canadian cartoonist jimmy october june best known work comic strip center illustrations humorous prose pieces born ontario moved toronto found illustration work supplement left hand severely injured battle ridge world war drawing hand continued star return began weekly comic strip evolved rural centred humorous center moved montreal standard star kept publication rights continued strongly similar characters situations took strip sudden death heart attack went longest running strip english canadian comics history life career born october near ontario son farmer hannah née immigrated family grew went school struggled spelling middle developed obsession drawing teens friends teachers encouraged toronto pursue drawing career moved aiming develop art sought work found printer clark stone firm spent months drawing maps company indicating lots sale seeking job read toronto star exchange farmer editor editor virtues farmer challenge try farming drew cartoon editor struggling milk cow farmer editor submitted star appeared supplement november visited star offices following monday editor chief hired immediately began lettering titles touching photos editor enlisted drawing skills illustrated news stories children feature old mother nature club political cartoons cartoons appeared publications took job firm montreal midst world war enlisted military years previous experience 48th canada served served battery deployed overseas september november serving 12th battery employed farm experience driving horses artillery ammunition battle ridge left hand severely injured enemy shell exploded ammunition dump delivering loads shells star reported anxiety possible loss canada promising drawing hand right discharged england arrived toronto december returned work star shortly approached illustrate book history unit volume appeared later year title written illustrated light hearted humorous cartoons rendered accurate detail circulation grew comics section encouraged create canada themed comic strip vain chicago strip ran star protested weekly schedule nonetheless began january march strip proved popular evolved taken influence depictions fictional rural town american midwest called bird center turned focus humorous nostalgic depictions rural life december renamed strip center setting described canadian village lead characters included bowler old pet lazy wife strip grew popularity voted favourite comic strip readers poll write strip appear list options center shared office journalist ridge veteran friends began providing colour illustrations clark tales star pair toronto tall clark short stout selection appeared volume titled talked star fried eggs city hall steps house flooded cement let persuade steam spring digging ruined garden book adventure frequent visitors office worked pace tore work progress dissatisfaction submitted strips moment caused delays production distribution editorial director demanded replied harry star weekly press value original artwork pursued little licensing work included product endorsements products puzzles center cabin park lake opened work provided bought home neighbourhood clark grown concerned star treatment staff agreement leave clark contacted publisher montreal standard newspaper smaller circulation star earlier offered position offered pair salaries similar received star opportunity strip syndicated united_states supplement income handed christmas eve asked aren going chance bid told bid center episode ran february star maintained publication rights created feature strongly similar characters situations début february standard ran colour long wanted standard circulation grew addition clark collaborations provided illustrations camp cottage published feeling night died heart attack home toronto june age clark hearing news saying great gentleman passed buried toronto personal life stood feet inches enjoyed outdoors pursued fishing hunting returned area spoke career methodist christian returning service world war began born grew toronto worked advertising agency published father magazine bible married february couple daughters betty son john featured strips legacy montreal cartoonist took went english canada longest running comic strip canadian publisher printed treasury center commentary introduction clark continued publishing tales time illustrations soon moved different topics holds samples original artwork erected ontario historical plaque museum commemorate role ontario heritage inducted
Jimmy Frise