Greater Napanee - Notable People

Notable People

• Alan Aylesworth Macnaughton, Senator and former Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Mount Royal between 1949-1966. Speaker of the House of Commons (1963–1966), founder of the Canadian branch of the World Wildlife Fund and Officer of the Order of Canada (1995). Born in Napanee on July 30, 1903. The Senator was the grandson of a former mayor of Napanee, Jehiel Aylesworth.
• Albert Schultz, Gemini Award winning actor, he starred in the CBC Television hit drama Street Legal and the medical drama Side Effects. His theatre career includes leading roles at the Stratford Festival and as Founding Artistic Director of the Soulpepper Theatre Company. Schultz moved to Napanee at an early age and he attended elementary school there.
• Andrew Martin, multi Covenant Award winning recording artist, handed out annually by the Gospel Music Association of Canada (formerly known as the CGMA). His album Departures is his debut mainstream album and features a collection of original songs and classic favorites in the Popera genre.
• Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne Jarvis, World War I flying ace. As a member of the Royal Flying Corps scored seven victories while serving with 17 Squadron. Awarded the United Kingdom's Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Also decorated by the government of France with the Croix de Guerre with Palm. Jarvis was born in Napanee and spent his childhood there. His father was the deacon of the Anglican church in Napanee.
• Avril Lavigne, musician, grew up in Napanee. She sang about the town in her song "My World" from her debut album, Let Go.
• Edmund James Bristol, Born (September 4, 1861) and raised in Napanee. Member of Parliament (MP) serving the electoral district of Toronto Centre in the Canadian House of Commons (1905 by-election and re-elected in 1908, 1911, 1917, 1921, and 1925). In 1921, he served as Minister without Portfolio in Prime Minister Arthur Meighen's cabinet. An avid sportsman, Edmund Bristol won the Royal Canadian Yacht Club's Prince of Wales Cup in 1895.
• George Sproule, a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. George played with the Brampton OALA senior champions of 1912, 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930 and 1931. The 1930 and 1931 teams were also national Mann Cup Champions. Sproule was the first recipient of the Jim Murphy Memorial Trophy as the Ontario Association's most valuable and most sportsmanlike player.
• Kathleen Frances Daly, painter. Born in Napanee on May 28, 1898. Closely associated with the Group of Seven, her works can be found in many major Canadian exhibitions as well as in exhibits in London, England.
• H. Bedford-Jones, born in Napanee, Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (1887–1949) was a Canadian historical adventure fantasy and science fiction writer. He wrote over 100 novels and was considered one of the leading pulp fiction writers of the 20th century.
• Jason Germain, co-lead singer and chief songwriter for multi-Juno Award winning contemporary Christian recording artists, downhere. Born in Napanee, Germain began singing in the town's Baptist church. His most recent win was at the 2009 Juno Awards with downhere's album Ending is Beginning. downhere were also Juno winners in 2002 and 2007.
• John Gibbard, founded the Gibbard Furniture Company in Napanee in 1835. The company operated for 173 years and was the oldest furniture maker in Canada and one of the oldest continuously operating companies in North America at the time of its closing. Gibbard's furniture can be found in many Canadian embassies around the world.
• Sir John A. Macdonald, lawyer, businessman, politician, first Prime Minister of Canada. At age 17, Sir John A. managed a branch legal office in Napanee (1832–1834). As Prime Minister he would bring Manitoba, BC and PEI into the confederation of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald was the architect of the transcontinental railway that united the West Coast with the rest of Canada. This critical rail link was a condition for B.C. joining the confederation.
• Leroy Blugh, Former Canadian Football League defensive lineman who played fifteen seasons in the CFL including eleven seasons for the Edmonton Eskimos. Two-time CFL West Division All-Star, Grey Cup Champion (1993).
• Lesley Thompson, Five-time Olympic medalist, including winner of an Olympic Gold Medal in the Women's Eights Rowing event in Barcelona, Spain, 1992. Upon winning a silver medal in the same event at the London 2012 games, she became the first Canadian to win medals at five different Olympic Games.
• Michael Breaugh, Member of Parliament (MP) in the Canadian House of Commons (1990–1993) representing the electoral district of Oshawa. Prior to that Breaugh served as Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Oshawa in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (1975 to 1990).
• LCol Michael Sweeney, Commanded 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment (1993). Later commanded northern sector of United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission at Umm Qasr, Iraq (2000). Appointed Chief of Staff of the Canadian Forces Support Training Group, CFB Borden (2007), subsequently appointed interim commander, CFB Borden (2008).
• Ralph McCabe, former Major League Baseball pitcher with the Cleveland Indians (1946)
• Reginald Aldworth Daly, (1871–1957) geologist; taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1907–12) before joining Harvard University (1912–42). He was an authority on igneous rocks and the geological structures of the Earth's crust and independently developed the theory of magmatic stoping. Daly was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1935, the Wollaston Medal in 1942 and the William Bowie Medal in 1946. Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honor. His home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, (the Reginald A. Daly House) is now an American National Historic Landmark.
• Scott Finlay, former member of the Canadian National Ski team. Finlay won the overall points honours at the Pontiac Cup Ski Championship in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on March 7, 1976. On February 24, 1978, at age 21, Finlay suffered a career ending, debilitating head injury at the Canadian Men's Downhill Ski Championships at Lake Louise, Alberta when he veered off course at high speeds and crashed into a wooded area 200 meters from the finish.
• Stuart Wood, was born in Napanee on October 17, 1889, served as the ninth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, from March 6, 1938 to April 30, 1951. He was a CMG (Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George) and the great-great grandson of U.S. President Zachary Taylor.
• William Sexsmith, was born in Napanee on October 23, 1885 and served as a Member of Provincial Parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1933 to 1943. William Sexsmith also served as president of the Canadian Hockey Association known today as Hockey Canada.