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Continued: Name: John Joseph Spooner
Gender: Male
Event Type: Death
Death Date: 30 Jul 1967
Death Place: Fort William
Notes: Death
<u><i><b>-Memories of J. J.( John Joseph "Jack") Spooner as recalled by his grandson Paul J. Spooner: </b></i></u>There are several things that stand out in my mind about my paternal grandfather. He was elected several times as alderman and also served as deputy mayor for the city of Fort William. One election that I know for sure that he ran in was December 7, 1953. He took his job as alderman very seriously and wisely. Some of his accomplishments are the Fort William Gardens (arena) and Grandview Lodge Home for the Aged (200 Lillie Street, Fort William). He subsequently lived there himself for the last couple of years of his life dying there at the age of 89. On a more personal note, He obtained for me my first real summer job with the city of Fort William as a curb and gutter inspector. (I had this job for 2 consecutive summers). He also had a contracting business shut down that started next door to his son Joseph Lawrence (Lorne) Spooner. He was instrumental in having concrete sidewalks and a paved street built in the block of Donald Street in front of his son's house at 1730 Donald Street. On an occasion when Prime Minister Louis St Laurent visited Fort William Grandpa Spooner took some of his grandchildren (including Paul and Lawrie) to the Fort William city hall to meet the Prime Minister of Canada. He was instrumental in getting the a new arena for the city. It is called the Fort William Gardens and is on Vickers Street, one block north of the main street (Victoria Avenue). He was a proud person and always wore a suit and tie. His shirts were the type that had a detachable collar. And he wore a regular long tie. He always wore black boots that were laced and a bowler hat. And in the winter he sported a long black coat and a Beaver fur hat. He walked everywhere and never owned a car. He had gold crowned teeth which sparkled when he smiled and he would comb his hair over the top of his head to try and hide the bald top. His thumbs curved up very sharply on both hands and he had fairly large hands. He was about 6 feet tall. He loved to write letters and to copy down information that might be useful like the Sunday sermon which he used to copy on the back of some envelope. He was proud of his grandchildren and would walk over on Sunday morning to take young Lawrie and young Paul (sons of the eldest son Joseph Lawrence "Lorne" Spooner) to mass at St Patrick's Catholic Church. Paul on one occasion while sitting in the balcony with his grandfather Spooner decided for some unknown reason to use his grandfather's bowler hat as a flying saucer and hurled it over the balcony rail. Another time this same Paul brought a ball to church in his pocket and picked the appropriate time to toss it over the railing and down the aisle to the altar. He lived at 216 Pruden Street, Fort William along with his wife (Grandma to us) Mary Catherine "Minnie" Spooner. This was a four bedroom, 2 story house with a basement (many houses did not have basements then) that had a coal bin and a window above it and a large furnace with many large pipes that fed hot air into the rooms. The bathroom was on the second floor at the end west end of the upstairs hall. On the main floor there was a dining room, a living room, kitchen, at the front a glass windowed enclosed porch with wooden steps and at the back a small enclosed porch with wooden steps. It was on these back steps that granddaughter Mary Ann Spooner (daughter of Lewis John Redmond Spooner, who was the second son of J. J. Spooner) fell and broke her arm for the first of three times in her life. Another at camp and the last time was in Greece. Apparently Diane (daughter of youngest son Francis O'Connell Spooner) was there at the time. Mary Ann's mother Doris was in the hospital at the time having her sister Gail and she was waiting for Uncle Lewis and wondering why he wasn't coming up to visit her. The south side of the 2 story house was covered with Ivy from which shoots was transferred to 1730 Donald Street Fort William, Ontario, 14 James Street, Napanee, Ontario and 961 Rick Hansen Crescent, Kingston, Ontario. Plus a few other places. There was a large side yard on the south side of the house were the grandchildren used to play. At the back of the property was a single car garage which was used like a work shop. I can recall Grandpa Spooner painting the kitchen chairs. He painted them white and the gave them a final coat using varnish for protection. Along side of the garage between the house and the lane which ran behind the houses was a wonderful vegetable garden. It had been enriched by the ashes that had been discarded form the coal furnace inside of the house. He had large red ripe raspberries, large carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, and cabbage plus many other types of vegetables. It was at this house that I first tasted Brussels spouts (we called them little cabbages ). In the kitchen there were canaries in a cage that were looked after by Grandma Spooner. Also in this kitchen a young pre-school grandson Paul ate a whole plug of tobacco (that was delivered with the groceries) with apparently no repercussions. If you didn't have a car or couldn't get to the grocery store, your groceries could be ordered over the phone and the groceries would be delivered. He was a charter member of the Knights of Columbus Council 1447 in Fort William. This council had its original building near St Patrick's Catholic Church except on the next block west on Donald Street. It was the old telephone building. He was a train engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway and retired I believe in 1943 at the age of 65. His son Joseph Lawrence (Lorne) took his two boys Lawrie and Paul to see their Grandfather Spooner drive the steam engine. He let them have a ride on a speeder and pump the handle that powered it. (A speeder is a hand-powered rail vehicle). His son Lorne obtained his Electrical Journeyman's papers from the CPR. When Grandpa Spooner would walk over to see the family he would love to hold the young ones on his lap and would entertain them with this little ditty. "When the bee came out the barn with his bagpipes under his arm he would go BUZZZZ", and of course his hand would be the bee and he would fly it around like a bee might and when he went BUZZZZ, the "Bee" would tickle you. There was great delight and merriment when he visited. He always came with a pocket of candy that he would pass out to everyone. This is something that he would do when he was running in an election. Every young person he met on the campaign trail would get a candy. John Joseph Spooner and Mary Catherine Spooner had 5 children that survived. They were Joseph Lawrence "Lorne". Lewis John Redmond "Lou". Francis Daniel O'Connell "Con", Mary and Gertrude. Mary and Gertrude died fairly young. I believe there were other children that died very young. One was called Robert. I can recall one spring ( I was about 10 years old) when the snow was melting and it was a beautiful day and the sidewalks were covered with hard-packed snow about 4 inches thick. I was trying to remove the thick covering of snow from the sidewalk and along came Grandpa Spooner walking toward me on the sidewalk. He took the shovel that I was using and stripped the sidewalk clean in a few minutes. He was a very strong person. He loved to play bingo. He would go quite often to play bingo (sometimes in the basement at St Patrick's High School at the corner of Franklin and Donald Streets (the Arpin Memorial as it was first known)) and those were the days when the bingo cards were a piece of cardboard about 5"X6" and small coin sized disks were used to mark the called numbers. He claimed he had a system for picking out the right cards to win at bingo.
<u><i><b>Memories of J. J.( John Joseph "Jack") Spooner as recalled by his grandson Lawrence J. Spooner</b></i></u>: Apparently Grandpa Spooner wasn't too prompt at going for lunch. Lawrie recalls the time when he went over to 216 Pruden St on his bike for lunch. Grandpa Spooner had to finish off a little project and lunch didn't begin until nearly 2:00 pm. Lawrie said that he was starving by the time lunch was served. Lawrie recalls a story from our father (Joseph Lawrence) about his father (J.J.). Apparently our father arrived for a visit to 216 Pruden St and as he followed the sidewalk around to back of the house he noticed a ladder lying on the ground near the house. He heard a muffled sound and on looking up saw Grandpa Spooner hanging form the vines on the side of the house. The ladder had fallen away from him.
<u><i><b>Obituary from the Times Journal: </i></u> 89 in June, Veteran Alderman John Spooner Dies:</b> John J. Spooner, long-time city alderman and retired locomotive engineer, died Sunday at Grandview Lodge. Mr. Spooner, who celebrated his 89th birthday last month, was born at Buckingham, P.Q., in 1878. On the day after Christmas in 1902, Mr. Spooner began a job as a fireman on the CPR, inaugurating a career which was to last over 40 years. In 1905 he moved up to engineer, and moved to Fort William, where he married Mary Catherine May in 1909. He served with the CPR until his retirement from active service in 1945, running freight and passenger service between Fort William and Ignace. During his active membership in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers, he never missed a meeting unless on duty and never received a demerit mark in his work. In 1962, Mr. Spooner was awarded the Brotherhood of Engineer's 50 year pin. In accepting the honor, he recalled his long years of pleasant association with fellow workers and told members that of all his experiences, the art of railroading would always be the "most dear to my heart." Mr. Spooner was first elected to serve the city in 1940. During a 20 year civic career, 16 as an alderman, Mr. Spooner served or sat as chairman on virtually every counsel committed, a reputation of experience which made him the dean of city aldermen. Eleven years ago, when Mr. Spooner was entering his 16th year as a council member and nearing the 60 year mark in his railroad career, he told associates: "I've been growing up for 78 years, acquiring knowledge. Now I have wisdom with age. I've just started rolling." Always outspoken, Mr. Spooner continued giving advice after his retirement from council service. When presented with a scroll for his service to the community on his 84th birthday, he put his hands on his hips, his head back, his chest out, and gave council his opinions on civil affairs. Mr. Spooner was one of the founders of Grandview Lodge. He was a charter member of Port Arthur Leo Council and Fort William Council and Fort William Council 1447, Knights of Columbus, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and a member of St. Patrick's Cathedral congregation. Mr. Spooner and his wife lived at 216 Pruden St. during most of his 62 years in Fort William. His wife predeceased him in 1959. He is survived by three sons, Lawrence, 1730 Donald Street: Louis, Pointe Claire, P.Q.. and Con, Ottawa; three sisters, Rev. Sister Mary Carmen, Yardley, Penn., Rev. Sister Elizabeth, Pembroke, and Mrs. Thomas Redmond, Ottawa; 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Mary, a son Emmett, two daughters, Gertrude and Mary, three brothers, William, Thomas and James, and one sister, Mrs. L. Cavan. Interment was in the family plot, St. Patrick's Cemetery.
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Continued: -Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1857-1922
Name: John Joseph Spooner
Age: 31
Father Name: Thos Spooner
Mother Name: Elizth Driscoll
Estimated birth year: abt 1878
Spouse Name: Mary Catherine May
Spouse's Age: 24
Spouse Father Name: Samuel May
Spouse Mother Name : Sarah A Kearney May
Marriage Date: 8 Jun 1909
Marriage Place: Sudbury District
Marriage County: Sudbury
Source: Indexed by: Ancestry.com
Ontario French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967
Name: Mary Catherine May
Spouse: John Joseph Spooner
Event Year: 1902-1910
Event: Mariage
Religion: Catholique
Place of Worship or Institution: Sudbury; Sudbury (Ste-Anne)
Province: Ontario
Name John Joseph Spooner
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 08 Jun 1909
Event Place Victoria Mines, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Gender Male
Age 31
Birth Year (Estimated) 1878
Father's Name Thos Spooner
Mother's Name Elizth Driscoll
Spouse's Name Mary Catherine May
Spouse's Gender Female
Spouse's Age 24
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1885
Spouse's Father's Name Samuel May
Spouse's Mother's Name Sarah A Kearney
Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927 Reference ID 018421
GS Film Number 1872066
Digital Folder Number 004529577
Image Number 00779
Citing this Record
"Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSZP-G8B : 10 April 2015), John Joseph Spooner and Mary Catherine May, 08 Jun 1909; citing registration , Victoria Mines, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,872,066
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