It was likely a typically frigid January afternoon on the Bruce Peninsula in 1944 when a local 75-year-old veterinary surgeon, Dr. John McDonald, was making a routine call at the Carson farm near Clavering. Suddenly, he collapsed and died of a heart attack. *Part 1 Here is part two of this remarkable story of a Wiarton veterinary surgeon, whose decades-long practice on the Bruce Peninsula began in 1894.
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In 1908, Dr. McDonald bought the general store in Stokes Bay to supplement his veterinary income. Meanwhile, the doctor’s parents and his six brothers and sisters had moved from Paisley to Winnipeg. They coaxed Jack and his wife, Amanda, to join them out West. In 1912, the family sold the store and boarded the Grand Trunk Railway in Wiarton, taking their two horses and a cow in the box car. They settled in Verigin Saskatchewan (located 50 kilometres northeast of Yorkton), a small, Russian Doukhobor community where he again opened a general store.
Dr. McDonald was active in politics. In support of the local Liberal candidate, he brought in a load of Ontario Spy apples by rail. A polished apple was given to every customer with the promise of a barrel if his candidate won the election. It was not pork barrel politics, but apple barrel politics—and it was successful.
Jack never took to the West like his sisters and brothers. Every night after closing shop, and retiring to the living quarters above, he would crank up the gramophone and play “Home Sweet Home.” In 1915, the family sold out and returned to Wiarton. They bought a square, two-storey, rough cast home, faced it in red brick and added an addition for his office. He then settled into an uninterrupted career which lasted 28 years.
He gave generously of his time and money to both church and civic affairs. He was elected reeve in 1919, 1920 and 1932 and mayor in 1922. Interest in horses led Dr. McDonald to become president of the Wiarton Driving Society. On one occasion, he left his wife, Amanda, in their buggy while he went to start a race with the starter’s pistol. At the sound of the gun, their horse and carriage took off to join the race around the track with Mrs. McDonald vainly trying to pull back on the reins.
Following Dr. McDonald’s sudden death in 1944, the Wiarton Echo wrote that his untiring efforts to bring comfort to animals will be long remembered by district farmers.
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The original article from the 1996 yearbook of the Bruce County Historical Society was written by Douglas W. MacDonald and abridged by Bob Johnston
