34 - Sunday, Nov. 29, 1992 ~- Norih Shore News

Senior of the Year plays a sweet sax

HE WAS a kid in
Vancouver with a
paper route and a
summer job picking
peas on Lulu Island,
and tinkering with
crystal sets like his
pals.

Eleanor

THE VINTAGE YEARS

He liked the piano, tco,
but his sister took lessons
and monopolized it. His
folks gave him a violin to
make some music with, but
it didn’t, to coin a phrase,
strike any chords.

But one exciting night the
crystal set brought in San
Francisco, and a band that
boasted a saxophone sec-
tion. That was it, that was
the sound ke knew he
wanted to make.

Paper-delivering and
pea-picking were feverishly
accelerated, and by the next
summer he could put $5
down on a sax of his own.

That was in 1925, and the
boy was Mart Kenney, who
grew up to lead the Western
Gentlemen from one coast

/ Deelers Antiques t \
A store unlike any other \

me he Ultimate
Re Shoppitig Experience

Just in time for Christmas
our new shipment has
arrived offering you a

~ magical array of inspiring
gifts, to fulfill your

of Canada to the other, an-
nouncing themselves with
The West, a Nest, and You,
Dear.

Even to this day.

Yes, at &2 he’s still play-
ing a sweet baritone sax-
opkhone on occasion. He
played it the other night at
his investiture as Senior of
the Year.

So here’s another honor,
courtesy of the Brock
House Society and the
Hongkong Bank, to add to
his cullection.

And it is a collection of
note. When he and Norma
Locke, his vocalist and
wife, finally ‘‘lit’? in Mis-
sion in 1969, he began to
repay the community of
Canada for the great life
he’d enjoyed during the
entertaining years.

He worked with the Lions
Society and the Kinsmen
and the National Parole
Board, and with the local
councii as alderman for a
couple of terms. He earned
Mission’s Citizen of the
Year award.

He has also received an
honorary LLD and was
named a Meinber of the
Order of Canada in 1980.
That’s our highest possible
Canadian honor, the very
best we can do.

The school orchestra at
Magee High was the real
beginning, when a few
coalesced into a little combo
for parties. They had only
four pieces they could all
play, but no one seemed to
mind as long as they kept
time.

Mart listened as much as
he could, hanging around

Pantages, where they

Christmas shopping list

PARK ROYAL
NORTH

922-6818
922-C213

had live orchestras and live
stage shows; spending time
at the Promenade at English
Bay, where Len
Chamberlain and his
Twinkle Toes let him sit in
sometimes. Len Jater took
him on for his first job at
the Hotel Vancouver — $50
a week, and he had to be
perfect in 11 pieces!

Then came the dances
that Love’s Restaurants
sponsored, out on Marine
Drive across from Spanish
Banks. The Belmont

Cabaret at Nelson and
Granville was a dance place
too. He was Starting to
work a bit on the clarinet
now, and found himself
making music six nights a
week.

That’s when he decided
to make it his Hfetime ca-
reer.

There were some tough
winter months following ihe
Wall Street crash, and
Mart, who’d just married
the most beautiful girl in

See The West page S6

When you receive our Christmas Appeal letter this year,
share what you can. Return your donation in the envelope
provided te The Salvation Army, #611198 West Hastings St.,
Vancouver, B.C. Y6B 1HZ. This Christmas, so many are
counting on you to remember...the envelope, please.

JPPORT THE
CHRISTM AS
= APPEAL

“Absolutely the best family sedan value avai lable
onywhere in the world! Test drive one tod:

'9.3 SATURN SL. oo «

"92 SA STURN SL Su.
ORES |

pe
This is the car the critics con't believe is

being sold é this insredibly low price.

The best of bath worlds, sedon practicali-
ty with sport coupa parlormance.

ony *| 5 495

92 SAAB S00 TURBO

| CONVERTIBLE $42,080]

"91 SAAB 900 TUi:30

CONVERTIBLE $35,900]
= ern :

93 9000 CS & CSE

Available for immediate detivery

"93 STOCK

NOW AVAILABLE |
INQUIRE TODAY f

H.C. - 1.9 litre engine, 5 spd.

rans. radial tres, allgy wheels &
whole " of