Long-time newspaper editor Ronald Wesley Tuckwell (1890-1991) was quite the character. According to the Manitoba Historical Society, "Tuck" was born in England in 1890. The family then spent ten years in Australia before returning to England and moving to Canada in 1903. After working as a billing clerk with the CPR, Tuck spent a few years with his father, David Grieve Tuckwell, running the Lloydminster Times. In 1916 Tuck purchased The Pilot Mound Sentinel and was its editor for 33 years. He retired to Winnipeg and spent a further 21 years as a legislative reporter for Manitoba's weekly newspapers.
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| Tuck's self-portrait as an "Old Hayseed" editor. |
Tuck's time in Pilot Mound paralleled very active years for the Fraser family. In a small town, everyone knows what everyone else is up to, and back then the local paper was very "local" indeed. The Sentinel published all the scuttlebutt: who had visitors, who was travelling, store openings, fires and other accidents, students' school marks, every winner of every category at the local fair (P.H. won a ribbon for his walnut loaf), and, of course, sports results.
Ron Tuckwell and Pete Fraser shared a sense of humour and got on very well. Pete was active in a number of community endeavours, and received a lot of newspaper coverage for his horsemanship, management of the Pilots hockey team, volunteer efforts, and work organizing major events like the annual Chautauqua. But Tuck gave Pete even more attention than he earned, never missing an opportunity to tease him, and always noting Pete's ever-present smile.
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| November 18, 1926. "Local moguls" request your presence at the annual hockey meeting. |
In a 1932 column detailing the hockey lineup, Tuck wrote: "Pete Fraser, honorary president -- came from the East some 25 years ago, but has since reformed. Never played hockey, but can tell you all about it and argue over anything connected with it; will sell a cow at any time just for a hockey match." Gordon Fraser was listed as "transportation manager; brother of Pete -- but that doesn't seem to bother him much; specialty -- getting the team there on time."
Lulu, Pete's race horse that never raced, became a running gag for Tuck over the years. He probably actually admired Pete for taking pity on this sorry horse, but he teased Pete relentlessly all the same.
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| Lulu Bond |
It was said that Pete won race horse Lulu Bond in a raffle, but in truth he bought a ticket and didn't win, and instead purchased the standard bred mare from the draw winner. As Dad reported, "The idiots who had tried to train her had tied a rope to her front leg and would trip her, afraid she might run away. Naturally, Lulu was a trembling, nervous wreck. Dad hitched her, tied back between two big Percherons, in a four-horse abreast team. She soon calmed down and pulled her weight. Pete may have hoped she might race, but that didn't happen."
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| June 14, 1926. Tuck used his caricature several times over the years to advertise race meets (and to tease Pete). |
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| The likeness is unmistakable. Young Pete Fraser in Normal School, Meaford, Ontario |
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| March 21, 1929. "Pete is still smiling." |
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| June 20, 1929. Pete becomes the poster boy for race meets. |
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| July 4, 1929. Tuck imagines Lulu in a mule derby. |
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| January 23, 1930. Tuck suggests "Lulu" as Pete's costume for the local ice carnival. |
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| August 13, 1931. The Might-Have-Beens old-timers softball team includes 55-year-old Pete Fraser. "The winners of this game will challenge the Girls' Team." |
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| January 7, 1932. Pete was a good sport, and allowed Tuck to promote want ads with this testimonial. Pete really did have a heifer who strayed, and was selling chickens three for a dollar. |
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| June 9, 1932. The paper's fold scalps Pete a little, but Tuck is happy to announce a new colt in the Fraser barn. Human birth announcements were a mere two lines of type. |
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| June 7, 1934. It's race time again! Lulu looks as eager as ever, and Pete is still smiling. |
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| August 23, 1934. Even when applauding Billy Hugo, Tuck can't resist a dig about Lulu. |
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Will Fraser tears up the track with Billy Hugo, 1934.
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| June 23, 1938. Excerpt from the Glenora Gleams column in the Sentinel. |
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| May 30, 1946. Will Fraser trains a world champion in "Blue Again" but Tuck claims Lulu is famous, too. This race was at Santa Anita, California, not San Anita, Mexico.
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Tuck's dog had his own "Fidogram" column:
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| August 8, 1946. Pete's "limousine" may have been his decrepit 1929 Plymouth that son Murray resurrected in 1946. |
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| August 15, 1946. You can't win. The editor always gets the last word. |
