 published
LEMIEUX, Ethel Anna (née JOHNSTON)
"Welcome her Lord with open arms into everlasting life."With sadness we announce the passing on Friday, January 14, 2005 of Ethel Anna LEMIEUX (Ann) of Crystal Beach, Ontario, formerly of Toronto. Ann will be lovingly remembered by her children Joel (Mary) of Toronto, Rick (Wendy) of Sherwood Park, Alberta and Charmaine (Larry) SHERRIFF of Calgary, Alberta; eight grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren and especially her dear and special friend Kim GALLAGHER of Crystal Beach, Ontario. Ann was predeceased by her husband Joseph. A funeral service celebrating Ann's life will be held on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at 1: 00 p.m. at the Humphrey Funeral Home and Chapel, 1403 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario. Cremation. In lieu of floral tributes, memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-17 published
BAKER- PEARCE, Benjamin▲ " Tim▲"
Former Owner of the Alliston Herald, Past President Rotary Club of Alliston, Member of Alliston Legion Branch 171, Past President of Alliston Probus Club, Active Community Volunteer. Passed away peacefully at his home after a brief illness on Saturday, January 15, 2005, in his 78th year. Beloved husband of Jean LIVINGSTON of Alliston. Dear father of Janet and her husband Thomas McKAVANAGH of Reno, Nevada, Judith and her husband John DAY of Newmarket, Ontario, Kathryn and her husband John GALLAGHER of Wampsville, New York. Loved Grandad of Keenan McKAVANAGH, Jacqueline, Mackenzie and Cameron DAY, Brendan and Alison GALLAGHER. Dear brother of Michael and Deardrie BAKER- PEARCE of Fergus, Ontario, Millicent BLOXWICH of Scotland, Mary and Richard SHALLCROSS of England and predeceased by Cordelia, Gerald (Dan), William and Joan. Tim will be fondly remembered by his nieces, nephews and many Friends. Resting at the W. John Thomas Funeral Home, 244 Victoria Street E., Alliston from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Thursday. Funeral Service will be held in the Chapel on Friday, January 21, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m., followed by cremation. If so desired, memorial donations to the Parkinson Society of Canada would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-17 published
GALLAGHER, Anne
(Long Time Resident of Willowdale) Passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 16, 2005 at the age of 91 at the Markhaven Seniors Home, Markham. Predeceased by her husband Henry. Loving mother of Michael, Ron and his wife Lorraine. Devoted grandmother of Wendy and Kelly. She will be remembered for her love of life and her commitment to her family. Friends may call on Wednesday, January 19 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home, 6150 Yonge Street (at Goulding, south of Steeles). Funeral Service in the Chapel on Thursday, January 20 at 11: 00 a.m. Cremation to follow.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-02-23 published
ROBERTSON, Mary (née DARLING)
Born July 18, 1912; Motherwell, Scotland Passed away peacefully following a brief illness on Saturday, February 19, 2005. Happily married to Alexander since April 29, 1933. She will be missed by her children Alex (Sarah), Craig (Nancy), Jeanette (Doug) and her grandchildren which she adored: Blair (Mary), Lori Anne, Scott, Mary (Dave), Darlene (Ken), Lisa, Pam (Mark), and Jim (Chris). Remembered by her great-grandchildren Kevin, Samantha, Matt, Brandon, Josh, Jenna, Brian, Leah, Lilith, Peter, Evie, Mya and Cameron. Mary is survived by her sister Jean GALLAGHER predeceased by Robert Emmett GALLAGHER and her sister Margaret (Joe McGONIGLE.) She will missed by many nieces, nephews and neighbours. Resting at Chapel Ridge Funeral Home, 8911 Woodbine Ave., Markham (three lights north of Hwy. 7), 905-305-8508. Visitation on Friday, February 25th from 12: 00-1:30 p.m. Funeral Service to follow at 1: 30 p.m. in the Chapel. Interment at St. Andrew's United Church Cemetery.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-03-12 published
MacDOUGALL, Catherine McIntyre
Peacefully, on Friday, March 4, 2005 at Isabel and Arthur Meighen Manor. Daughter of the late William and Janet MacDOUGALL. Special friend of Doris WHITE/WHYTE, Pamela and Arthur SELLERS, Peggy SPRACKLAND, Reta McWHINNIE and Marilyn GALLAGHER. A service will be held at St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church, 1399 Bayview Avenue, on Thursday, March 17th at 11 o'clock.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-05-10 published
GALLAGHER, William " Bill"
Passed away peacefully at the age of 76 at Humber River Regional Hospital on Sunday, May 8, 2005 after a courageous battle with cancer. Dearly loved husband of Beryl for 50 years. Cherished and loving father of Michael; Annette and Frank; Elaine and Chuck and Lorraine and Andrew. Proud grandfather of Shane and Daryn. Bill will be sadly missed by sisters Isobel and Blanche, and his many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents William and Martha, and his sisters Sarah and Mabel. He will be fondly remembered by a close network of Friends and extended family. Bill enjoyed life to the fullest. His greatest joy came from spending time with his family and Friends. As a young man, he was an accomplished hockey and lacrosse player. Later in life, he continued his passion for sports with golf and skating. He also loved the outdoors and enjoyed spending time at the cottage. His kindness and generosity will be missed by all. The family would like to extend their appreciation to the staff at Humber River Regional Hospital for their compassionate care. Friends may call at the Ward Funeral Home, 2035 Weston Rd. (north of Lawrence Ave.), Weston from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. A service will be held on Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Ward Chapel. Interment St. Philip's Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be greatly appreciated by the family.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-05-27 published
PETERS, George Albert
Passed away peacefully, in his 68th year, surrounded by his family, on Thursday, May 26, 2005, at Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket. Loving husband of Eunice of Keswick, for 41 years. Dear father of Linda and Roderick GALLAGHER and Jeffery and Deborah PETERS. Cherished Poppa of Sebastian, Simon, Daniel, Kaitlin, and Marissa. Survived by his brothers Ed (Mabel) and Joe (Mary), and brother-in-law to Frances and Graeme and Terry and Catherine. Predeceased by sisters Ellen DAVIS and Beatrice DOWELL. The family would like to give a special thanks to the nurses and staff of the Palliative Care Unit at Southlake Regional Health Centre for their wonderful and compassionate care. Visitation from M.W. Becker Funeral Home, 490 The Queensway S., Keswick, 1-888-884-4486, on Friday 7: 00 to 9:00 p.m. Funeral Service from the Chapel on Saturday, May 28, 2005 at 11: 00 a.m. Cremation. If desired, donations made to the Palliative Care Unit at Southlake Regional Health Centre would be appreciated by the family.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-03 published
GALLAGHER, Mark▲ Edward Blair
Suddenly, on June 1, 2005, in his 52nd year. Loving husband of Karen of Wasaga Beach. Daddy will be forever loved by his girls Holly and Amy. Mark will be remembered by his sons Matthew and Randy of Brampton. Dear son of Doreen and the late Grant GALLAGHER of Brampton. Survived by brother Doug of Orangeville, and predeceased by brother David. Friends may call at the Watts Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 132 River Rd. E., Wasaga Beach (1 block E. of Main Street), 705-429-1040, Friday, June 3, 2005 from 7-9 p.m. and from the Prince of Peace Anglican Church (565 Mosley Street), Wasaga Beach, Saturday, June 4, 2005 from 1-2 p.m. Funeral Service will be conducted from the Prince of Peace Anglican Church (565 Mosley Street), Wasaga Beach, Saturday, June 4, 2005 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital would be appreciated. Cremation.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-08 published
EVANS, Thomas David John (1923-2005)
John, beloved and devoted husband of Joyce Evelyn (LEATHAM) for 57 years died peacefully on Tuesday, July 5, 2005, surrounded by the love and support of his cherished family; his loving twin daughters and their spouses Ruth (Gary) NORTON, and Janet (John) WOODBRIDGE, and his very special and much loved grandchildren Andrew (Sandra) and Lindsay (Ryan LONG) WOODBRIDGE and Evan NORTON. John was born in South Wales but grew up in Great Crosby, Liverpool, England. He served valiantly with the British Royal Navy from 1943-1946. Upon immigrating to Canada, he worked as a design draftsman before finding a fulfilling career in teaching. After graduating from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Education, he taught at Dunbarton and West Hill Collegiates. He was a technical director for many years, before retiring in 1986. John will be sadly missed by his loving family in England; especially Muriel LEATHERBARROW, Valerie and Alan PHILIPPS, Judith and Trevor JONES John and Maria EVANS; David and Claire EVANS, Chris and Georgina EVANS, Al and Lyn LEATHAM, Shirley and Bill GALLAGHER and their families, and by his many Canadian and American Friends. A celebration of John's life will be held at Saint Margaret's-in-the-Pines Anglican Church, 4130 Lawrence Ave. East, (West Hill) on Monday July 11th 2005 at 2: 00 p.m. Visitation from 1:00 p.m. until time of service at 2: 00 p.m. The family greatly appreciates the outstanding, compassionate care given to him by his doctors and nurses at Rouge Valley Centenary Hospital, and the Margaret Birch wing. Donations in John's memory may be made to the Arthritis and Auto Immune Research Centre Foundation (A.A.R.C.) or the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-16 published
ROBERTSON, Alexander Charles
Born December 14, 1905, Aberdeen, Scotland, in his 100th year. Passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 14, 2005. Predeceased by his loving wife of 72 years, Mary Anne DARLING. He will be sadly missed by his children, Alex (Sarah), Craig (Nancy), Jeanette (Doug) and his grandchildren Blair (Mary), Lori Anne, Scott, Mary (Dave), Darlene (Ken), Lisa, Pam (Mark), and Jim (Chris) of whom he was very proud. Special grandfather to John and Jason. Remembered by his great-grandchildren Kevin, Samantha, Matt, Brandon, Josh, Jenna, Brian, Leah, Lilith, Peter, Evie, Mya and Cameron. He is survived by his sister Gertrude BAIN and his sister-in-law Jean GALLAGHER and predeceased by brothers George, Frank, James, and John. He will also be missed by many nieces and nephews and neighbours of Lake Vista Avenue. The family would like to thank April Joy, Diane and Pat for their special attention and loving care of their father and mother in the last year. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, July 19th, 2005, at Chapel Ridge Funeral Home, 8911 Woodbine Ave., Markham (three lights north of Hwy. 7), 905-305-8508. Visitation with family from 12: 30 to 1: 30 p.m. and Service to follow in the Chapel at 2:00 p.m.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-08-15 published
McGURK, John Francis " Frank" (1914-2005)
Peacefully at Queen's Garden Hamilton after a life well lived, on Friday, August 12, 2005, in his 92nd year. Beloved husband of the late Nellie FLYNN (1989,) and the late Sandra Della SIEGA (2004.) Cherished father of Diane CULLEN and her husband Jim, and Donna McGUINNESS of Toronto. Proud grandfather of Gerry (Linda,) Michael (Julie), Pat (Colleen), and Peggy CULLEN, Cindy BINGHAM (Mike) and Patricia WIEMER (Kevin.) Doting great-grandfather of Meaghan, Kathleen, Molly, Rachael, and Abbey CULLEN and Brittany, Meaghan and Jesse WIEMER. Survived by his sister Theresia McCAFFREY, and by his sisters-in-law Bea McGURK, Joan GALLAGHER, Esther OLMOND, Jean DRAKE, Ann SUTTON, and Helen SPIERENBURG, and brothers-in-law Dan OLMOND and Dan GALLAGHER. Also lovingly remembered by many nieces and nephews. Frank retired from the Otis Elevator Co. with 35 years of service, which included production of Bofur guns during the war. He served many years on the Board of Directors of Hamilton Community Credit Union, and also on the Board of the Victoria Curling Club to which he was granted a lifetime membership. He was also a faithful usher at St. Charles Garnier Catholic Church. The family wishes to express deep gratitude to the staff at Queen's Garden for their loving care. The family will receive Friends at the P.X. Dermody Funeral Home, 7 East Avenue South, Hamilton, (905-572-7900) on Monday, August 15 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. with Vigil Prayers at 7 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be offered at St. Charles Garnier Catholic Church, (Hughson Ave., South at Augusta), Hamilton, on Tuesday, August 16 at 11 a.m. Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to the charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-09-16 published
JONES, Edward▲ George▲ " Ted▲"
On September 15, 2005, at Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto. Caring and loving husband of Janet (GALLAGHER) JONES. son of the late Robert and Elsie JONES. Brother▲ of Clifford and Paulette of Parry Sound, Murray of Toronto, and predeceased by his twin, Bill (William JONES.) Ted▲ will also be fondly remembered by his brothers and sisters-in-law George and Nola GALLAGHER of Burlington, Fred GALLAGHER of Barrie, Agnes GALLAGHER of Winnipeg, Pat and Einar FISKVATIN of Kitchener, and Barb and Jim CRAGG of Ottawa, as well as his many nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Ted's Life will be held at the R.S. Kane Funeral Home, 6150 Yonge Street (at Goulding, south of Steeles), on Sunday, September 25th at 2: 00 p.m. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Parkinson Society would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-05 published
RABEY, Ethel Mae (née GALLAGHER)
Passed away peacefully at Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket with her family by her side on Saturday, December 3, 2005. Predeceased by her loving husband Ken. Survived by her sons Wayne and Brian, six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral service at the Roadhouse and Rose Funeral Home, 157 Main St. South, Newmarket on Wednesday, December 7 at 11 a.m. with visitation one hour prior to the service. Interment at Sanctuary Park Cemetery, Toronto. Donations to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Lung Association would be appreciated.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-19 published
BROWN, Jean Helen
Peacefully passed away at Huron Lodge, Windsor on Friday, December 16, 2005 in her 92nd year. Beloved wife of the late Stuart BROWN. Loving mother of Mary Ellen McKEE and her husband James of Cornwall and Gerry BROWN of Windsor. Dear grandmother of Alicia and Michael and great-grandmother of Rheanna and Jazmine. Predeceased by her sister Lillian PITCHER, survived by sisters-in-law Loretto WHEELER (Gus,) Betty FLYNN (Joe,) and predeceased by sisters-in-law Velma MARTIN (Hank), Carmel GALLAGHER (Al) and Alma SHEEHAN (Jim). Jean will also be remembered by many nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter Butler Chapel, 4933 Dundas St. West, Etobicoke (between Islington and Kipling Aves.), from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday. Funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 10: 30 a.m. at Nativity of Our Lord Church, 480 Rathburn Rd., Etobicoke. Interment Assumption Cemetery.

  G... Names     GA... Names     GAL... Names     Welcome Home

GALLAGHER - All Categories in OGSPI

GAL surnames continued to 05gal004.htm