Obituaries

On behalf of Special Olympics Canada, I had the honour to officially open the STAPLES location in the Polo Park area.

Representing Canada at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games🇦🇪

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the late Mr. Jackson-Garwood.

Ah, I just heard about this. May he rest in peace.

I was lucky enough to know both sides of Johnny. He had a lot of talent, he was as crazy as a rabid wolverine with a toothache, and he was much loved. In his own strange way he helped a lot of people living with mental illness. He was a ball of energy that just couldn't quite be contained. He just couldn't harness his energy and gifts due to his illness to achieve great success. He lived his life not just like candle in the wind but like one in hurricane. Nigel and me could tell you stories. He ran that program, "Candle of Hope"...he got me the gig to paint Cory Scheider for the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation. He was outspoken on mental illness, he was up front with his. And he allowed me and others to step forward and be up front about it. I lived with him...it was very hard. I met Yuri through him. Johnny was my neighbour for two years as I moved downstairs from where we both used to live together. I used to think of him as "Lucifer's Friend" when I saw him coming to my door and he was geared up about something. There was a band in 70s and 80s of classically trained musicians that were hippies from Germany, with an English singer called "Lucifer's Friend". Started out as a "dark" pyscadelic band, and their selftitled song was about a strange man who came and knocked on the door. Edgar Allan Poe like. And I would hide til he went away...cause sometimes when he was like that you couldn't handle him. But there were times that he would come over and console me, and support me and be a true friend. He really helped me in so many ways. If it wasn't for him I may not be where I am today...he helped me get the apartment in St. B the first time I was homeless 10 years ago...he showed me how driving a taxi was killing me, and he watched me fall apart and end up homeless again, and I slept at his apartment in 444 Kennedy for a few days five years ago when I returned homeless from VB. Even though he had serious problems related to his illness, he was a really good guy. He wasn't just the life of the he party...he was the party! I'm so saddened by this. But we must go on and work together on mental illness. I thought since he was one of the first volunteers at Artbeat, and he was so helpful with a lot of the alumni, that perhaps Artbeat could create a memorial award in his honour, giving yearly to a most deserving Artbeat volunteer. I'll always call him Johnny. As "Here's Johnny!" from The Shinning. Cause you never knew what was coming when he walked through the door. I just wish I could still see him walk through the door. May his troubled soul rest in peace...and blessed be that I was able to really know him.