Despite the frigid weather, it was difficult to type on Tuesday afternoon because my eyes were “sweating,” and things began to blur.
Dr. Steve Thorning would have regarded that with a “Harrumph.” He enjoyed giving the impression of being crusty. The reason for the foggy eyesight was learning that he had died suddenly the day before.
The first time I saw Doc was at an Elora council meeting. His historical report was so fascinating it caused me to make one of the best Newspaper decisions of my career, to ask him to become a columnist. Having edited his work for years, it is easy to note his writing is head and shoulders above other local history writers.
Part of that was his fascination for everyday life, including fires, police reports, people with interesting foibles, as well as the inevitable politicians and business people. He possessed a Ph.D., with an unlikely titled thesis, Hayseed Capitalists: The Banking System in Ontario in the 1800s. One column particularly struck home – about a bank robbery in Puslinch. One of the culprits was the brother of my uncle – and it was fascinating to learn family history through Thorning. My parents never talked about the family’s bank robber, who had such an unusual surname it had made me curious. Even when confronted, my late mother refused to say much, except to admit it was true.
But there was so much more to Steve, who could well have been labelled a polymath. It is easy to recall him renovating his house, doing all the wiring and carpentry, as well as plotting and then laying the tiles. Steve was an incredible gardener, with a huge property. He told me once that when his parents bought the lot at Colborne and Kertland Streets, it had no trees. By then, it had hundreds.
He was an extraordinary cook and drink mixer. His dill pickles were perennially the best at the Elora and Salem Horticultural Society’s annual show. His Christmas dinners were fabulous – and very traditional. He cooked a turkey with all the trimmings, made the pudding, and topped it off with “hard sauce.” His dinner concluded with port and Stilton, and, for a number of years, fine Cuban cigars.
Former Elora Reeve Mary Dunlop noted that he could converse on just about any topic, and his knowledge of such diverse things as gold rushes in the United States and car manufacturing in Detroit was encyclopedic. He was fascinating in conversation.
Steve’s snort in derision upon learning that bartenders competing in world cocktail championships were using “bar mix” was typical of his attitude to life. He used only the freshest ingredients and even had a suitcase to hold cocktail ingredients so he could entertain when he attended political conventions.
On a personal level, after dropping into his house for breakfast through 2003 when he pinch hit as editor while Dave Adsett was county warden, Thorning piqued my interest with his homemade crab apple jelly recipe, which I still make to this day.
A select few residents and friends will also remember his “Mint juleps at Midnight” for the annual Dominion Croquet tournament that had a run of over 20 years, first at his home, and then a barnyard – with him as Commissioner. Those games were not only competitive but bizarre. Once, someone shot his ball so it bounced into an old bathtub beside the house. “I’ve never taken a drop in my life” he said, and proceeded to manage, on the first try, to extricate it from that tub.
Thorning had an inner strength, too. He was a cancer survivor and it was in full remission around the time we met. Despite his strong abilities as a public speaker and popular lecturer, he was often painfully shy. I asked him once how he managed to speak so well. “You steel yourself,” he said.
He had a wry sense of humour, and his Temperance and Taverns tours at New Year’s Eve for friends, and in February for tourists, were always packed as he talked about local bars and the temperance movement in early Elora.
History was not only not dull for him it was entertainment of the highest order.
I feel honoured to have known Dr. Steve Thorning but so do many others. He will be greatly missed for his keen wit, conversation, and especially for his friendship.
