The Rural Voice, 1987-09, Page 102THE PRIDE OF GREY:
Life in Grey County has always been vital, and its people have made
lasting contributions to Canada and the world. The following are only
a few of Grey's most famous natives.
Tom
Thomson
T
om Thomson, Canada's most
famous artist, was born near
Claremont on August 4,
1877, and raised the sixth of ten
children at Leith, near Owen Sound.
While only a few of his paintings
are well known, Thomson painted at
least 500 pieces in his short career.
Interested in art from an early age,
Thomson worked as a photo -engraver
and commercial artist, but it wasn't
until he was 34 that he found his true
vocation and began painting the ser-
ious artistic works that we associate
with him today.
Frequent outdoor expeditions to
Algonquin Park and weekend sketch-
ing trips into the upper reaches of the
Don and Humber Rivers and Lake
Skugog with Franklin Carmichael,
Frank Johnston, Frederick Varley, and
Arthur Lismer — future members of
the Group of Seven — produced many
renowned paintings.
Tom Thomson's home farm near Leith.
An expert woodsman, Thomson's
summers were spent camping, canoe-
ing, and painting the Ontario wilder-
ness. He served as a ranger and guide
in Algonquin Park. Winters were
spent painting commercially commis-
sioned work at a studio in Toronto.
Thomson's short career came to an
abrupt end on July 8, 1917, when his
upturned canoe was discovered near
Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. He
had been on a fishing trip alone. The
John Diefenbaker
Born in Neustadt in Normanby Township on September 18, 1895,
Deifenbaker moved with his family to the Fort Carlton region of the
North West Territories in 1903. After attending the University of Sas-
katchewan, he was called to the Saskatchewan bar in 1919.
Well-known as a defense lawyer before he became Canada's 13th
Prime Minister, Diefenbaker's trip to the top was not an easy one. He
ran for Prince Albert in the federal election in 1925 and 1926, ran
provincially in 1929 and 1938, and for mayor in 1933. He lost each
time. But perseverance eventually paid off.
During his administration in Ottawa, wheat sales to China, agri-
cultural reform, and the revitalization of Western Canadian agriculture
were primary undertakings.
Diefenbaker died in 1979. His birthplace is preserved in
Neustadt.0
cause of death was listed as drowing,
but mystery and controversy surround-
ed the reason for a four -inch gash in
his forehead. One can only speculate
that Thomson, attempting to stand,
lost his balance and struck his head on
the canoe before falling into the water.
His body was recovered eight days
after his canoe was discovered.
The Tom Thomson Art Gallery
was built in his memory in Owen
Sound.0
Nellie
McClung
Nellie McClung, reformer, legislator,
and author, was born in Chatsworth on
October 20, 1873. She moved to Western
Canada with her parents in 1880.
There she became a figher for female
suffrage, prohibition, dower rights for
women, factory safety legislation, and
many other reforms. She was the first
woman on the CBC's Board of Governors
and a delegate to the League of Nations in
1938. She died in Victoria, B.C., in 1951.0
16 GREY COUNTY PLOWING MATCH EDITION