A journalist for The Sarnia Oberver
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He could run well in two fields. Norm Perry, the legendary 'Galloping Ghost' of Canadian football, is best remembered as the fleet-footed halfback who led the Sarnia Imperials to a stunning Grey Cup victory. What's been largely forgotten over the years is that [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He lost the fight to have it built in Sarnia, but Mayor Fred Pelling did play a role in getting the Bluewater Bridge off the ground. Born near Kitchener in 1890, Pelling lived in Brantford and Toronto before moving to Sarnia to take [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He helped pull Sarnia out of the Great Depression. That probably best sums up the career of William F. Crompton, who served as our 54th Mayor in 1936. Crompton, a railroad engineer who lived at 180 Alfred Street, sat on Council for several [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer Mayor Edward Bedard gave Sarnians a tax break when they needed it most. Bedard, who was elected our 53rd Chief Magistrate in 1935, slashed taxes during the height of the Great Depression. Born in 1885 in the tiny Huron County community of Holmesville, [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer Mayor Edward J. Blake headed the Council that was accused of trying to muzzle the press with "Nazi" tactics. Known to his friends as "Teddy", Blake was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1879. He came to Canada as a seven-Year old, living in [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer The story of Gordon Hodgins is more about what might have been than about anything he accomplished in the Mayor's chair. That's because our 57th Chief Magistrate committed suicide just 24 days after taking office at the beginning of 1934. The tragic death [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer He introduced a form of 'workfare' more than half a century before Ontario Premier Mike Harris came up with the same idea. Homer J. Lockhart, who was elected our 50th Mayor in 1933, headed the Council that forced unemployed people to work for [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer Six decades before Prime Minister Jean Chretien introduced a national "infrastructure program" in a bid to combat high unemployment, Sarnia Mayor Arthur Kirby was doing the same thing at the local level. Born in Yorkshire, England, Kirby came to Canada as a four-year [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer William J. Scott's main claim to fame is that he played a role in the development of Ipperwash Provincial Park. Scott, who was elected our 46th Chief Magistrate in 1928, talked senior government officials into creating the popular – and controversial – North [...]
By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer James F. Newton wasn’t the type to let a little thing like the Great Depression stop him from moving Sarnia ahead economically. Newton, who was in the Mayor’s chair when the stock market crashed in 1929, found an innovative way to keep the [...]
