Jack McKinley was born on Manitoulin Island at Gorbay in 1924.
Manitoulin Island is an island in Lake Huron in Ontario. It is the largest lake island in the world.
His parents Arthur James and Almeda McKinley, originally from Ontario, moved to Prince George in 1939; they had two sons Jack and Harold and a daughter Alberta. The family made many moves before settling down in Prince George. During the years that they lived in Blue Sky and Fairview, Alta., they owned race horses, which Jack and his brother used to ride bare back in horse races. When they traveled the racing circuit they used to stay in barns, paddocks or other out buildings for shelter. That was the normal thing back then.
With a twinkle in his eye Jack said, "By the time I was in Grade 9 I had attended 13 different schools. I wasn't the best student in school because I was a little bit on the bad side. Because I was so naughty I occasionally got the strap. Back then you didn't cry or fight the fact that you were getting the strap; you just held out your hand as the teacher gave you a good hefty strap on them and then you prayed that your parents didn't find out or you would be in even more trouble with them."
Jack was 15 years old when the family arrived in Prince George; everything they owned was packed in the family Buick. They stayed in cabins owned by Johnny Johnson located near the town side of the old Cameron Street bridge.
There was no money and no job so his father relied on the family's musical talents to raise money. Jack explained, "My dad was what I call an old time fiddler, my brother Harold played the fiddle, my mother played the piano and I played the accordion. We played anywhere and anytime and made some extra money on the side. We played in the old CCF Hall which is now the Eagles Hall, we played for many events in the Giscome Hall and occasionally we would play at Aleza Lake. My father used to rent the hall for five dollars and we would put on a dance to raise money. The admission to get in was cheap but generally they just walked in and wouldn't pay at all. The pay was small and amounted to about 30 or 35 dollars for each dance. The dances were always a good time because there were a lot of good dancers in Prince George and they would come out to the camps for the dances. There were no beer parlors in the area but the booze always seemed to be available."
Time went by and his father started a successful secondhand store where Bater Electric used to be.
Jack joined the Army in 1940 and was discharged when they found a blood clot in his leg. He can correctly say that he was in the military even if it was only for four days.
He was living and working in Penny when he married Evelyn (Ev) Boudreau in 1946. Ten years later they moved into Prince George where Jack and Ev raised five children; Gail Martenson, Barry, Rocky, Charlane and Melody. Sadly Ev passed away in 1998.
Jack's first job was yard foreman at Northern Planers and later he moved into the shipping department.
He bought an arch truck and went into trucking in 1966. Jack explained, "After the tree was cut down my work started. I would winch the logs up onto the truck with the arch. The arch method of first putting a choker on the bundle of logs and then winching it onto the truck was the old way of loading a logging truck."
During the summer months, Jack worked on the new highway being built to McBride and during the winter months he worked for Pat and John Martin Logging. Jack said, "When I look back I realize that the work we did back then was totally amazing. For example, in 1968 they dammed up Lake Williston [now the largest lake in British Columbia] for the W.A.C. Bennett Dam project. It was our job to build ice bridges that spanned over several miles across the frozen lake near the Parsnip River area. We logged the trees, hauled them out onto the ice and tied them together to make a road for the logging companies. We never heard of any other man-made ice bridge that was as long as the ones we built. This is the type of work that I did until my back gave out. I required back surgery in 1975 and it was that surgery that took me from logging straight to the piano bench.
"From 1978 to 1992 I played the piano for a living. I used to work in the hotels and restaurants as an entertainer, but mostly for the Log House Restaurant that used to be located on Tabor Lake. I played at the Simon Fraser lounge and the Savalas Steak House to name a few. I never took a lesson and many people told me that they thought that I was a genius. That was such a compliment that I just let them believe it. In the end I played at the Holiday Inn for about four years until I had a heart attack and I was forced to retire."
In 2003 Jack married Evelyn (Laura) Mooers. In the 1960s Evelyn and her late husband George Zielke owned the Black Top Cab company. Evelyn worked at the Prince George airport for ten years in the pre-boarding office, a job which she really enjoyed.
Over the years Jack tuned many pianos and played for various weddings and other events. He volunteered many hours playing at senior centres. He was an active member of the Elastic Band for nearly ten years but now he can only play when he is up to it.
Jack now resides at the Chateau and at the age of 92 he can still stroke those piano keys on occasion. He likes living at the Chateau and would love to play their baby grand piano every day to entertain the other residents but he is rarely up to it due to the fact that his heart is only working at 13 per cent.
Jack said, "Ev and I were enjoying a wonderful life together until health issues now confine her to the Simon Fraser Lodge. So goes my story of a life lived to the fullest. There were sad times and happy times but life was good in the earlier years. We did not have to lock our doors or our cars. Everyone was trustworthy. I had a good life and life is still good."
