Passing of Len James

Morning Bob. Sorry I am late getting back to you but I had to go out of town for a few days after my initial note and wasn't able to respond until today. I have re-attached the Len James obit for posting. Len was the father of one of your frequent contributors Heather McKeon (James) As I said in my earlier e-mail, Len lived down the street from me on Murray and although he was 18 years older there was a stage where he called me John and told me I should call him Len. That's the kind of guy he was,outgoing friendly and entrepreneurial. After his war service Len and Bill Burton started the Burton-James taxi service, the predecessor to Arrow Taxi and Greenfield Park Taxi, in "The Park" and the story goes that their financial foundation was due in large part to a contract they had with The Montreal Gazette. In those days The Gazette printed and distributed the "Bulldog" edition which went on sale at 9:00 pm the night before the next regular morning delivery and somehow Bill and Len got a contract with the paper to carry a few bundles of The Gazette to Ottawa every day the paper published. In those days ,remember, there was only the newspapers the telegraph and the radio and the paper was very important for the dissemination of the news. I  don't know how long they had the contract but it surely gave them a  regular revenue stream they would need until the business really developed. JMcC 

Thanks John McC