Wally Hern (pt. 3)

In previous blogs we have seen that Wally Hern, the first cousin of Lois' father was an excellent amateur athlete, a not-so-enthusiastic scholar, and a popular young man in Stratford. The picture on the left taken of Wally when he was on a road trip with his hockey colleagues to Humber Bay in 1908 shows that he was also a fashionable dresser. His overcoat is almost identical to the coat worn by the model on the right, and taken from an advertisement appearing in the Stratford Beacon in the same period. In the years leading up to the First War, Wally continued to play senior hockey with the Stratford Indians in the O.H.A , but by 1912 he was playing less and in 1913 he was no longer playing competitive hockey. In an emergency he filled in as a referee for the Indians' hockey games. Even though his name no longer appeared regularly on the sports page his name, continued to appear in the Beacon on a daily basis. In 1912 he was advertising a dyeing, cleaning, pressing and suit repair service but by 1913 he had moved two doors down on Downie Street and expanded his merchandise to include suits to order and trousers guaranteed to hold their shape and fit. This was likely a good time for Wally Hern and his career, long before the troubles that led to his losing his business. But that was in the future.