Restauranteur.
Born at Winnipeg on 8 October 1912, son of ? Stokes and Margaret Morrison, he was for many years a prominent musician. In 1941, he opened the first drive-in restaurant in Winnipeg, called the Riverside Club, on Pembina Highway in Fort Garry. In collaboration with Samuel Sair, he founded Skills Unlimited, a non-profit organization for the rehabilitation and retraining of emotionally handicapped people. He also formed a workshop called Horizons Unlimited for the Mentally Handicapped at Wetaskiwin, Alberta. On 21 February 1935, he married Elma Hazel McKinnon (?-?) at Winnipeg and they had a daughter and a son. He died at the Health Sciences Centre on 5 June 1977.
Birth registration [George Ford Stokes], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [George Ford Stokes, Elma Hazel McKinnon], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“New Riverside Club, dine and dance spot, is opened Saturday,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 July 1941, page 5.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 7 June 1977, page 30.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 September 2024
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