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Uncle Murray

I have very fond memories of growing up with Uncle Murray in Port Credit.  

On visits to Grandma Gemmel's house on Lochlin Trail I would visit Murray's room to admire his fine collection of car models and read his old Mad Magazines.  Murray had a fancy Chev El Camino with many tricks, like no door handles!  (You had to reach under the hood for a secret latch)  

Murray was 13 years younger than his brother Doug (my father), and so he was really almost a different generation, growing up in the 50's.  I always thought of him as a pretty cool "California" kind of guy: Beachboys music, Hot Rods, Surfing!  My dad was bald - Murray had a rock star haircut like Elvis.  

When we were a bit older Murray used to take us to Dragway Park in Cayuga for the day to watch the races - Lot's of noise, smoke, and action - pretty exciting for young boys.     

While Murray's interest in cars and talent as a painter is well known, you may not realize that Murray was also a very talented artist and architect - when he was young he designed and built a series of 1950's style model houses out of painted cardboard that we would get out and play with along with his Dinky Toy cars on our visits.  

As you can see from his baby photo, Murray always had a wonderful smile, a grin really, and a great sense of humour.  A bit of a prankster too.  He used to work at a small body shop down on Lakeshore Road in Port Credit and one time he brazed a 6" spike on the back of a Quarter and carefully hammered it into the sidewalk out front.  The guys had days of fun watching people come along and try to pick it up!  

Brian, Craig, and I are all going to miss our wonderful Uncle Murray.

Larry Gemmel

Posted by Larry Gemmel
Thursday October 5, 2017 at 3:45 pm
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