Pharmacist, municipal official.
Born at Brandon on 14 July 1885, son of William Gorrie and Amelia Jane Matthews, his parent had come west from Nova Scotia, settling at Brandon in 1880. The family moved to Wawanesa in 1891 where his father started a harness business and later farmed, eventually retiring to Vancouver, British Columbia. Charles Gorrie was educated at the Wawanesa School, then continued his education at Brandon Collegiate, and the Manitoba School of Pharmacy from which he graduated in 1907.
Gorrie had worked in the drug store of Charles Morley Vanstone and, on graduation from the School of Pharmacy, he returned to Wawanesa and purchased the business. In 1909, he was a founding member of the Manitoba Association of Optometrists. For a time he was the Wawanesa manager for the Bell Telephone Company, and later the Manitoba Telephone System. In 1918, he began working for the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company as a claims adjuster, from which he retired in 1952. He then worked full-time as an independent insurance adjuster.
On 29 September 1907, he married Evelyn Thornber (1890-1974) at Wawanesa. They had five sons: Charles Kenneth Gorrie, William James Morley Gorrie (1913-?), Elwood Clinton Gorrie, Morley Gorrie, and Jack Gorrie. He served as a member of the Wawanesa Council for three years and was Mayor of Wawanesa from 1925 to 1930, and from 1952 to 1968. In the 1953 provincial general election, he ran for election unsuccessfully against Errick French Willis. He was a member of the Wawanesa School Board and was Chairman for several years. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity and the IOOF, being Past Noble Grand of Lodge 31. He was an avid curler.
He died at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 9 July 1968 and was buried in the Wawanesa Cemetery.
Birth registrations [Charles Kenneth Gorrie, William James Morley Gorrie], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.
“No rocking chair for this spry mayor of Wawanesa,” Brandon Sun, 28 April 1962, page 9.
“Councillors pay tribute to Mr., and Mrs. C. C. Gorrie,” Brandon Sun, 17 February 1968, page 12.
“Charles C. Gorrie dies at Wawanesa,” Brandon Sun, 10 July 1968, page 1.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 7 October 2023
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