On May 28, a brief procession carried former Huntsville mayor Bob Addison past Town Hall for the final time. Addison, who was mayor from July 20-October 19, 1970, died May 25, 2020.
On the Town of Huntsville’s timeline of past Huntsville mayors, is this account of Addison’s time on council:
Milt Tibbett resigned as Mayor of Huntsville on July 20, 1970 to become the first Chairman of the new District of Muskoka. With an election due at the end of the year, Council chose to appoint Acting Mayor Addison as Mayor.
Appointed Mayor at the age of 33, Addison was first elected to council in January 1968. He served on several committees including as Chair of the welfare, police, fire and finance committees.
Addison was the owner / operator of the Addison Funeral Home which he purchased from his father in 1969 (now the Mitchell Funeral Home).
Mayor Addison contemplated running for Mayor of the newly amalgamated Town of Huntsville, but stepped away from public life to focus on business.
Mayor Karin Terziano and some of Huntsville’s past mayors lined the sidewalk in front of Town Hall to pay their respects. (See a transcript of the comments from Terziano, former mayor Hugh Mackenzie, and MP and former mayor Scott Aitchison below the video.)
Transcript:
Mayor Karin Terziano:
“We just gathered here today to pay our respects to former mayor Bob Addison’s last drive down Main Street. Bob passed away this Monday and we had a procession down the street and all the mayors of Huntsville who are still around gathered here to pay our respects. As a community we will miss Bob Addison.”
Former mayor Hugh Mackenzie:
“It’s a very sad day. I think the last time we stood out here doing this was when the fire chief Ross Payne died and the fire engine went by after his funeral. It’s very fitting that this was done for Bob Addison as well. He wasn’t mayor of Huntsville for a long time but he was a long-time contributor to Huntsville. He stepped in as mayor at a time when Muskoka and Huntsville were caught up in the amalgamation of all of the 24 municipalities in Muskoka were taken into six municipalities and he became mayor when Milt Tibbett who was the mayor of the day was appointed by the Province to be the first chairman of Muskoka, so Bob filled that term.
“He has worked hard for Huntsville all of his life, he was a native here, his family has generations in the funeral business here, and he just made a huge contribution to our town.
“He stepped in as mayor at a very important time in our transition to a bigger community and he managed that very well on behalf of the people of Huntsville. We’re going to miss him.”
MP and former mayor Scott Aitchison:
“Well, Bob was a dear friend. I love the fact that even to the end he called me Scotty always. He was a loyal booster of Huntsville. He loved the community really deeply and did so much for it with his business, with his charitable causes, with his leadership, not just while he was on council but even afterwards. I always relied on him as a really thoughtful sort of wise councillor who would always have an interesting perspective on things and make you laugh while he was talking about it. He was a dear friend. He helped me a lot not just when I was mayor but even when I moved on to become a Member of Parliament he worked hard on my campaign and helped me out a lot. I’ll miss him dearly. He was a good friend.”
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Brian Tapley says
I knew Bob for many years but never realized he had been the mayor of Huntsville. He was always a very calming and helpful man. too bad to see him gone as I’m sure he had many memories, could have written a book most likely.
Chris Mathews says
Dear Bob. For all the hard work you did for the Canadian Cancer Society ‘s Huntsville Branch and all the years you put in I thank you. As someone who only knew him in the last few years I found him to be an easy man to respect and joke around with, he with his very soft voice and I with my loud voice. He always had insights into whatever we might be discussing.
Bob is gone far too soon. I will be presumptuous and call him a dear friend whom I will always sorely miss.
DAVID JOHNS says
Bob was a wonderful person who I could always count on for answers to my questions concerning the history of Huntsville. He and his father Carl were hard workers on the creation of Pitman’s Bay Camp
on Mary Lake as they both were Boy Scouts. Many thanks Bob for your very kind assistants over the years.