Creemore kid made a name for himself in Stayner

The community is celebrating the life of Stan Nixon.

The respected and well-known entrepreneur owned and operated a car dealership, Stan Nixon Motors, for more than 50 years. The Stayner business closed in 2008.

Nixon grew up in Creemore, where his parents ran an egg grading, poultry, feed and seed and cold storage on Caroline Street West. His parents, George and Matilda came from Northern Ireland around 1913, with sons Harold and Stan in tow. They originally located in Toronto but then moved to Creemore.

Nixon grew up in the village, where he would meet his future wife. When the Dewar family moved to town, the local boys cruised by their home to check out the sisters. Dale Dewar, 14 at the time, said Stan caught her eye that day.

“My sister and I were in the front yard and a car drove up with a bunch of young fellows and I guess I spied Stan in amongst them and I decided he looked pretty nice,” said Dale. “He looked at me and I looked at him.”

They attended Creemore Continuation School together and continued a courtship walking to and from school together.

Dale remembers Stan taking a load to the Creemore dump for her mother.

“I would get to go with him and that was I suppose what you’d call our dumping date,” said Dale, laughing.

Stan worked for his father’s feed and seed business, and then his friend Doug Hanna, who was in the car business, invited Stan to come with him to car auctions.

“Stan got quite excited about the car business and that’s how he really got started. I think he bought two cars and he put them on an empty lot up in Singhampton. They both sold and that got Stan very interested,” said Dale.

She said a nice lot came available at the end of the main street in Stayner and he decided to buy the land and set up a car lot. Business at Nixon Motors was brisk enough to employ sons Paul and John.

Stan and Dale had four children and spent summers at the cottage, close by in Wasaga Beach. Stan was an avid curler, helping to establish the curling club in Stayner, and enjoyed square dancing with Dale. Stan was committed to the Shriners and the Masons and was very involved with Stayner Centennial United Church, where he was an elder.

Nixon’s image is one of the commemorative banners currently hanging on Stayner’s main street. At 17, Nixon enlisted in the military and was on his way to becoming a pilot. He was in Trenton finishing up navigation training when the Second World War ended in 1945. He was sent home with full pay.

Stan died on Oct. 5, at the Stayner Care Centre in his 95th year. Daughter Lori said Stan was in long-term care and it was her parents’ greatest regret that they had to live separately but a few days a week, Dale, 92, would walk from her home at Blue Mountain Manor to visit her husband of 71 years.

“I had him for a long time so I should be very thankful,” said Dale.

Friends will be received at Centennial United Church, 234 William Street, Stayner on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m. with a service at 11 a.m.