Jack Whitmore named 2014 citizen of the year
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The Tillsonburg Chamber of Commerce 2014 Citizen of the Year was ‘pleasantly surprised’ when informed of the news.
“I haven’t a clue in a carload (why he was chosen),” Jack Whitmore smiled this week inside his Fairfield Crescent home. The ‘big surprise’ was however, a pleasant one.
“It certainly was.”
Those who know him well however, have a better idea. Former business partner and long-time fellow Tillsonburg Lion Gord Reynolds says Whitmore has done a lot in the community.
“And a lot of it not well known.”
Sandy Miller, who worked with Whitmore, spoke to his ‘huge heart.’ Miller recalled a medical emergency in her family that occurred while she was at work. When Whitmore saw her rushing around preparing to leave, he told her to stop and wait for a moment. Concerned with her obvious distraction, Whitmore insisted on driving her himself.
“That’s just the way he is.”
A native of Port Perry whose mother operated a small, 10-bed private hospital, Whitmore graduated from the college of pharmacy in 1952. He was working for a pharmaceutical chain operation at the corner of Yonge and Eglinton in 1965, when he ran into former classmate Bob Scott at a cocktail party in Galt.
Scott, who owned a pharmacy in Norwich at the time, informed Whitmore Thompson’s Pharmacy in Tillsonburg was coming up for sale.
“He said, ‘I’ll give you my store and go there,”’ Whitmore recalled.
He and wife Ruth decided to come and check out the opportunity in Tillsonburg, and Whitmore well remembers his first view of the community’s wide main street from atop the railway bridge, along what currently is Bridge Street.
“I think everybody’s got to be impressed with the main street,” he said. “And everyone was very, very friendly – no question about it.”
Whitmore’s life has a pattern of moving forward with a positive attitude when opportunity presents itself: Ruth, a customer at his store, was busy the first time he asked her out on a date, but did ‘leave the window open,’ for a subsequent Toronto Argonauts game. And when presented with Tillsonburg’s ample opportunity, he and Ruth embraced their new community, purchasing Thompson’s in 1965.
He, with Ruth’s assistance - “I always felt she was as big a part of the business as anything,” operated Whitmore’s until 1997, when he and Reynolds (who had become a partner) sold to Big V (which was subsequently sold to Shoppers Drug mart). Whitmore worked for another year in town (as well as relief in Norwich, Ingersoll and Aylmer) before retiring completely.
A recognizable face in the community through business, Whitmore was also active as a long-time member of the Tillsonburg Lions Club, on the board of VON Sakura House, as a volunteer driver for the Canadian Cancer Society, and served on town council for eight years in the 1980s, as well as six years as a representative to county council.
Whitmore found his experience on council particularly instructive with regards to human nature.
“You really see how many people think,” he said. “Some are positive, some are negative, I think you have to try and work peacefully around that.”
Philosophically, Whitmore’s personal approach has always run along the line of a ‘glass half full.’
“I was really never too negative about things,” he said. “You take people as you see them and moved on.”
Whitmore remains impressed with the ‘can do’ attitude in Tillsonburg, citing as examples, a 1967 Centennial dance at the tobacco exchange featuring Guy Lombardo which attracted 4,000 patrons; or the progressive creation of the community complex.
“Anything we ever tackled, was not a failure,” he said, noting how the latter project began with Monsignor J.H. O’Neil and Harry Ostrander Sr. leading a walk-a-thon to Vienna.
“The Rotary Club got the seniors centre, the Lions got the auditorium, the Kinsmen got the swimming pool, the Kiwanis the ball fields and away they went.
“The people here are very friendly, and very optimistic about any undertaking.”
In closing, Tillsonburg has more than lived up to and repaid Jack and Ruth’s first impression. And while her passing this past December means he regrets being unable to share being named citizen of the year with his wife of 52 years, he remains both surprised and pleased with the honour, and appreciative of their adopted community.
“I think life is good to everyone here, to tell you the truth.”