Event Date : Friday, August 30, 1996 Event Type : Death
Description : Suddenly at Meadowcroft Place at the age of 92. Husband of the late Noreen Westlake. Father of Marilyn Westlake. Brother-in-law of Velma Standing. Brother of Ruth Kneeshaw-Kemp, and the late Ethyl Gould, Lillian Edney and Roy and Bob Westlake. Employee with the Globe and Mail for over 30 years. Visitation and service at the Turner and Porter Yorke Chapel, 2357 Bloor St. West, at Windermere, near the Jane subway. Reception to follow. Cremation.
Segment on the front page of the final issue of Bradford Today. It reads: "This is the final issue of Bradford West Gwillimbury Today. Given the economic times and the advertising support the Today is receiving, publisher Simcoe-York Printing & Publishing has decided to cease publication. We opened the paper in order to fill a gap left when the Gazette folded. After a year of publication, Today is still not profitable and Simcoe_york decided that it was time to pull out and wish the Bradford West Gwillimbury Times well in its efforts. To those who welcomed us and supported us. We thank you."
Event Date : Wednesday, July 08, 1981 Event Type : Death
Description : Former owner, publisher, and editor of The Bradford Witness, Ina McKenzie, died last Wednesday, July 8, after a lengthy illness. She was 89. Born Ina Galbraith in Paisley, Bruce County, Mrs. McKenzie learned to be independent at an early age after the death of her father at age 29. Her mother, a school teacher, struggled to raise her and younger sister Donalda. "I went into teaching as well because there was nothing else a girl at that time could do except become a nurse" Mrs. McKenzie remarked in an interview before her death. She taught for several years in the tough downtown Toronto core where her students included the famous Conacher brothers. "They were wonderful boys. Perhaps a bit mischievious though" she recalled laughing. After marrying her childhood sweetheart Stewart McKenzie (who died in 1975) she left teaching to move to Detroit with her husband."All that time - it was in the 1920s - Detroit was a boom town. Everyone was playing the stock market and making a great deal of money - on paper at any rate. Stewart got a job on a financial publication called Saturday Night."Mr. McKenzie had an extensive background in the newspaper business. His father had owned the Paisley Advocate.While in Detroit the stock market crashed and Mr. McKenzie because he was a Canadian citizen was in danger of losing his job."I told Stewart 'Let's look for a business now while you've still got a job' so we went on vacation and looked at what appeared to be a very prosperous newspaper in Trenton" Mrs. McKenzie remembered.However being a very astute business woman she noted that the paper printed a great deal of political material that would come to a halt if the government changed. They decided to look elsewhere.Bradford was their next stop."When we arrived in Bradford it was a beautiful day" she recalled. However the condition of The Bradford Witness was something else again."Stewart went in and told me 'The machinery is a disgrace'" she remembered but they loved the little town and decided to stay contributing greatly to its prosperity and growth over the years.In those first years of the Depression Bradford was little more than a main street the lower end shabby the western portion relatively prosperous she recalled. "Everything was booming when we arrived in Bradford." Mrs. McKenzie noted. "But shortly after many people were in dire poverty. If we would have collected what was on our books we could have retired however people gave what they could."During this time they relocated the paper's office from Holland St. to Barrie St. (where the European Bakery is currently located) remaining there until they retired in 1968 selling the paper to Gerry Barker.Before deteriorating eyesight hampered her activities Mrs. McKenzie was extremely active in various organizations in Bradford. During the Second World War she headed the Bradford chapter of the Canadian Red Cross. She was a charter member of the West Gwillimbury chapter of IODE and a past president of the Bradford Women's Institute. She also taught Sunday School at the Bradford United Church. One of the driving forces behind fund-raising efforts for the Bradford Community Centre. Mrs. McKenzie also lent her considerable energies and intelligence to the Hurricane Hazel flood relief program and various other community projects. Ina McKenzie is survived by her sister Donalda Crosbie of Toronto nephew Robert W. Crosbie and good friend Ella Langford of Bradford. She was also great-aunt to Alexander George and Cynthia. Friends called at the Lathangue and Skwarchuk Funeral Home and a service conducted by Rev. G. McFarlane was held in the chapel on Friday July 10. She was buried next to her husband at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.Donations to the West Gwillimbury chapter of IODE would be appreciated.
Event Date : Wednesday, July 08, 1981 Event Type : Death
Description : Former owner and publisher of The Bradford Witness died after a lengthy illness. Beloved wife of the late Stewart S. McKenzie, beloved sister of Donalda Crosbie, Toronto, dear aunt of Robert W. Crosbie, loving great-aunt of Alexander, George and Cynthia. Dear friend of Mrs. Ella Langford. Rested at Lathangue & Skwarchuk Funeral Home, 30 Simcoe St., Bradford. Service was held in the chapel Friday at 1 p.m. Interment Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.
Newspaper article from a Barrie newspaper about John William "Jack" Parks (1884-1983).
Jack was the son of Margaret Parks (nee Lee) (1851-1919) and Richard Parks (1854-1895). Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Lee (1794-1868) and Ann Graham (abt. 1825-1903).
