On October 7, 2015 Captain Eric Conroy entertained us with his tales and experiences as Captain of the SS Keewatin, which was built in Scotland in 1907.
Captain Eric is the person who brought the SS Keewatin back to Canada in June of 2012. She was towed from Mackinaw City, Michigan, to her old home port of Port McNicoll, Ontario. The Keewatin is not only the last Canadian Pacific passenger ship, but also the world’s last surviving Edwardian passenger liner.
The Captain’s great life experiences were an important part of who he became and what he accomplished in his life. He was a high school teacher, a promotions salesman, an advertising executive, a restaurant owner, founded a chain of automotive stores, worked as the General Manager for the Canadian National Exhibition, consulted on Public Affairs with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, founded and ran the largest children’s magazine in Canada and spent 29 years as a volunteer for Toronto’s famous Santa Claus Parade selling sponsorships. He is a distinguished member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Mess in Ottawa, a Life Honourary member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and holds an Order of Bulgaria, an RCMP Challenge medal and The Queens’s Diamond Jubilee medal.
We were indeed priveleged to have him as a speaker.
Probus member Lynn Johnstone, recalls how she first met Eric Conroy:
“Eric Conroy went to public school with me during the 50’s in a small school, McKee Avenue School in Willowdale.We were in the same classes for quite a few years from Grade 2 to Grade 8. When we were in Grade 3 Eric played Joseph and I played Mary in the Christmas concert. Eric, as you know from his talk at Probus, was always in trouble with the teachers…not paying attention and sent to the principal’s office often. He probably had A.D.D. and they did not diagnose it back then. He was tall (6 foot 2 inches) and slim with dark hair and on the football team in high school…Earl Haig in Willowdale. That was the last time I saw him – over 50 years ago!! It was so nice to hear all that he has accomplished in his 70 years. “
