Fonds A 18 - Art Widnall fonds

Arthur Widnall (b. 1897 in Yorkshire, England- d. ca.1982) came to Canada in 1903 where he settled on homesteads at Silver Mountain and Whitefish Lake. He moved to Fort William in 1908. His father, Fred, operated Widnall Dairy until 1930. Art was a noted athlete and runner competing in the 1922 Caledonian Games in Calgary. He served in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I and after the war worked as a private secretary for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He later entered the University of Manitoba, specializing in dairying. He worked in his father's dairy from 1923-1930, then became secretary manager of the Fort William Parks Board and later director of recreation and director of tourism for the City of Fort William. He acted as voluntary secretary for the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce and later became its president. Widnall was for a long time associated with the Fort William Chamber of Commerce and, until 1975, Rotary International. He was a past president of the Fort William Rotary Club and district governor of Rotary International. During World War II he was chairman of the Victory Loan Sales and Salvage Committee locally and secretary of the local ration board. He married Olive Eunice Atkins (school teacher and artist) in 1931 and had one son, Arthur Lloyd. Olive died in 1979 and Art ca.1982. Widnall was a Progressive Conservative and served as secretary of the Fort William P.C. Riding Association in the 1960s and 1970s. He ran unsuccessfully as P.C. candidate in a Federal election in the late 1950s or early 1960s. He served as alderman of Fort William in 1968-1969.