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Clarence Frank Munton
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Born at Winnipeg on 5 October 1909, son of Frank Munton (1876-1939) and Mary Jane McMartin (1882-1955), he was known to all by his middle name from a young age. He grew up at the family’s 460 Young Street residence and attended grades one through seven at Isbister School (1916-1923) and grades nine through ten at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate (1924-1927). In his late teenage years (c1927-c1928), he held steady employment with road survey crews near Bassano, Alberta.
He returned to Winnipeg around 1929 and followed his father's footsteps, gaining employment with the Winnipeg Electric Company (WEC), initially working as a driver (c1929) before advancement to an operator (c1930). He worked at local power plants within Winnipeg and was later stationed as a substation operator at their northern Transcona facility. He remained with the WEC (later Winnipeg Hydro-Electric System / Winnipeg Hydro) until 1966, retiring as a shift supervisor within Hydro's Master Control Centre.
An amateur photographer by the late 1920s, he may have picked up his passion while doing survey work in Alberta. By the early 1930s he had established a darkroom in his Ravelston residence where he continued to refine his skills and turned his hobby into a profession. He was a contributing photographer for several publications; rural, regional, and beyond - including Canadian Geographic magazine. He also worked in association with Win Van Slyck for the Dugald Costume Museum in the early 1950s, as well as with Nan Shipley and Leo Mol, and was the long-standing preferred photographer of the Transcona School District.
On 21 November 1931, he married Hilda Mary Phelps (1910-2005) at St. Matthews Anglican Church in Winnipeg. At first, the newlywed couple rented a house on Melrose Avenue West near Madeline Street before acquiring 331 Ravelston Avenue West [the structure built elsewhere in 1922 and relocated to its present location shortly before they moved in] around 1933. Together they had two children: John David Phelps Munton and Joan Elizabeth Munton (married John Milton “Milt” Wright [later divorced], re-married to Andrew Russell “Russ” Donaldson). In the early 1960s, and since empty-nested, they downsized to 500 - 372 Assiniboine Avenue (Palmer House Apartments) in Winnipeg.
While residing in the greater Winnipeg area, he was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Chess Club, and St. George's Anglican Church (Transcona), as well as being active within organized labour causes and the Electrical Unit of the One Big Union. Upon retirement, he initially spent two years travelling abroad before settling in British Columbia, first at White Rock (1968-?) and later at Sidney. After returning to Canada, he began to edit a journal he had kept while travelling abroad and around this same time also dabbled in poetry.
He died at the Saanichton Peninsula Hospital on 15 July 1983 and his cremated remains were interred at First Memorial Cremation Garden in Victoria. In 1994, his widow and daughter donated his photograph collection to the Archives of Manitoba.
Birth [Clarence Frank Munton] and marriage [Frank Munton to Mary Ann McMartin, Clarence Frank Munton to Hilda Mary Phelp] registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registrations [Clarence Frank Munton], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
1926 and 1931 Canada censuses, Library and Archives Canada.
Engagements [Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Phelps], Winnipeg Tribune, 13 October 1931, page 8.
Death notice [Frank Munton], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 March 1939, page 21.
“Transcona news notes,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 June 1951, page 16.
Death notice [Mary Jane Munton], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 June 1955, page 33.
Engagements [Mr. and Mrs. C. Frank Munton], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 July 1955, page 20.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 20 July 1983, page 44.
Obituary [Hilda Mary Munton], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 January 2005, page 10.
C. Frank Munton collection, Archives of Manitoba.
The House on Ravelston Avenue by Joan Donaldson, November 2020. [Self-published memoir; copy supplied].
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Property Assessment Details [331 Ravelston Avenue West], Winnipeg Assessment and Taxation.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
We thank John Munton and Joan Donaldson for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 8 June 2026
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