Toke Street
The Untold Stories Of A Group Of Delinquents Who Owned A Lake
by David Clutchey

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It was the mid-1940's. A time of war, a time of Peace. In a gold mining town in Northern Ontario, a group of semi delinquents struggled with both. Yet in their own hilarious way, they found a method of coping with lofty expectations, a dysfunctional school system, and unrequited loves. Their exploits blurred the lines of the law, sometimes above, sometimes below, and sometimes in between. The motley group of adolescents led by Mucker DelGuidice, Soupbone Southam, Ole Hansen, and Dink Knowles cluttered the front of Ross' Groceries and Everything Else store on Toke Street where they hatched the plots that changed lives, including their own. Their domain included Gillies Lake whose ownership they claimed by virtue of squatter's rights. Here their canoes plied the waters in summer and their skates sliced the frozen ice in winter. The new Hollinger houses on Cherry Street, and Patricia Boulevard, and the homes on Toke Street and Lakeshore Road were their shelters. Nothing could break their bonds or come between them except, Jeannie. Only the sharpest of men, a Toke street resident-lawyer kept them out of jail. Their travels led them to a legendary lady, whose own life was marred with tragedy. She was Princess Maggie Leclair, a Chippewa who lived on Kamiscotia mountain. A soothsayer. Little did they know that for many, a warm night in September would be their last night on the shores of Gillies Lake.

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David Clutchey was born and raised in Timmins Ontario. The family moved to Toke Street when he was five years old. He attended Central public School and Timmins High and Vocational School. After high school, he worked for a year in the Survey office at the Hollinger Gold mine before attending The University of Western Ontario where he graduated with a B.A (Honours). While at Western he competed on the Varsity wrestling team. After graduating from Western he continued his athletic career winning the Canadian National Wrestling Championship in his weight class and wrestled for Canada at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He continued his education graduating from the University of Toronto’s College of Education before beginning his teaching career in Secondary schools in Ontario. In 1973 he obtained his M.Sc. in Extension Education from the University of Guelph. In 1965 while head of the Geography Department at King City Composite School he accepted a position with The Canadian Department of External Affairs as an Educational Advisor to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. in 1968 he taught a Semester at the University of Mogadishu in Somalia East Africa under the auspices of The Canadian Teacher’s Federation. His travels have taken him to more than ninety world counties including five trips to China. David and his wife Beth live in Waterloo, Ontario.

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Author

David Clutchey

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