Businessman, sports promoter.
Born at Poulton, England on 27 April 1883, son of William Bend, he emigrated to Manitoba as a child and settled on a farm at Poplar Point. He operated a general store and later a farm implements business at Poplar Point, retiring in 1945.
On 7 May 1913, he married Annie Ada Wilson (1887-1978) at Portage la Prairie and they had three children: Robert William Bend, Olive Elizabeth Bend, and John Linthwaite “Lin” Bend. An avid hockey fan, he brought the first enclosed hockey rink to rural Manitoba and fostered his son Lin and nephew Bryan Hextall toward professional hockey careers in the NHL. He managed the Poplar Point intermediate hockey championship team of 1921 and continued to manage hockey clubs including the Portage Terriers until 1959. In 1987, he was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. He served for thirty years on the council of the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, including a term as Reeve (1929-1931). He was a Conservative candidate for the Lakeside constituency in the 1927 and 1932 provincial general elections.
He died at Poplar Point on 28 November 1969 and was buried in the cemetery of St. Anne’s Anglican Church, of which he had been a member for many years.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: J. P. Bend Memorial Rink (Poplar Point, RM of Portage la Prairie)
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 29 November 1969, page 36.
“J. P. Bend dies at 86,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 December 1969, page 2.
“Olive’s success traced to father,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 February 1984, page 46.
“Clarke heads inductees to Manitoba Hockey Hall,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 July 1987, page 47.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 February 2021
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