William Whitmore (1908-1998)

Implement dealer, municipal official.

Born in Somerset, England on 27 March 1908, at the age of three years, he came to Canada with his family to a farm in the vicinity of North Battleford, Saskatchewan. They moved to Saskatoon during World War One, where he attended King Edward Public School and Nutana Collegiate. After graduating in 1924 he found employment with the Massey-Harris Company at Saskatoon. He spent six years as a travellling salesman and, in 1935, he bought a Massey-Harris dealership in Ridgedale, Saskatchewan. He spent a year at the Toronto head office before resigning in 1937 to establish a retail farm implement business at Neepawa, Manitoba which he operated for 32 years before retiring in 1969.

He married Mina MacLean of Saskatoon, with whom he had four sons and a daughter. He was elected to the Neepawa School Board in 1942, resigning in 1946 to stand for election to the town council. He served as councillor from 1946 to 1954 when he was elected Mayor of Neepawa, serving until 1960. He became President of the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities in 1957.

He died in Winnipeg on 1 March 1998.

Sources:

Western Municipal News, April 1957, page 108.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 3 March 1998, page 31.

Profile revised: 2 October 2009

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