Note: WorldConnect family trees will be removed from RootsWeb on April 15, 2023 and will be migrated to Ancestry later in 2023. (More info)

Individual Page


Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Person Not Viewable

  2. Person Not Viewable

  3. Person Not Viewable


Notes
a. Note:   Notes from Richard Nelson McNairn's application for UE status. he was born on the McNairn Farm. Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, Tuesday, May 30 1995 Newspaper clipping: FORMER DAIRY QUEEN OWNER DIES AT 83 Geoffrey McNairn brought milk shake to town in the 1950s By Carl Bowman, Staff Writer. The man who brought the banana split to town 40 years ago has died at the age of 83. Geoffrey McNairn opened the first Dairy Queen on Montreal Road, west of Countaulds and soon after launced a second location on Pitt and thirteenth streets. McNairn died Sunday of heart failure, 40 years after opening the first fast food chain which soon became famous for its milk shakes, dilly Bars and Peanut Buster parfaits. His son Bill, 58, says his father ate ice cream all his life. But he preferred the rich and creamy brand of yesterday made with 10 per cent butter fat to today's healthier type with ice milk. "A few days before my father died a nurse offered him ice cream and he asked her if it was REAL ice cream," said Bill, from Winnipeg who along with his mother Ruth and sisters Lois and Judy ran the Dairy Queens when they first opened. "It was a family run business. My daughter practically grew up there. It was a kid's delight," he said, adding the Montreal Road location was sold in 1963 and the Pitt Street branch was sold several years after that. McNairn's grandaughter Debbie Stermscheg recalls being the envy of all her friends as a child. "It's every kid's dream to be able to have all the free ice cream you want," said Stermscheg, 38, who says her grandfather and grandmother were like second parents to her. "I remember falling asleep in the back room at the restaurant." McNairn bought into the franchise after travelling in the United States and tasting the product. "He like it. So he saw an ad in a journal and decided to bring it here," said Bill McNairn. McNairn said milk shakes and banana splits were the most popular items on the menu. "Cones were big sellers, too," he said, adding children would ask for the wasted chocolate dipped cones that were too soft and fell from the cone. "They'd say, "Do you have any mistakes mister?" We'd give them the ice cream in a dish." The fast food restaurant would stay open from 9 a.m. to midnight. And it was a hit from the first lick. "It was before all of the other fast food chains arrived here. People would line up out the door." McNairn recalls taking a course in Montreal on operating ice-cream making equipment. "We started with one ice-cream making machine not knowing if it would go. But we had to order a second machine the next week," said McNairn, who worked at the Dairy Queen for nine years before attending Bible College. OBITUARY McNAIRN, Geoffrey A. F. Geoffrey A. F. McNairn. Peacefully at the Cornwall General Hospital on Sunday, May 28, 1995 in his 83rd year. Geoffrey McNairn of Summerstown, Beloved husband of Ruth Meek. Dear father of W. G. (Bill) )(and his wife Eileen) of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lois (Mrs. Ken Barron) of Cannington, Ontario and Judy (Mrs. Vernon McDonald) of Summerstown. Dear brother of Stanley McNairn (and his wife Kathleen) of Long Sault. Predeceased by 2 brothers Waurick and Oral. Loving grandfather of Debra, Cheri-Lee, jeffrey, melodie, Andrew, Randy, James, and David. Sadly missed by 2 great-grandchildren Jonathan and Hailey. The family of the late Mr. Geoffrey McNairn will receive friends at McArthur Bros. & MacNeil Ltd. Funeral Homes, 428 Second Street East, Cornwall on Monday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Tuesday at the Fellowship Baptist Church from 12 noon until the time of the funeral. Funeral services will be held in the Fellowship Baptist Church (Cor of Duggan & Helen) on Tuesday, May 30, 1995 at 1 p.m. Interment in St. Lawrence Valley Union Cemetery, Ingleside. In lieu of flowers Memorial Donations to the Union Gospel Mission Memorial Bursary Fund would be appreciated by the family.


RootsWeb.com is NOT responsible for the content of the GEDCOMs uploaded through the WorldConnect Program. The creator of each GEDCOM is solely responsible for its content.