April 22, 2025
ONTARIO’S COUNTRY PIONEERS: MAC BEATTIE (#93 in the Ontario’s Pioneers series) by Larry Delaney The late John McNab (Mac) Beattie was born December 21, 1916, in Arnprior, Ontario. Like many young Canucks, he spent his early years playing hockey, which took him to the west coast, where he was the goaltender for the Nanaimo Clippers. In the early 1930s, after returning to his Ontario homestead, Mac Beattie turned his talents to music, forming the first edition of “The Melodiers” with Gaetan Fairfield, Horace Blanchette, Mervyn Leitch and Harold Mosley; with Mac leading the group vocally and with his soon-to-be signature “washboard” music. Thanks to a weekly radio show initially aired out of Pembroke, Ontario, their music was being heard throughout the Ottawa Valley […]