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HOLDER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-05-14 published
BARBER,
Ainsley
Clement
Suddenly at home on Wednesday May 11, 2005. Ainsley Clement
BARBER
of Norwich in his 96th year. Born 1909 in Delhi, Ainsley was
the son of the late Clayton and Ina Clare
BARBER. Dear brother
of Vera Grace
KLODT of Peterborough. Uncle of Robert
KLODT and
wife Jackie,
Carol
HOLDER and husband Arthur, Sylvia
REEVE and
husband Robert. Also survived by many great nieces and nephews.
Predeceased by a sister Ruby. Ainsley was a well known resident
for many years. Friends will be received at the Otterville Fellowship
Baptist Church 106 John St. N., Otterville on Tuesday 12: 30 p.m.
to 1: 30 p.m. Funeral service to follow at 1:30 p.m. with Rev.
Richard CROCKFORD officiating. Interment to follow luncheon at
Vanessa Cemetery. Donations to the Otterville Fellowship Baptist
Church would be appreciated. Funeral arrangements entrusted to
The Arn-Lockie Funeral Home, Norwich. (519) 863-3020
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HOLDER o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-11-08 published
HOLDER, "
Uncle
Buck"
In loving memory of my Godfather, Uncle Buck, who the angels
guided home 10 years ago today, November 8, 1995. The memories
are our keepsake, With which we will never part, God has you
in his keeping, And we have you in our hearts. Time may slip
away but we have the memories that will last forever. Love Debi,
Pat, Courtney and our guardian angel Jason 2002.
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HOLDER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-18 published
HOLDER,
Norman
Charles
Suddenly, at his residence in Cobourg, on Monday, January 17,
2005. Norman Charles
HOLDER was the beloved husband of Helen
HOLDER (née
ROBERTSON.) Dear father of Jane
HUGHES and her husband
David of Ajax and Catherine
MacNEILL and her husband Ian of Newcastle.
Grandfather of Elizabeth, Julia and Sarah. Brother of Joan
BROWN
of Cobourg, also Margaret
HOLDER, predeceased. Following cremation,
a service in memory of Norman will be held at the Church of St.
Peter (corner of King St. E. and College), Cobourg on Friday,
January 21, 2005 at 2 p.m. Interment at the Heritage Cemetery
of St. Peter. If desired, donations in memory of Norman can be
made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Condolences to www.maccoubrey.com.
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HOLDER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-14 published
CUPPLES,
Bruce
Carmen
Peacefully at his home in Cannington on Sunday, June 12, 2005
at the age of 82 years. Bruce
CUPPLES, formerly of Sutton and
Ravenshoe, beloved husband of Evelyn (née
CROUTCH.) Dear father
of Gary of Cannington and Kevin and his wife Carol of Sutton.
Loving grandfather of Amy
CUPPLES. Dear brother of Don
CUPPLES
and his wife
Rita of Lindsay and Grace
BRETHOUR and her husband
Lorne of Sunderland. Predeceased by his sister Ollie
HOLDER.
Resting at the Taylor Funeral Home, 20846 Dalton Road, Sutton
from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday. Funeral Service in the Chapel
Wednesday at 2: 00 p.m. Interment, Queensville Cemetery, Queensville.
Donations to the Alzheimer Society or a charity of choice would
be appreciated by the family.
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HOLDER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-09-28 published
SINGER,
Robert
N.,
Hon. B.Sc.,
LLB
Peacefully surrounded by his family on Monday, September 26,
2005 after a valiant battle with cancer. Bob, beloved husband
of Mary of Newmarket. Proud and loving father of Ryan, Roland
and Raymond of Newmarket. Also survived by his brother Richard
of Barrie, sister Margaret
HOLDER of Glencoe and brother Ralph
of Comoka. Bob will be deeply missed by his extended family and
many Friends. Friends may call at at Thompson Funeral Home, 29
Victoria Street, Aurora (905-727-5421), on Thursday, September
29 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A Funeral Service will be held at Trinity
Anglican Church, 79 Victoria Street, Aurora on Friday at 11 a.m.
Cremation. Donations to Hill House Hospice or Southlake Regional
Health Centre Cancer Care Clinic would be appreciated by the
family. A special thank you to Dr. Nancy
MERROW and her staff
at Southlake Cancer Clinic and Anne-Marie
DEAN and her staff
at Hill House Hospice.
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HOLDER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-11-15 published
MANN,
Ronald▲
James▲
At Gateway Haven, Wiarton, on Sunday November 13, 2005. Ron
MANN
of Wiarton and formerly of Southampton in his 83rd year. Ron
was a Veteran of World War 2 being a member of the Royal Canadian
Air Force, Hurricane Fighters and in his retirement loved to
fish the Saugeen River. Husband of the late Beaulah
MANN.
Dear
brother of Laurence Frank and his wife Shirley of Bancroft, Jean
MacPHERSON of Toronto and Shirley
HOLDER of Pickering. Predeceased
by his daughter, Evelyn
STEPPACHER, his parents James and Emma
MANN and by his brother Richard. At Ron's request there will
be no visitation. Cremation. Friends and family will gather for
a Memorial Service at a later date. Expressions of remembrance
to the Heart and Stoke Foundation. Arrangements entrusted to
the Eagleson Funeral Home, Southampton (800) 858-9544. Condolences
may be forwarded to the family through www.eaglesonfuneralhome.com
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HOLDER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-31 published
A loving mother's son
Andre BURNETT's five half-siblings all grew into the adults their
mother hoped they would
So how did her sixth child end up on the most-wanted list and
then in the morgue?
By Jim RANKIN,
Staff
Reporter,
Page
A22
Andre BURNETT began life as an independent boy, raised by a loving
mother in a poor neighbourhood. At some point, for reasons this
city must reckon with, he decided to live by the gun. He was
murdered September 10 -- becoming Toronto's 54th homicide victim
of the year, and the 36th to be killed by a gun.
His tall, thin frame was draped over a chair, and beneath the
brim of a baseball cap, the lucky man's eyes were further obscured
by wraparound sunglasses.
He had a criminal record for drug and firearms offences. Not
reflected on that record was the fact he'd been accused (but
not convicted) of pulling the trigger a couple of times in his
24 years. He'd also, in July 2003, taken a police hollow-point
bullet between the shoulder blades, just left of his spine.
Although his left arm, damaged by that police shooting, would
take time to heal, that was all in Andre
BURNETT's past. He considered
himself lucky. He could have found himself in jail -- or not
sitting there at all.
On that day this past June when
BURNETT sat down for an interview
a lawyer to his left, and mother to his right -- there was
big hope that his luck would continue.
"I'm going to get a place, my own place, with my girl,"
BURNETT
said. "Stay out of trouble."
He also planned to stay away from Jane and Finch, the neighbourhood
where he grew up, was schooled, and had made Friends and enemies.
Three months later, there were funeral plans. "He was slaughtered,"
says his mom, Cecile
CASE
HOLDER, in her late 50s.
Andre Malik
BURNETT left behind a son, 6, a daughter, 4, and
the mother of his children.
In a city hurting from a spate of other gun-and-gang-related
killings this year, mostly of young black men, and numb from
the shooting death this week of 15-year-old Jane
CREBA caught
in crossfire while holiday shopping,
BURNETT's life and death
also leaves behind a list of post-mortem questions.
Perhaps the most instructive is the question of how his four
half-brothers and a half-sister grew into the adults
CASE
HOLDER
had hoped they would, and her sixth child ended up in the morgue?
It is Black youth that is unemployed in excessive numbers, it
is Black students who are being inappropriately streamed in schools,
it is Black kids who are disproportionately dropping out, it
is housing communities with large concentrations of Black residents
where the sense of vulnerability and disadvantage is most acute,
it is Black employees, professional and non-professional, on
whom the doors of upward equity slam shut. Just as the soothing
balm of "multiculturalism" cannot mask racism, so racism cannot
mask its primary target -- Stephen Lewis, Report on Racism in
Ontario, 1992
Under circumstances that are the subject of a Toronto Police
Service homicide investigation,
BURNETT, having just served a
60-day stint in jail for breaching parole conditions, wound up
back home the afternoon of Saturday, September 10.
It's believed he was driven to Jane St. and Driftwood Ave., not
far from his childhood home, his mother says. What is certain
is that he was killed around 3 p.m. Witnesses: heard a loud argument,
followed by gunfire.
BURNETT was reportedly hit by eight bullets.
He collapsed on a footbridge. He was, according to police, unarmed.
BURNETT was no angel when he left this world, and to that his
mother attests. But on May 27, 1981, born at Toronto General
Hospital, he began as one.
Cecile CASE
HOLDER had come to Canada from Jamaica in the late
1970s, leaving behind four sons and a daughter from a previous
marriage, with the hope of establishing a new home for them in
Toronto.
With the birth of Andre in 1981, fathered by a man
CASE
HOLDER likens to a "bad accident" who had very little to do with
her son's life, she was done with having children.
Baby Andre, however, "was very sweet. He was my last of six."
BURNETT spent the first five years of his life growing up in
an apartment near Bathurst St. and Lawrence Ave. W. -- a predominantly
Jewish neighbourhood where one cannot walk a block without finding
a bagel shop, and, today, bungalows are being torn down to make
way for the occasional monster home.
He wasn't to go near the stove in their apartment, but on Saturdays,
when CASE
HOLDER was not working, her young son would show up
at her bedside with a cup of tea.
"Here, mommy, is your tea," he would say.
"Sometimes he'd drink half of it before he got up there," says
CASE
HOLDER. "He was very independent. He would go to his drawer
and, in the summer, take out a matching shorts and top. In the
wintertime, he would match his clothes."
CASE
HOLDER worked for a car parts manufacturer, and by 1985,
had waded through the bureaucratic red tape required to sponsor
her five children from Jamaica. They joined her in the two-bedroom
apartment CASE
HOLDER had been sharing with her youngest, and
the elder five enrolled in local schools. The apartment would
not do for long.
It was clear she had to move, but couldn't afford the rent for
the kind of space she needed in that neighbourhood.
"So I went and I applied for the Metro Housing, and that's how
I end up in Jane and Finch," says
CASE
HOLDER. "
Didn't know I
was going into the lion's den."
This reality of huge housing projects creating what many called
"communities in distress" has to be dealt with. They're often
under-serviced, and a persuasive case can be made for better
transportation, for a Community College campus, for a thriving
community centre, for some kind of outdoor recreational space.
The list goes on. It all has relevance. -- Stephen Lewis, 1992
report
It may have been only a few kilometres away, but the move to
Toronto Community Housing Corp., subsidized housing on Shoreham
Dr., east of Jane St. and north of Finch Ave. W., might as well
have been to another planet. A very small and concentrated one.
Bordered by Black Creek Pioneer Village immediately to the north,
and York University to the east, the low-rise brick buildings
are home to some of the city's least well off, and historically,
a place where gunfire is not unexpected.
In other areas of Jane and Finch, however, gunfire is not expected
at all. And this is what Jane-Finch ratepayers not living in
the pockets of public housing most susceptible to drug dealing,
gangs and associated violence have taken great pains over the
years to point out.
All that likely would have been lost on little Andre. He started
school at Shoreham Public School, where he quickly fell in love
with his kindergarten teacher. His siblings, however, continued
to go to school in their old neighbourhood, where they had the
kind of role models outside the family young Andre would find
in short supply.
"All the older kids were seeing around them was positive things,"
says CASE
HOLDER. "
Andre was the baby who started school in the
Jane and Finch area."
From the beginning,
CASE
HOLDER says she didn't like what she
was seeing in the new area, and for that reason kept her children
on a tight leash. There were curfews, and strict rules. "I started
to observe how people live, and their kids running around. I
was tough on my kids," she says, recalling one instance where
she delivered a walloping to her daughter, at the time an A-student
who was starting to cut school. "I busted her behind."
CASE
HOLDER tried her best to ensure her work hours didn't interfere
with her job of raising six children on her own, but when her
youngest was 8 or 9, she took up a new job from midnight to 8
a.m. cleaning luxury boxes at the newly opened SkyDome.
On her very first shift, the police came calling to her townhome.
CASE
HOLDER says they were looking for a neighbour who had sold
cocaine to an undercover officer, but ended up arresting one
of Andre's half-brothers. During the nighttime raid, police searched
the house with guns drawn, including Andre's room, while he was
in bed.
"My house was like five hurricanes passed through it," she says.
"They didn't even apologize," she says, "and later they arrested
the guy who they wanted."
The charges against her son were eventually dismissed, but the
raid left her youngest with an indelible impression of police,
and white people. Young Andre soon began seeing a therapist,
who happened to be white. His mother remembers he was wary. "The
white people are bad," she recalls him saying, "because, why
would they put a gun into my head?"
Of all Jamaican children under 19 years of age, 62.7 percent
live in lone parent families, as do 54.8 percent of children
who are African and Black and 52.1 percent of children from "other
Caribbean nations." In these three groups, respectively, 64.5,
63.2, and 57.8 percent of children are below the poverty line
Ethno-Racial Inequality in Toronto: Analysis of the 1996 Census,
by Michael Ornstein, 2000
When Andre
BURNETT was in his mid-teens,
CASE
HOLDER discovered
a gun outside their townhome. That, she says, was "the reason
why I took my baby and left Jane and Finch one morning."
She moved right out of Canada, to a city in the northeastern
U.S., where she lives to this day and works as a caregiver in
a hospital. She enrolled
BURNETT in a high school there, but
he soon was asking to go home, back to Toronto, to finish his
schooling.
Another reason he wanted to go home, says his mother, was tight
security at his new high school. He didn't like getting wanded
every day. He didn't feel the school was safe.
CASE
HOLDER, deciding
he was old enough at 17 to make his own decisions, let him go
home to Jane and Finch.
While violent crime in Toronto has been declining, young people's
involvement in, and victimization by crime has been trending
upwards over the past eight years. The number of youth is projected
to grow by 21 per cent in five years -- Toronto's Vital Signs
2005: The City's Annual Check-up
BURNETT initially moved in with a girlfriend of
CASE
HOLDER's,
then with one of his half-brothers. He had arrived back home
with thoughts of going to York University, as one of his brothers
had. He was bright, into computers, and also looking at a possible
career in music, says his mother.
"He liked to write music. He wanted to be a record producer,"
she says. "He had some stuff that he wrote, but I don't know
where they are, and most of the things that he used to write
was against, like, the brutality of police. He used to write
heavy stuff, like Tupac Shakur."
CASE
HOLDER admits she doted on her youngest, particularly after
the others had left home. "The other kids used to say I spoil
him, but he was the only one that I had to support. So he used
to wear Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, stuff like that.
"Then he started wearing black, and clothes that I didn't like
to see him in. He started wearing his pants down, and when I
see him I would tell him, 'Pull your pants up.'"
At some point, the independent young boy
CASE
HOLDER had raised
became a follower. Just when, she is not sure, but says her son's
life changed some time after he went back home and enrolled at
Westview Centennial Secondary School, southwest of Jane and Finch.
"That was the doom. That's when all hell broke loose," she says,
blaming the school and poor choices in Friends for what followed.
(A vice-principal there, responding to a Star inquiry about
BURNETT's
days, said senior staff had moved on, and there was little she
could say other than he had attended the school.)
With the birth of a son,
BURNETT became a father before his 20th
birthday. He and his girlfriend later had a daughter as well,
and the two grandchildren remain an important part of
CASE
HOLDER's
life. She would come back to Toronto to visit, but she no longer
had a strong hold on her son. She did try, though.
She remembers one occasion when the half-brother
BURNETT had
been staying with called her to say he had taken to coming home
at 4 a.m. "And so I asked my son to drive him over to me. I remember
very clearly, I was in the kitchen, and (Andre) was talking to
me, and I had a mop like that in the corner, and I pulled him
up and I beat him, and was beating his ass with the mop.
"And he was, like, 'Mommy, Mommy.' He would never say a word
to make me upset. He would never, no matter what I do, and I
would rap him, and he would never open his mouth.
"He was never a disrespectful child, never."
He started racking up an adult criminal record, which included
drug and firearms offences. He was also fingered in a 2002 non-fatal
shooting but later saw charges dropped because of identification
problems. In connection with that shooting, he made the Toronto
Crime Stoppers 10-most-wanted list.
By then, he looked little like the boy
CASE
HOLDER had raised.
Nor like the young man wearing the red gown in his middle-school
graduation picture. In one particular police mugshot, he wears
a beard. His eyes look dead.
On July 10, 2003, in a police operation aimed at flushing out
a wanted gunman in a park near Jane St. and Driftwood Ave.,
BURNETT
was shot once in the back by police, who alleged
BURNETT had
fired first. Police found a 9 mm handgun at the scene, but, following
a thorough search of the area by the province's civilian Special
Investigations Unit, no forensic evidence was found to indicate
the gun had been fired that night -- no residue, no shell and
no bullet could be found. The Special Investigations Unit found
the shooting to be justified, and cleared the two officers who
opened fire of any wrongdoing.
BURNETT, badly wounded by the police bullet, found himself charged
with attempting to kill the two officers.
One dramatic reversal in policy concerned the equity policies
enacted by the Liberal and New Democratic Party governments.
The Conservatives shut down an Anti-Racism Secretariat created
by the New Democratic Party, and its counterpart in the Ministry
of Education, abandoned policies aimed at increasing gender equity
in administrative posts in education, and deleted references
to pro-equity goals -- Stephen E. Anderson and Sonia Ben Jaafar,
Policy Trends in Ontario Education, 2003
On most days, Winston
LAROSE of the Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens
Organization can be found in a cluttered second-floor office
at Yorkgate Mall, a rejuvenated shopping centre on the northwest
corner of Jane and Finch. Over the years,
LAROSE, a trained psychiatric
nurse, has watched and lived the hurt of young black men in the
neighbourhood.
He never knew
BURNETT, but he knows the story.
"Somewhere along the line, we have failed them as a society,"
says LAROSE. "We are a particularly impoverished area, in terms
of social, cultural values and economics and the whole thing.
Single mothers raising children, without the means to do it properly,
absent fathers, inadequate material things in the home, hardly
can pay the rent, distressed mother, Children's Aid having ready
access to their children, police officers coming and knocking
on the doors.
"It's not treated in the same way as a kid who goes to Upper
Canada College, for instance. They're growing up in different
worlds."
Generally, he says, this has all translated into a loss of a
proper sense of self-esteem and humanity.
"What's been critically important for our community has been
the devaluation of social life -- all together, the devaluation
of our sense of humanity. I think it's stepped away from strong
traditional values that are critical to developing human beings
that respect each other."
Those who choose to pull the trigger and take a life, he says,
are detached from that reality. "All that happens is an emotional
response to, 'You're wearing my colours,' and bam, you're gone."
Extra police alone, as has been pointed out by many this past
year in Toronto, is not the answer, he says. "All we're going
to have is like Harlem in the old days, or Chicago, where police
with guns are patrolling certain neighbourhoods and other neighbourhoods
don't have that experience, and this is where we're heading right
now."
The warning signs have been long been there, he points out, dating
back decades, and perhaps most ominously as laid out in Stephen
Lewis's 1992 report on anti-black racism in Ontario, which was
ordered up by Bob Rae, the New Democratic Party premier of the
day, following the "Yonge St. riots" that stemmed from the verdict
in the police beating case of motorist Rodney King in Los Angeles.
Things have not much improved in Ontario, says
LAROSE, who cites
funding decisions made during the years of the Mike Harris Progressive
Conservative government as one of the root causes behind the
trouble many of Toronto's most impoverished youth, and black
youth in particular, are in today.
"What he did is he restructured schools, and the schools in this
area suffered from that. It reduced the number of teachers in
the schools. It removed the schools from the domains of the community
itself, where they had access, ready access for things like after-school
programs, recreational programs and activities.
"A lot of community activities were conducted in those schools
and people literally saw those schools as being some place where
they could go. That's gone.
"There's kind of a general disrespect for the black community
at large that seems to be acceptable," says
LAROSE. "
That is
still very much in existence, and we need to do something to
alter that, to change that.
"It has to start with the children we have right now, that are
at the age of 5 and 6 and 7," he says -- and then pauses.
"Many of these kids that are committing all these murders, these
are Harris's children, because they were 5 and 6 years old (in
1995), and these were the kids that got neglected."
Following the police shooting,
BURNETT spent most of his recovery
in jail, where he remained until this past summer, when the most
serious charges against him were suddenly dropped after one of
the two police officers he was accused of trying to kill, on
the eve of
BURNETT's trial, changed his story. In a last-minute
deal, BURNETT pleaded guilty to possessing the handgun, and walked
out of court a free man.
Upon his release from jail,
CASE
HOLDER noticed changes in her
son. His head, in her words, wasn't "right." Still, he was a
lucky man, and talked of settling down and perhaps getting back
to his education. When he came to the Star to tell his story,
he did it with the intention of filing a potential lawsuit against
police. He said little, but claimed he never had a gun the night
police shot him.
Despite the subsequent launch of an internal police investigation
into police testimony and note-taking in the case, the two officers
were lauded for their actions the night
BURNETT was shot by police.
The officers received their awards at police headquarters September
20. By then, Andre
BURNETT had been dead for all of 10 days,
having been gunned down near his old home, becoming Toronto's
54th homicide victim of the year.
There is no indication
BURNETT was in a gang. Nor have police
indicated what they think might be a motive for his killing.
To this day, his mother is incensed that police would hand out
an award so close to his death. But she is hopeful that she will
one day attend the trial of whoever took her son's life.
She says she has an idea who did it -- "Friends," she says, from
his high school days. And she blames them, and the old neighbourhood,
for his demise. She makes no specific mention of any government
policy. BURNETT was 14 in 1995 when the Harris government ushered
in its Common Sense Revolution platform. All of his older half-brothers
and half-sister, the closest of whom was 21 at the time, were
out of the secondary school system by then.
Today, one of his half-brothers is an accountant, studying journalism.
Another is an Ontario government worker. The remaining two are
a house painter and a self-employed electronics technician.
BURNETT's
half-sister is a bank supervisor.
Andre BURNETT went home this summer, and lies buried in the most
expensive coffin his family could afford.
"I know he's in a better place. You should see him. He looked
so peaceful," she says. "The funeral home did a good job by him.
It was like the day I gave birth to him. He was that perfect
child."
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HOLDER - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLDING o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2005-03-16 published
BUTTERS,
Lois
Marjorie (née
DILLABOUGH)
Peacefully, with her daughter by her side, at the Grey Bruce
Health Services in Owen Sound on Monday, March 14th, 2005. Lois
Marjorie GEORGAS-
BUTTERS (née
DILLABOUGH,) of Owen Sound, in
her 71st year. Beloved Mother of Lili Anne
HOLDING, of Owen Sound.
Proud
Yia
Yia of Christopher
HOLDING and his fiancée, Angela
BARTLEY of Waterdown, Jeffrey
HOLDING and Laura
HOLDING, of Barrie.
Lois will be sadly missed by her brother, Beverley
DILLABOUGH
& his wife
Noreen, of Forest, and her sister-in-law, Arlene
DILLABOUGH,
of Paris. Predeceased by her son, Bradley
GEORGAS, her parents,
William and Lillian
DILLABOUGH, her brother, James
DILLABOUGH and
an infant sister, Emily Lillian
DILLABOUGH. A Private Family
Memorial Service will be held on Friday, March 18th, 2005 in
the Chapel of the Brian E. Wood Funeral Home, 250 - 14th Street
West, Owen Sound (376-7492). Interment in Greenwood Cemetery.
If so desired, the family would appreciate donations to the Canadian
Cancer Society as your expression of sympathy.
Page A2
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HOLDING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-16 published
EWART,
Edna
Elsie (née
HOLDING)
In Hamilton, on March 14, 2005 in her 94th year. Beloved wife
of the late Group Captain Frederick J.
EWART (1906-1980.) Also
predeceased by her second husband, Group Captain Z. Lewis
LEIGH,
and her sisters, Hilda Grace
HOLDING and Iris Lucy
MORRISON.
Born in Ottawa, the second daughter of William and Harriet
HOLDING,
Edna was a long-time resident of Grimsby where she was active
in St. Andrew's Anglican Church and many community affairs. Survived
by her daughter Sondra and son-in-law Dr. Robert
ARCHIBALD of
Brantford and son Dr. David
EWART and daughter-in-law Vivian
of Calgary: grandchildren Laurel
ARCHIBALD and Shelly
BROWN of
Toronto Duncan
ARCHIBALD of Durham, England, and Matthew, Alistair
and Timothy
EWART of Calgary: great-grandchildren Samuel and
Katherine HALL and Melanie and Jack
BROWN of Toronto, and Ellen
and David ARCHIBALD of Durham. Visitation at the Stonehouse-Whitcomb
Funeral Home, 11 Mountain Street, Grimsby (905-945-2755) on Friday,
March 18, 2005 from 9: 30 am until the time of Service at 11 am
in the Funeral Home Chapel. Interment St. Andrew's Churchyard.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer Association of
Ontario or the charity of your choice will be appreciated.
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HOLDING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-15 published
BYRNE,
Lois▼
Dorothy▼
Passed away peacefully on June 14, 2005. Beloved wife of Thomas
C. BYRNE.
Much▼ loved sister of Margaret
BERTRAND and Barbara
NOBLE-
HOLDING.
Sadly▼ missed by her 10 nieces and nephews, 9 grandnieces
and nephews and numerous nieces and nephews and grandnieces and
nephews on her husband's side. Honours graduate of St. Michael's
College, University of Toronto. Former head of Moderns Department
at Forest Hill Collegiate. Long-time volunteer at Sunnybrook
Hospital. The family will receive Friends at the Humphrey Funeral
Home - A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Eglinton
Avenue East), from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. Mass of
the Resurrection will be celebrated Friday, June 17, 2005 at
1 o'clock at Blessed Sacrament Church (24 Cheritan Ave at Yonge
St.). Interment Mount Hope Cemetery. If desired, donations may
be may to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, 1929
Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4G 3E8 and would be greatly
appreciated by the family.
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HOLDING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-01-22 published
HOLDING,
Fred
Died peacefully, at the Carpenter's Hospice in Burlington, on
January 20, 2005, in his 84th year. He is survived by his six
children, Keith (Valerie) of Toronto, Brent (Elaine), Sharon
COONS
(Dave,) and Ronald, all of Burlington, Garth (Joanne) of
Dundalk, and Lorraine of Toronto. Companion to Kathy
LEMAY of
Burlington. He will be greatly missed by his grandchildren Laura,
Kevin, Kane, Vanessa, Christopher and Michael, along with his
extended family. Former husband of Jean
HOLDING.
Predeceased
by his brother Harold and sister Marjorie
LUXON. A Veteran of
World War 2, and retiree of Union Drawn Steel. Sincere thanks
are offered to the dedicated caregivers at Joseph Brant Hospital
and the Carpenter's Hospice where Fred received exemplary care.
In particular, Dr.
SALTER and Dr.
BERLINGIERI for their kindness
and compassion. At Fred's request, cremation has taken place.
Visitation at Smith's Funeral Home, 485 Brant Street, Burlington,
on January 23, 2005 from 3: 00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
- 9: 00 p.m. A celebration of Fred's life will take place at a
later date. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy to the
Carpenter's Hospice would be sincerely appreciated by the family.www.smithsfh.com
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HOLDING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-06-15 published
BYRNE,
Lois▲
Dorothy▲
Passed away peacefully on June 14, 2005. Beloved wife of Thomas
C. BYRNE.
Much▲ loved sister of Margaret
BERTRAND and Barbara
NOBLE-
HOLDING.
Sadly▲ missed by her 10 nieces and nephews, 9 grandnieces
and nephews and numerous nieces and nephews and grandnieces and
nephews on her husband's side. Honours graduate of St. Michael's
College, University of Toronto. Former head of Moderns Department
at Forest Hill Collegiate. Long-time volunteer at Sunnybrook
Hospital. The family will receive Friends at the Humphrey Funeral
Home - A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Eglinton
Avenue East), from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. Mass of
the Resurrection will be celebrated Friday, June 17, 2005 at
1 o'clock at Blessed Sacrament Church (24 Cheritan Ave. at Yonge
St.). Interment Mount Hope Cemetery. If desired, donations may
be made to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, 1929
Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4G 3E8 and would be greatly
appreciated by the family.
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HOLDING o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-11-10 published
HINTON,
Diane
Joyce (née
HOLDING)
Entered into rest at the Belleville General Hospital on Tuesday,
November 8th, 2005 in her 63rd year. Dear daughter of the late
Tom and Joyce
HOLDING.
Beloved wife of the late Kenneth
HINTON.
Dear friend of Alan
ASHTON of Belleville. Will be remembered
by her aunt and uncle Roy and Shirley
ALLEN, and by her sister-in-law
Shirley VANNORT.
With respect for Mrs.
HINTON's wishes, cremation
to take place. A private graveside service to be held at Pine
Hills Cemetery, Scarborough at a later date. As expressions of
sympathy, donations to the Lung Association would be appreciated
by the family. Belleville Funeral Home And Chapel (613-968-5080)
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HOLDING - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLDITCH o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-08-29 published
PARNEY,
Clifford
Grover
A resident of Ridgetown, Clifford Grover
PARNEY passed away at
the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Chatham, on Friday, August
26, 2005 at the age of 88 years. Born in Howard Township, son
of the late Frank and Pearl
(SMITH)
PARNEY.
Beloved husband of
the late Norma A.
(BETTS)
PARNEY (2002.) Dear father of Laraine
and her husband Ian
OSBORNE of Hamilton and the late Larry
PARNEY
(1984.) Grandfather of Cathy
BISHOP of Dundas, Doug
OSBORNE and
Sue TREGURTHA of Christchurch, New Zealand and
Jo Anna GROMADZKI
and her husband Jacek of Boston, Massachusetts. Great grandfather
of Andrew and Colleen
BISHOP.
Brother of Jean and Jack
THOMAS
of Windsor, Helen and Bill
BRIEN of Ridgetown and the late Warren
PARNEY (1974.) Also surviving is a former sister-in-law Rita
SMITH and her husband Wray. The
PARNEY family will receive Friends
at the McKinlay Funeral Home, 76 Main Street East, Ridgetown
on Monday, August 29, 2005 from 11: 30 until service time. Funeral
Service at the Funeral Home at 1: 30 p.m. with Reverend Dwight
HOLDITCH officiating. Interment of cremated remains at Greenwood
Cemetery, Ridgetown at a later date. Donations made by cheque
to the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation or Mt. Zion Presbyterian
Church are appreciated. Online condolences may be left at www.mckinlayfuneralhome.com.
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HOLDITCH o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-09-05 published
JONES,
Inez
Beatrice (née
RODGERS)
At Extendicare, Port Stanley on Saturday, September 3, 2005.
Inez Beatrice
JONES of R.R.#2, Aylmer in her 92nd year. Beloved
wife of the late Gordon S.
JONES (1993.) Loving mother of Alice
GRANNEN and husband Steve of Lambeth, Grace
JONES of London,
Kenneth JONES and wife
Linda of R.R.#2, Aylmer, Connie
KESTELOOT
and husband Luke of R.R.#6, Aylmer and David
JONES and wife
Laura
of Port Burwell. Dear sister of Evelyn
HOLDITCH and husband Douane,
Edna CARTER,
Harold
RODGERS and friend Norma, and Verna
GAUDIN.
Sister-in-law to Betty
RODGERS.
Also survived by a number of
grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Predeceased
by brothers Marvin, Howard and Alfred
RODGERS, a sister Leila
SMITH, brothers-in-law Leslie, Ray and Norman
JONES,
Charlie
SMITH and A.J.
CARTER, a sister-in-law Mabel
KELLY.
Born in Charlotteville
Township on July 15, 1914 daughter of the late Isaac and Eva
Mae (HOWICK)
ROGERS.
Inez was a member of the Aylmer Baptist
Church, past president of the Lakeview Baptist Church Mission
Circle and the Lakeview Women's Institute. Friends may call at
the H.A. Kebbel Funeral Home, Aylmer on Monday 7-9 p.m. and Tuesday
2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where the funeral service will be held on Wednesday
September 7, 2005 at 1: 00 p.m. Interment, Dunboyne Cemetery.
Rev. Cam WATTS, officiating. Donations to the Aylmer Baptist
Church or the Victorian Order of Nurses would be appreciated.
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HOLDITCH - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLDOM o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-03-20 published
GILLMAN,
James
At Humber River Regional Hospital - Church Site on Friday, March
18, 2005, at the age of 86. Beloved husband of the late Margaret
BUTLER. Dear father of Lynn and her husband John
KIROUAC.
Step-father
of Janet and her husband Charles
HUNT, and Barry and his wife
Geraldine BUTLER.
Loving grandfather of Jennifer, Melanie, Michelle,
Ryan, Noreen and Mark. Great-grandfather of Carson, Madeleine,
Joshua, Daniel, Rebecca and Hanna. Brother of Betty and her husband
Garnet, Winnifred
HOLDOM and the late Doreen
DOHERTY.
Resting
at Lynett Funeral Home, 3299 Dundas Street West (one block east
of Runnymede) from 12-2 p.m. on Monday, March 21. Funeral service
to follow in the Chapel at 2 p.m. Cremation and graveside service
to be held at a later date.
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HOLDOM - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-07-04 published
DROUILLARD,
Edmund "
Ed"
A resident of Chatham passed away peacefully surrounded by his
family at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance on Friday, July 1,
2005 at the age of 70. Born in Windsor,
son of the late Anthony
and Cornelia
(THOMAS)
DROUILLARD.
Beloved husband of Nancy
(BAILEY)
DROUILLARD of Chatham. Loving father of Sherry and Ray
GUIHER
of Michigan, Nancy and George
BAGNALL of R.R.#1 Pain Court, Gary
CADOTTE of Croton, Rick and Mary-Ann
CADOTTE of Chatham, Dave
and Tammy CADOTTE of Chatham, Tony and Debbie
DROUILLARD of Blenheim,
Tom and Tracy of London. Cherished grandfather of many grandchildren
and great grandchildren. Dear brother of Joyce
HOLE of Windsor,
Joan DALLAS of Kapuskasing and Tom
DROUILLARD of Windsor. Also
survived by many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by a son Bob
CADOTTE and a brother Larry
DROUILLARD.
The
DROUILLARD Family
will receive Friends at the John C. Badder Funeral Home, 72 Victoria
Street, Thamesville on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. and Tuesday,
July 5, 2005 from 9: 00 a.m. until the time of the funeral service
at 11: 00 a.m. with Fr. Andy
DWYER officiating. Cremation to follow.
Donations may be made at the funeral home by cheque to the Lung
Association. A tree will be planted in Memory of Ed
DROUILLARD
in the Badder and Robinson Memorial Forest, Mosa Twp.
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HOLE - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLFORD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-05-07 published
REED,
George
Bernard "
Bern"
After a valiant struggle with emphysema, it is with great sorrow
that we announce the passing, in his 80th year, of our dearly
loved husband, dad and grandpa at the Huntsville District Memorial
Hospital, with his family at his side on Wednesday, April 27,
2005. Beloved husband and best friend of Barbara for over 55
years, a longtime resident of Etobicoke and Mississauga and a
recent resident of Huntsville. Cherished father of Shelley Ralph
(Bill EVANS) of Owen Sound, Bob (Heather)
REED,
Cyndie
(Bryan
HOLFORD) all of Huntsville. Adored grandpa of Nancy, Bobby and
Nicci REED,
Riley
HOLFORD. He will be greatly missed by all of
his family and Friends for his giving nature, his sense of humour,
his wit and his great capacity for love. We shall never forget
him. Born and raised in Etobicoke he was the
son of George and
Nellie REED. Dear brother of Alberta
CANNON,
Donald
(Leslie)
REED, brother-in-law of Margaret
REED.
Predeceased by brother
Charles. At Bern's request cremation has taken place. A celebration
of his life will be held at the Billingsley Funeral Home, 430
Ravenscliffe Road, Huntsville on Saturday, May 21, 2005 at 11: 00
a.m. If desired, donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association
would be appreciated by the family. www.billingsleyfuneralhome.com
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HOLFORD - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLIDAY o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-11-12 published
MASUCH,
Donna
(CORNETT)
The family of Donna
MASUCH wish to thank all who assisted Donna
in her fight against cancer this past year. Dr.
HOLIDAY and staff,
Dr. YOUNS,
Dr.
PERERA and the staff at London Regional Cancer
Centre. Linda
MOOREHOUSE and the staff of Community Care Access
Centre, the paramedics at Thames Valley Ambulance. Thank you
to all who expressed their condolences through their support,
cards, floral arrangements, food preparation and donations to
cancer research.
H... Names HO... Names HOL... Names Welcome Home
HOLIDAY - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLIERHOEK o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-07-08 published
MacFARLANE,
Bryce
Alexander
Stuart
It is with unimaginable sorrow that we announce the passing of
Bryce
Alexander
Stuart
MacFARLANE on July 6, 2005 as the result
of a tragic accident. He had just turned 27 years of age in June.
Bryce's journey will allow him to reconnect with his grandfather,
David MacFARLANE, his uncles Michael and David and his aunt Zillah.
He leaves behind his parents: Bunny and her husband Michael
HOLIERHOEK
and Ron and his wife Sam; his sister Julia and her husband Dr.
David HABING and sister Callei and her partner Andy
DEMOE along
with a beloved nephew Drew. His grandparents Zillah
MacFARLANE
(husband Bob
THOMPSON/THOMSON/TOMPSON/TOMSON,)
Terry
SCHROCK and Nick and Gerry
HOLIERHOEK
will miss him deeply. Bryce will also be sorely missed by his
uncles and aunts Jim and Nancy
MacFARLANE,
Bob,
Paul,
Mike, and
Steve WHITE/WHYTE and Pat and Janet
SCHROCK,
Brenda and Jim
GRIERSON,
Marsha and Jerry
PETCH and Maureen
DASCHUK along with many loving
cousins. Bryce is resting at the George Darte Funeral Chapel,
585 Carlton Street, St. Catharines where his family will receive
visitors on Thursday, July 7th from 7-9 p.m. and Friday, July
8th from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Vigil prayers at the funeral home Friday
evening at 7 p.m. A Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated on Saturday,
July 9th at 11 a.m. at St. Julia's Catholic Church on Glenridge
Avenue in St. Catharines. If desired, donations to the Trillium
Gift of Life Network or the Canadian Marfan Association would
be appreciated by the family. A heartfelt thank you goes to the
staff at the Intensive Care Unit of St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto.
Thank you to Ron, Diane, Toni, Joyce and Cynthia, for supporting
us in our time of deep, unrelenting grief. Online Guest Book
- www.dartefuneralhome.com
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HOLIERHOEK - All Categories in OGSPI
HOLIFF o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-03-20 published
HOLIFF,
Saul▼
Israel▼
Saul Israel, on Thursday, March 17th, 2005 in his 80th year,
son of the late Joel and Esther
HOLIFF.
Unwell in recent years,
Saul died at home peacefully and with dignity, at a time of his
own choosing. His motto for years, and right up to the end, was
"Living well is the best revenge" and he did his best to fulfill
that philosophy. Saul loved fine food and wines, gardening, music,
travel and movies, but no more than he loved their little 10-year-old
Tabby, Brio. Born June 22nd 1925 in London, Ontario, Saul said
he somehow made it through two years at London's Central Collegiate
before leaving at the age of 15 to more or less take on the world.
Before and during high school he delivered The London Free Press,
The London Echo, sold subscriptions to Liberty Magazine, peddled
fruit from door to door in the summer, and in his spare time
together with his brother collected large quantities of used
newspapers for sale to Leff's scrap yard. As young entrepreneurs,
they also operated Holiff Brothers Fruit and Vegetables. During
turbulent years before and after World War 2 Saul worked as a
truck driver, a puddler on the night shift of the Steel Co. of
Canada, a traveling salesman and a self-employed clothing merchant.
During the war, although totally unfamiliar with guns of any
shape or size, he "managed to graduate as a rear air gunner in
the Royal Canadian Air Force without causing too much damage
to (his) own side". In the'50's Saul appeared at London's Grand
Theatre in a variety of acting roles. Later he was a partner
in Saul's Square Boy drive-in restaurant, innovative pioneers
in their field. In the ensuing years, with offices in Los Angeles,
London and Nashville, he had a successful career as a concert
promoter and personal manager of Canadian and American recording
and television artists including Johnny Cash, the Statler Brothers
Quartet, Tommy Hunter and Debbie Lori Kaye. Retiring in his late
forties, Saul and his family, soon after, moved to Victoria,
British Columbia. Always having been a voracious reader. Saul
fulfilled a lifelong dream of returning to school as a mature
student. After a few years at the University of Victoria preceded
by some time spent at the University of Western Ontario, he "somehow,
in spite of many pitfalls, succeeded in graduating" with a B.A.
in history. However, he didn't let his studies interfere with
his love of Sports -- tennis in particular -- "but was better
at watching than at playing." A few years ago they moved on again,
to a condo set in idyllic surrounding in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Saul leaves Barbara, his "soul mate, best friend and muse" of
over forty years, and two sons, Jonathan of Los Angeles and Joshua
(Kirsti▼) of Whitehorse, granddaughter Olive
CASSIDY, his brother
Morris (Jan) of Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as nephews Larry
PAIKIN
(Marnie▼) of Hamilton, David (Leah) of Las Vegas and Gary
(Janet▼) of Toronto, and nieces Myra
RICHMAN of Scottsdale, Arizona
and Lori (Tom) of Burlington, Vermont. Saul and his family would
want Doctors Peter Rechnitzer, Bud Faulkner, Dennis Morgan, Barry
Bjorgaard and Henk Reems to know that all their patience, humour
and good doctoring over the years has been greatly appreciated.
At Saul's request, there will be no funeral service. Cremation
was handled by the Vancouver Island Memorial Society. Telford's
Mid-Island Memorial Services. 1-866-503-5553
H... Names HO... Names HOL... Names Welcome Home
HOLIFF o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-21 published
HOLIFF,
Saul▲
Israel▲
On Thursday, March 17th, 2005, in his 80th year. Unwell in recent
years, Saul died at home peacefully and with dignity, at a time
of his own choosing. His motto for years, and right up to the
end, was "Living well is the best revenge" and he did his best
to fulfill that philosophy. Saul loved fine food and wines, gardening,
music, travel and movies, but no more than he loved their little
10-year-old Tabby, Brio.
Born June 22nd, 1925 in London, Ontario, Saul said he somehow
made it through two years at London's Central Collegiate before
leaving at the age of 15 to more or less take on the world. Before
and during high school he delivered The London Free Press, The
London Echo, sold subscriptions to Liberty Magazine, peddled
fruit from door to door in the summer, and in his spare time
together with his brother collected large quantities of used
newspapers for sale to a wartime recycling scrap yard. As young
entrepreneurs, they also operated Holiff Brothers Fruit and Vegetables.
During turbulent years before and after World War 2 Saul worked
as a truck driver, a puddler on the night shift of the Steel
Co. of Canada, a travelling salesman and a self-employed clothing
merchant. During the war, although totally unfamiliar with guns
of any shape or size, he "managed to graduate as a rear air gunner
in the Royal Canadian Air Force without causing too much damage
to
{his} own side."
In the '50s Saul appeared at London's Grand Theatre in a variety
of acting roles. Later he was a partner in Saul's Square Boy
drive-in restaurant, innovative pioneers in their field. In the
ensuing years, with offices in Los Angeles, London and Nashville,
he had a successful career as a concert promoter and personal
manager of Canadian and American recording and television artists
including Johnny Cash, the Statler Brothers Quartet, Tommy Hunter
and Debbie Lori Kaye.
Retiring in his late forties, Saul and his family, soon after,
moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Always having been a voracious
reader, Saul fulfilled a lifelong dream of returning to school
as a mature student. After a few years at the University of Victoria
(preceded by some time spent at the University of Western Ontario),
he "somehow, in spite of many pitfalls, succeeded in graduating"
with a B.A. in history. However, he didn't let his studies interfere
with his love of sports -- tennis in particular -- "but was better
at watching than at playing." A few years ago they moved on again,
to a condo set in idyllic surroundings in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Saul leaves Barbara, his "soulmate, best friend and muse" of
over forty years, and two sons, Jonathan of Los Angeles and Joshua
(Kirsti▲) of Whitehorse, granddaughter Olive
CASSIDY; his brother
Morris (Jan) of Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as nephews Larry
PAIKIN
(Marnie▲) of Hamilton, David (Leah) of Las Vegas and Gary
(Janet▲) of Toronto; and nieces Myra
RICHMAN of Scottsdale, Arizona
and Lori (Tom) of Burlington, Vermont.
Saul and his family would want Doctors Peter Rechnitzer, Bud Faulkner,
Dennis Morgan, Barry Bjorgaard and Henk Reems to know that all
their patience, humour and good doctoring over the years has
been greatly appreciated.
At Saul's request, there will be no funeral service. Cremation
was handled by the Vancouver Island Memorial Society. Telford's
Mid-Island Memorial Services 1-866-503-5553
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HOLIFF o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-03-25 published
He managed Johnny Cash, Tommy Hunter
Canadian Press, Friday, March 25, 2005, Page S7
Nanaimo,
British
Columbia -- Saul Israel
HOLIFF, a former concert
promoter and Johnny Cash's manager for 17 years, died March 17
after years of declining health. He was 80.
Mr. HOLIFF, who also managed Tommy Hunter and the Statler Brothers,
dabbled in acting before becoming a promoter. He began working
as Cash's manager in about 1960, adding Mr. Hunter a few years
later.
However, in 1973 he believed Mr. Cash's career had peaked and
quit as manager. "I was guilty for underestimating him repeatedly."
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HOLIFF o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-05-09 published
Saul HOLIFF,
Agent and Manager: 1925-2005
Sober-minded businessman from London, Ontario, was Johnny Cash's
manager from 1960 to 1973, a provocative period that produced
the singer's famed live recordings at Folsom and San Quentin
prisons
By Tom HAWTHORN,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Monday, May 9,
2005, Page S6
Victoria -- Johnny Cash had enjoyed modest success as a country
artist before meeting Saul
HOLIFF, a Canadian restaurateur who
saw great potential in the guitar-toting baritone.
Mr. HOLIFF believed Mr. Cash deserved better than ordinary dance-hall
gigs. He vowed to book the rough-hewn troubadour at no less grand
a venue than Carnegie Hall, a promise he would fulfill shortly
after becoming his manager.
Nor was the Manhattan landmark the limit to Mr.
HOLIFF's ambitions
for the entertainer, who was set along a path that would include
appearances in feature films and the hosting of his own variety
show on network television.
Along the way, Mr. Cash became a singular figure in pop culture,
an icon whose rebel persona was expressed by his monochromatic
wardrobe and self-chosen description as the Man in Black, which
also served as the title to his autobiography. He achieved great
fame before his death in 2003, his exposure owing much to the
vision and hard work of Mr.
HOLIFF.
Mr. HOLIFF was his manager from 1960 to 1973, years in which
Mr. Cash became a fixture in the popular imagination, not the
least for his daring live recordings behind bars at Folsom Prison
and San Quentin.
They were an unlikely pair, the hard-living Christian from rural
Arkansas and the sober-minded businessman from London, Ontario
Nor was their relationship free from the strife that was a feature
of much of Mr. Cash's life. The manager's response to his artist's
benders was to retreat. He would wait at home for the inevitable
telephone call from an unapologetic Mr. Cash, who would want
to return to the road after getting straight.
Mr. HOLIFF was also responsible for getting June Carter to join
Mr. Cash's touring show. She would become the singer's second
wife and was credited with saving him from drink and drugs. Mr.
Cash announced his intention to marry her during a show in London,
Ontario, his manager's hometown.
Over the years, a grateful Mr. Cash presented 28 gold records
to Mr. HOLIFF.
The pair's success was all the more surprising
considering that at their first meeting Mr.
HOLIFF knew little
about pop music and nothing about country. He preferred jazz
and classical.
Mr. HOLIFF was raised in Southern Ontario by immigrant parents.
His father, Joel, arrived alone from Russia in 1913, working
to earn money to send for his wife, Esther, and two daughters.
The plan was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War
and, later, the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war.
The family was not reunited until 1920, by which time a daughter
had died. A son, Morris, was born three years, followed by Israel
in 1925. The parents soon decided they did not wish to have their
youngest child known as Izzy, so instead called him Saul. He
would be an adult before discovering it was not his birth name.
During the Depression, he delivered newspapers before and after
school and sold magazine subscriptions door to door.
With his older brother, he later made the rounds of the neighbourhood
to gather large quantities of recyclable newspaper for the war
effort. The
HOLIFF brothers also delivered fruits and vegetables,
while Saul's busy resume included stints as a truck driver and
an iron puddler on the night shift at a steel mill. He also sold
ladies garments as a travelling salesman. Though underage, he
enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he completed
training as a rear gunner without, in his words, "causing too
much damage to my own side." The Second World War ended before
he was sent overseas.
After the war, he indulged a passion for theatre by joining a
semiprofessional company in performances at the Grand Theatre
in London. Barbara
ROBINSON's first glimpse of her future husband
came as he played Sgt. Gregovich in Teahouse of the August Moon.
They married in 1964.
Mr. HOLIFF was also partner in a drive-in restaurant called Sol's
Square Boy. The drive-in boasted electronic ordering machines
at each parking stall. Food was delivered by carhop, the servings
offered on square platters. Hamburger patties were also formed
and cooked square, providing "four extra bites," an innovation
later used to great success by the Wendy's fast-food chain.
The foray into music management happened by accident. Mr.
HOLIFF
became a moonlighting impresario to promote his business. Performers
at rock 'n' roll shows were expected to hold autograph sessions
at the drive-in, generating much interest among local teenagers.
Among the acts were such trailblazers as Duane Eddy and Bill
Haley and the Comets. Mr.
HOLIFF rode a teen tidal wave. An early
foray was a concert billed as a "rockabilly dance spectacle"
held at the Palace Pier in Toronto in 1957. The headlining act
was "the Bye-Bye Love Everly Brothers," while concert-goers were
eligible for such prizes as rock LPs, a transistor radio, and
a 48-piece set of silverware.
Volatile
Attractions, the showbiz management company Mr.
HOLIFF
operated with his wife, attracted exceptional talent. Among his
clients were Carl Perkins, Tommy Hunter, Barbara Mandrell, the
Statler Brothers, June Carter and the Carter Family. Briefly
during 1962, he also managed the hard-drinking and unpredictable
George
Jones, who proved too volatile for Volatile. Mr.
HOLIFF
turned down Larry Gatlin and Kris Kristofferson, to his later
regret.
At the end of an autograph session at the drive-in, Mr. Cash
asked Mr. HOLIFF if they could go elsewhere to eat. The restaurateur
was unoffended at this slight, accompanying the singer to a better
eatery down the road.
The two men struck a quick Friendship. Shortly after the singer's
death, Mr.
HOLIFF recounted their meeting for reporter Walter
Cordery of the Nanaimo Daily News. Mr.
HOLIFF urged Mr. Cash
to use the mobile telephone in his Cadillac to call home. Mr.
Cash returned with a yellow pad of paper. "He said, 'Sign it,'
so I did, then he signed it, and that was our contract," Mr.
HOLIFF recalled.
Mr. Cash credited his new manager for taking his show and career
to another level.
"Instead of just ballrooms and dance halls around the United
States and Canada, he said, I could be aiming at Europe, the
Orient, and big places in big cities -- Carnegie Hall perhaps,
the Hollywood Bowl," Mr. Cash wrote in a 1997 autobiography.
"And that could be just the beginning. I took him on and what
he said, he did."
Mr. HOLIFF first booked Miss Carter to appear in Mr. Cash's show
at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas on December 5, 1961. The manager
and the future wife were the two influences which were to save
Mr. Cash from his worst excesses with alcohol and amphetamines,
Miss
Carter with loving patience, Mr.
HOLIFF with a steadying
hand.
"I certainly wasn't the easiest of clients," Mr. Cash said. "Saul
stayed pretty well insulated from the fallout, though. When I
did something that left a mess -- things broken, people abused,
money squandered, laws broken, jail cells visited -- his technique
was simply to disappear, either back home to Ontario or out of
touch, unavailable even by telephone."
Despite a deteriorating personal life, Mr. Cash enjoyed a succession
of crossover hits, becoming a regular on the country and pop
charts with such numbers as Ring of Fire, Ballad of Ira Hayes,
It Ain't me Babe, and Jackson, among others. The 1968 album,
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, with its novelty song A Boy Named
Sue, made the singer an international sensation.
Mr. HOLIFF demanded and won huge payments for his client, earning
six figures for appearances in Las Vegas. Mr. Cash was able to
win a massive mainstream audience even as he seemed to remain
true to his outsider sensibilities.
The singer starred in an eponymous variety show, which debuted
on the ABC network on June 7, 1969. Mr. Cash sang duets on the
inaugural program with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Gordon Lightfoot
and Buffy Saint Marie were other Canadian singers to appear in
the first season.
In 1973, Mr.
HOLIFF was associate producer of Gospel Road: A
Story of Jesus, a feature filmed on location in Israel in which
Mr. Cash describes the crucifixion and resurrection through music.
His wife, June Carter Cash, played Mary Magdalene. Mr.
HOLIFF
had tired of his role as manager by then. He also figured, incorrectly
as it turned out, Mr. Cash's career had peaked.
"He was as mercurial as they come," Mr.
HOLIFF once told Adrian
Chamberlain of the Victoria Times Colonist. "He was the quintessential
enigmatic everything. He was kind, he was cruel, he was thoughtful,
he was selfish. And he was smart."
The retired manager returned to university as a mature student,
earning a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Victoria.
He later moved to Nanaimo, where he died at home, as his death
notice described, "at a time of his own choosing."
Saul HOLIFF was born on June 22, 1925, in London, Ontario He
died on March 17 in Nanaimo, British Columbia He was 79. He leaves
his wife, Barbara; sons Jonathan of Los Angeles and Joshua of
Whitehorse, Yukon; brother Morris of Scottsdale, Arizona.
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