
Lorne Munro – I became interested in historical events in the 1970s. My interest grew after attending the 25th Anniversary banquet of the Glencoe & District Historical Society at the Glencoe Legion in 2003. We presently have eight family genealogy books in our home that I manage and update. Ancestry.ca has been a great help and I correspond with family members to gather information.
During my tenure as President in 2018, the Society’s collection moved from our rooms on Main Street to the old library at 178 McKellar Street, Glencoe. I have served as secretary, first vice president, president (a couple of times). I’m slowing down now, just working on Wednesday afternoons in The Archives and enjoying any other projects that come along.
Peacefully at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital , Strathroy on Monday, March 18, 2024 William “Lorne” Munro passed away in his 91st year. Predeceased by his wife Phyllis (2023). Dear father to Janice and Tom McCallum, Susan Sinclair and Steve Schneider and Cheryl and Roy Neves. Cherished Grandpa to Matt and Becky, Kimberly and Paul, Adam and Kirissa, Andrew and Reilly, John and Stacey, Scott and Mandy, Jacob, Emily and Brandon. Great-Grandpa to Isabelle, Josephine and Elliott. Lorne will be missed by many nieces and nephews. Predeceased by his parents Neil and Florence Munro, his sister Anna and his brother Keith. Link to Photos reel
Dad’s Eulogy by daughter Susan
Who was Lorne Munro? Some comments I received on Facebook were, kind, gentle, loyal, wise, community minded, quiet, giving, gentleman, a treasure, selfless, and faithful. But to us 3 girls he was a father, provider, farmer, hard worker, a constant in our lives and much more.
He was the youngest of 3 children. His sister Anna was 10 years older and was gone most of his childhood. His brother Keith was 6 years older, and dad said he spent a lot of time running away from Keith, as he was being teased by him. Some of his childhood activities included soccer, stick ball, hockey, and Jr. Farmers. He told me he wanted to be a farmer since he was 6 years old.
After mom and dad got married, they lived on the farm then Grandma and Grandpa Munro moved into town. Grandpa had 7 farms so there was lots to do. They planted corn, beans, wheat, and oats. They raised beef cattle and chickens.
Dad taught me to throw a baseball, although one time I didn’t have my glove in the right place and the ball hit me in the throat. That was the end of that lesson.
As farm girls we learned to drive tractors, bail hay, fill the hay mow, hoe beans, catch chickens, gather eggs, pluck, and clean chickens, milk a cow, and feed the cows. We still had time to help mom and in the house. We also did kids stuff like play house, barbies and figure skated and 4-H. Plus we always had Church and Sunday School. Maybe this is why I get involved in so much as an adult.
Dad loved to watch cartoons with us. Saturdays after chores at 5:00 he would sit down and watch Bugs Bunny with us. He enjoyed shows like Carol Burnett, especially Tim Conway, Hawaii 5 0, Red Skeleton, Wayne and Shuster and Ed Sullivan. He and mom didn’t enjoy watching the sitcoms that are on tv these days.
He started to work in the late 80’s for Ekfrid Mutual Insurance as an agent. He retired in 2000. Also, in 1988 he started working for McKinley’s Hatchery and traveled from Goderich to Niagara and down to Leamington. Mainly what he did was vaccinated the baby chicks.
The only time I remember Dad raising his voice was when we talked during the farm market report on the radio at lunch time. We had to sit quietly and don’t laugh, yah right.
I have one more good story to tell about his memory. He was always good with names, dates etc. But this one took the cake. Steve and I were at a benefit concert at our local Port Stanley Theatre. We sat down and dad looked at the program with all the band members and said I think this guy Bob Finley was in Glencoe at Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967. I said “really”. One of Steve’s friends was in the band, so Steve sent him a text to ask Bob. Well sure enough he was in the show singing in a kilt and he was about 18 years old.
Stories about Dad by daughter Cheryl
Dad was our rock. Even though he was very busy with the farm. He was always there for us. During good times, like taking us camping or to the beach. Dad and Mom took us to Florida in Grandma and Grandpa’s tent trailer. We went over the Christmas holidays in 1974. We had a bag of citrus fruit on our front doorstep on Christmas morning. Rondeau also comes to mind or Campbell Park on a hot Sunday afternoon. During bad times Dad got me out of some jams with the car or had to drive mom to the hospital when she fell and broke her wrist, and I was in the bathtub playing with a boat I had made.
The farm was a great place to grow up. Dad enjoyed having us around while he was doing chores or milking the cow. We grew up drinking unpasteurized milk in the early years of our lives. One day I was helping Dad bring in the milk cow, we called her Bessie, and I was trying to lock her head in the stall, but it didn’t click, and it fell back and hit me in the head. We were always looking for newborn kittens, the mom would move them every time we found them. Although we didn’t have to do daily chores involving the animals we were always helping out with bigger farming events such as preparing the chicken cages for the baby chicks or helping to transfer the chickens to other cages when they got too big to all be in the same cage and then hauling the full-grown chickens to the cages on the trucks that would take them away. That was a stinky job and we all hated it. But it was part of farm life and dad loved it all.
We had to cut the grass, hoe the beans, and gather the eggs. But There was always time to play. When we were very little, we would haul the little fridge, stove and sink out to the play house every spring. Dad had converted an old hen house into a playhouse for us and mom made some curtains for the windows. We would play house for hours. Dad loved his red chair. He would sit in this chair to have his afternoon coffee and read the paper and we would climb all over him. On Thursday nights after skating lessons, we would have TV dinners and watch Carol Burnett or The Red Skeleton Show.
Later, when my sisters had left the nest Dad experimented a bit by raising rabbits and chinchillas. He didn’t find this too lucrative, so it didn’t last long.
Dad was a rock for the community also. He was a choir member at the United Church for many years, he was on the Fair board and was president from 1969-1970. He and mom volunteered for VON right up until 2018, over ten years. And of course, the Historical Society and the Kilmartin Cemetery board were a big part of his retirement years.
Dad was a hard working, motivated, kind, and gentle soul. We all loved him very much and he will be sorely missed.
Stories by daughter Janice
When you’re a kid growing up you just assume that everyone has the same childhood as you and it’s kind of a shock when you realize that’s not the case. Our home was very welcoming to friends and family alike often filled with out-of-town relatives. Our cousin Ross came every summer and trailed behind dad learning to use tools work on the farm and one summer we grew and picked cucumbers. Our California cousins often came for visits as well.
One of the predominant values of our childhood was. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Simply put treat others as you want to be treated. After hearing from so many of you over the past few days I think dad lived that principal to the fullest. Another phrase which exemplifies his daily interactions is people will forget what you do and say but will never forget how you made them feel.
As the time grew shorter, I struggled to come up with things to ask him finally I kept it simple and asked dad what was his favourite colour and favourite flower. I’m a little ashamed to say I didn’t know either of these and I thought as he was a farmer he would say blue or green or brown. The earth colours. I don’t think men of his generation spent much time thinking about these types of things as he didn’t answer right away. They were busy working, doing the jobs that needed to be done behind the scenes without much credit or appreciation.
Anyway His favourite colour was yellow and his favourite flower was daffodil. The colours of spring.