ROACH o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-09-23 published
BARR was the first lifeguard at Grand Bend beach
By Lynda HILLMAN-
RAPLEY, Sun Media, Sun., September 23, 2007
When Les BARR and his University of Western Ontario buddy decided
Grand Bend beach needed lifeguards, they went to village council
and pitched the idea.
They were given the okay as long as they built their own lifeguard
stand. So they did.
And in 1946, 26-year-old
BARR, whose family lived in London but
vacationed in Grand Bend, was hired, along with friend David
STITT, to be a lifeguard for the summer.
The Bend's first-ever lifeguard, later in life known as the Mayor
of Alberta Street,
BARR died recently at age 88.
BARR, who also once worked at the Lakeview Casino, studied journalism
at the University of Western Ontario. He later married and had
two children, Leigh and Laurie.
BARR often spoke of his Second World War buddies, Gordon
ROACH
and Daniel
COLLINS.
BARR said, 'cause it was the thing to do."
BARR was injured in the war -- defending a young woman in a bar
brawl.
In later years,
BARR worked at General Electric, where he once
escorted singer Robert Goulet and actor Kate Mitchell on a cross-Canada
promotion for the company.
He left General Electric in 1961 and bought an appliance store
that grew to two stores and was later sold to the Patton brothers
of London.
In the early 1950s,
BARR built a cottage on two lots on Alberta
Street in Grand Bend, hence the mayor monicker.
He retired from MF Arnsby Property management at age 65. He loved
to swim, dance to big band music and was often seen cruising
the Bend strip, checking out what was happening.
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