Businessman, community activist.
Born at Portage la Prairie on 27 March 1927 to Miriam “Mary” Segal (1895-1986) and Edward Barney Narvey (1891-1951), he was a descendant of one of the many Jewish families who settled in Portage la Prairie between 1906 and 1915. He attended Victoria School and graduated from Portage Collegiate Institute in 1945. Except for a brief time attending the University of Southern California (USC) after high school, he was a lifelong resident of Portage la Prairie.
He returned to Portage la Prairie from USC to work with his brother Melville Narvey (1919-2015) in the family business, Narvey's, which had been established by their father in 1915 as a small department store. The brothers reinvented it as Narvey’s Clothes for Men and became known for their positive and congenial relationships with the staff and customers. When the time came to retire, two long-time employees honoured the Narvey family by naming their new clothing business “Barney’s,” after the store’s founder.
In 1952, Harold Narvey married Mildred Karbachinsky (1928-2022) and they went on to have two children. Their wedding took place on December 25 because it was the only day of the year that both he and his brother had the day off.
Over a lifetime in Portage, he was involved in many of the volunteer organizations and clubs in town. The Rotary Club was of special importance to him, as he was one of the founding members of the club in Portage and an early President. He spent 14 years on the Portage school board and served as Chairman for a number of those years. He also held leadership roles in the Portage Chamber of Commerce, the Portage Chapter of B'nai B'rith, and the Portage Golf Club. His many interests included woodworking, building boats when younger and woodcarving later in life; duck hunting at Delta Marsh; trap shooting; traveling with his wife to warmer climates; golfing; singing and barbershop quartets; and reading.
On 24 April 2010, he died in the same hospital where he had been born at Portage la Prairie. He was buried in the Rosh Pina Memorial Park at Winnipeg.
“The Young Historian: The Jewish Community of Portage la Prairie” by Michael D. Greenberg
Manitoba History, Number 8, Autumn 1984
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 8 May 2010.
Obituary [Melville Samual Narvey], Winnipeg Free Press, 21 November 2015.
“Murray Harold Narvey,” Greenfield Family Tree, Ancestry.
Roberta (Narvey) Kravitz, Portage la Prairie Memories, Facebook.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 14 November 2025
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