Category: B

Honoured by  Brenda Smith.

William Joseph Thomas Blake – July 3, 1919 to October 1, 2008

Although Bill was not a resident of North Bay, he served his community of Preston (which
became Cambridge), with dedication and a spirit of giving. After high school he served in the Highland Light Regiment as a Sergeant in Company”D”. He then joined the R.C.A.F. and served for three years during the Second World War. He worked for Canadian Office and School Furniture Company as a purchasing agent and then worked for Rexwood Products based in New Liskeard as a sales representative. He worked actively and didn’t retire until he was 68 years old.
He served as chairperson of the local Board of Education and served on the municipal Committee of Adjustment for many years. He was President of the Lawn Bowling Association for three terms and was given the title of Honorary President. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion, Preston Branch, for 60 years and a member of the 404 R.C.A.F. Wing Waterloo Branch for 35 years. He founded and was president of the Neighbourhood Watch Committee. Even in his
late eighties, he would collect Zellers grocery tapes for a Legion wheelchair project. His friends and community miss his dedication and the hosting of many Happy Hours.

 

Thank you Bonnie Bolger for honouring Douglas and for supporting the Waterfront Pergola campaign.  Story to follow.

Mr. Harvey Burrows – honoured by Mr. Jack Burrows

Harvey Burrows was my father.  He and my mother Sadie had two children, my sister Beth (Sherman) and myself.  He was born in North Bay in 1888 and moved to Pakenham with his family until he returned to North Bay when he was 14 years old.

My grandfather was involved in contracting here in North Bay and in the winter time he sent several of his sons with teams of horses to work in logging camps in the north.  One of the camps was at Frederick House Lake near Timmins.  My father often talked about the hardships they endured during those long winters.

When the family grew older, my grandfather set some of the boys up in businesses here in North Bay.  In 1915, my father started up a food market at 878 Cassells Street.  Eventually he added livestock feeds along with agricultural products, and became a distributor for Purity Flour Mills. He successfully ran the business until 1958 when he retired and I took it over.

In the 1940’s he sold horses to lumber camps and at one time had a dealership for Hupmobile cars.

My father was a great booster of the community.  He was a charter member of the North Bay Lions Club and supported many charitable causes in the city.

He loved to curl and was a great sports fan.

I respected his judgement, his advice and his philosophy of living.  I’ll always remember him saying “There’s always a place in business for an honest man”.

He was an honest man and he had many friends.  I can recall many bits of advice he gave me that after some 45 years still hold true today.

He was a pioneer here in our city and along with others made our city the special place it is today.  That is why on behalf of my family I am honouring my father with this memoriam.

Honoured by Dr. Rod Johnston

In my teenage years, my only desire was to be a disc Jockey on a radio station.  I played the music for dances all through high school, enrolled in the 3 year Radio and Television Course at Ryerson  in Toronto, and managed to get a summer job as the all night disc jockey at a radio station(CKDM) in Dauphin, Manitoba.  I was in heaven at the age of 18, and felt  that  this was my life.

I had to get a medical exam for school for some reason, and stopped in Winnipeg to see my family MD.   This was Dr. Bartlett.  He was asking me what I was up to and when I told him about being a DJ with some pride, he said “you could do better you know,  you could get into medicine if you wanted to.”  I protested that I had only 60’s and 70’s in high school, and that you had to be SMART to get into medical school, and besides, I loved being a DJ.  He then said “  I know people with IQ’s of  98 that got into medical school and became doctors. Many of them didn’t have  good marks in high school, so you could do it  if you wanted to.”

As I became disenchanted with working in a radio station and then later in a television station in Hamilton,   his words resonated with me many times,  the idea germinated and began to grow.  Two years after that meeting I went back to University, starting  all over, and eventually graduated as a dentist.

After choosing Dr. Bartlett as my inspiration, I searched  his name, and much to my surprise found he was still practising in Winnipeg.  I corresponded with him, and discovered that at the age of 93 he is still practising, working 5 days a week, and doing  minor outpatient surgery! He works out regularly including running  at least 1 hour every day, and still loves what he does.

He graduated from London Ontario in 1941, did his internship in Ottawa where he met and married his wife Desta, a nurse.  They immediately went  to Northern Ontario to Favorable Lake, an isolated mining town north of Red lake, and practised there for 7 years. Not only did he service the local population, but he also served the surrounding native population and he travelled by foot, dog team, canoe, and airplane to reach his patients.  TB was rampant at the time and he introduced the first BCG vaccine into this northern part of Canada, which led to a marked reduction in the death rate due to TB.  He also did refractions for glasses, dental extractions and fillings, most of his own lab work and x-rays.  He introduced a new discovery at the time, fluoride, to prevent dental caries.  He also immunized the native population against diphtheria and other infectious diseases.  There was no hospital in the native community, so he built a large log building into which a patient could move with their family who acted as the staff.   He developed the first cannulated needle for intravenous infusions, now used world wide.

When the town of Favorable Lake closed, he and Desta moved to Winnipeg where he enrolled in General Surgery and Pathology.  During this training period, he developed tube feeding formula and techniques which he made available to the pharmaceutical industry, and are now available commercially.  Among his other inventions he developed a device for gastric suction which was used in Winnipeg hospitals for many years.

Upon his graduation, he became the Director of  Post Surgical Education at the University of Manitoba from 1959-1967.  He developed tutorial and teaching methods which are still in use today.  He later held posts of Chief of Surgery at the Misericordia General Hospital, and Staff Surgeon at Grace General Hospital, both in Winnipeg.  Over the years he created many more inventions, and was president of the Manitoba Medical Association from 1982-1983, as well along with various other  positions.

He was very involved in lobbying for compulsory seat belt and motorcycle helmet legislation in Manitoba, and was also instrumental in anti-tobacco legislation.

Dr. Bartlett is still married to Desta, has 5 children, 9 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.  His hobbies include the family cottage, reading, photography tropical fish, and of course,  inventions!

If it was not for Dr. Bartlett suggesting that I could do better, I would not be a dentist today, and would not have enjoyed the amazing life that I have had.  Because of him, I often suggest to young people that they can do better and returning to school to explore their dreams is well worth considering.

They say that some people are meant to appear in your life at very important moments, and even though I have not seen Dr. Bartlett since I was 18, he inadvertently changed my life, and is now a great  mentor  for me!  I hope to work well into old age as long as it is fun, and I will be forever grateful to him.