Jack Garner, a familiar face and lifelong active member of the Barrie community, has died. He was 87.
Garner traced his Barrie roots back to the 1860s. Both his parents were born here and his dad launched Garner Menswear in downtown Barrie in 1931. It evolved into Garner Menswear and Sports and finally Garner Sports and continued on through two more generations — through Jack and then his son, John — before it was sold and eventually closed.
Born on Sept. 16, 1934, Garner’s first political foray at the age of 14 was in the 1948 provincial election to support Conservative George Johnston who was the area’s MPP, he said in a 2015 video interview for the Barrie Historical Archive. He remained an active Conservative member through the years.
Garner served on Barrie’s city council from 1966 to 1970 and on the school board from 1995 to 1999 during the days of two-year terms. He considered the Centennial Park project, which began in 1965, the feather in his cap.
Up until that point, railroad tracks circled Kempenfelt Bay and were about six feet from the water at the bottom of Victoria Street, where the beach now attracts hundreds on warm summer days.
During its development, the city hauled in truckloads of fill to extend the waterfront land, which he said in the video, could never happen today.
That work, recalls his son, Jeff Garner, set the foundation for the current waterfront, which is largely owned by the city and considered the jewel of Barrie.
“The key is all of the land around Kempenfelt Bay, I think, through that process, was secured,” said his son, referring to the publicly accessible waterfront land from Heritage Park, looping along the bay, past the Southshore Centre. “All of that was garbage land and, way back, it was treated more as an industrial/commercial area, that’s where we made things and that’s where we shipped things by train.”
The Centennial Park committee, he said, had a vision of converting the utilitarian nature of the waterfront land into a recreational gathering spot, taking advantage of the opportunities of being on the water.
Since then, the rail tracks have been removed allowing for expansion of the beach and park areas and the development of more trails.
Garner found himself involved in some way in all of the federal and provincial elections after that 1948 campaign, leading the local young Conservatives as a youth and later becoming president of the city’s Progressive Conservative association as well as a director of the provincial Conservatives.
Raynor McCullough, now in his 92nd year, was an active Barrie businessman and fellow Conservative and recalls growing up on Mary Street next to the Garner clan — Jack was one of 11 children. He remembers seeing a sign at the large, glass-panelled kitchen door inside the house: ‘Garner’s residence, meals at all hours’.
“Jack and I would play shinny on the street,” he recalled. “And I worked for Bill Garner; our backyard looked into the back of Garner’s store.
“I had the key to the store. … I was about 14 years old. He’d leave me in charge of everything.”
Jack played hockey, was involved in track and field in high school, curled and later picked up tennis as well as golf.
As adults, Garner and McCullough often worked together on the campaigns of a successive series of Conservative candidates. McCullough served as the “bag man” for the Conservatives, raising and collecting money for the various campaigns.
“Jack was a great friend and a wonderful citizen of the City of Barrie,” said McCullough, who remembers Jack’s work on Centennial Park and his dogged involvement in helping to get GO Train service in Barrie.
George Taylor, who was Barrie’s Progressive Conservative MPP from 1977 to 1985, serving the final three years as solicitor general, moved to Belcourt Street in Barrie in 1968, just down the road from where Jack and his wife, Joan, were raising their two sons.
At that time, he recalled, Jack was always tagged as the next Conservative candidate. But Jack never did put his name forward, concentrating instead on his business and local activities, including the Barrie Rotary Club.
“Jack was civic minded,” recalled Taylor, adding that he remained outspoken on issues he thought were important long after serving on city council and the school board.
Jack, added his son, Jeff, was an active Rotarian, a member of the downtown board of which he served as chair, a GO Transit director and sat on many of the city’s committees.
Other involvements included the Barrie Chamber of Commerce, the Barrie Downtown Neighbourhood Committee, the Ontario Economic Council, the Georgian Bay Regional Development Council and the Ontario Child and Family Review Board.
“He felt his contribution was staying local,” said Jeff. “He wanted Barrie to be a place for everyone.”
The family hopes to continue on his legacy through the Jack Garner Foundation to support youth in sports, mental health, and education.
