Interview with Sandie Timco

Partial Transcript: My name is Sandie Timco. I’m a resident of St. Catharines, Ontario. Lived here all my life, mostly in the North End of the city and the arena is part of my life as was Brock…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco introduces herself, and briefly talks about her time at Brock and her experience living in St. Catharines.

Keywords: Brock University; St. Catharines; St. Catharines – North End

Partial Transcript: Oh, probably, when I was, maybe 7 or 8. Somewhere in there…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco talks about her earliest experiences at the Garden City Arena. She goes onto discuss her parents and siblings, specifically her dad’s shot at the Olympics hindered by World War II. Later, she details her lifelong experiences with hockey from youth to adulthood. She briefly discusses her relative who constructed the arena, her time at Brock as it pertained to hockey and key figures on the St. Catharines TeePees team through the 1950s and 1960s.

Keywords: Blue Line Club; Brock University; Brock students; Chicago Black Hawks; Dave Birt (player); Dennis Hull (player); Elmer Basko (player); Lorne Adams (coach); Maywood School; McKinnon Industries Limited (company); Memorial Cup; Olympics; Pat Stapleton (player); Ron Colangelo (player); St. Catharines TeePees (team); St. Johns Ambulance; Stan Mikita (player); The Original Six; The Queensway Hotel; Wayne Campbell (coach); Youth; construction; local sport; tradespeople; volunteering; wartime

Subjects: Early experiences at the Garden City Arena in the 1950; Watching sports at home

Partial Transcript: Um– in the 50s, when we would’ve gone, it was 15–20 years old. It was still fairly new; seats were in good condition…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco discusses the state of the arena when she was visiting the most, and later when she’d patronize the arena again for the Brock University hockey games. 

Keywords: Infrastructure; aging facilities

Subjects: Evolution of the Garden City Arena from the 1950s to the recent past

Partial Transcript: I sort of knew Jack Gatecliff, my parent’s next-door neighbour, she used to room with the Gatecliffs…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco is discussing her memories of Jack Gatecliff, and his regular sports column in the St. Catharines Standard. She also tells the reasoning behind St. Catharines being a stronghold of Chicago Blackhawks fans.

Keywords: Buffalo Sabres; Chicago Blackhawks; Ferndale Public School; Grantham Township; Jack Gatecliff; Louth; Merritton; Merritton Arena; Municipal amalgamation 1960; Port Dalhousie; St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre; St. Catharines TeePees; Thompson Products (company); lacrosse

Subjects: Jack Gatecliff’s sports column; amalgamating the city in 1960-61; community identity in St. Catharines; local sports teams; team sponsorships; trans-local sports

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I think there was one, but there have been fundraisers…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco shares her memories of fundraising events in the arena, the seating in the Jack Gatecliffe Arena and on the construction of the Rex Stimers Arena in the mid-1960s. Later, she discusses the Brock University hockey team. 

Keywords: Brock Badgers hockey; Jack Gatecliff Arena; Meridian Centre; Rex Stimers Arena; fundraising

Partial Transcript: Oh, we had the Grantham reunion there, I think.

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco shares her story of the Grantham High School Class of 1967 reunion which took place at the Garden City complex in Rex Stimers Arena in 1992.

Keywords: Grantham High School; High school reunion; Jim Bradley; Rex Stimers Arena

Subjects: Rekindling with long-lost friends

Partial Transcript: Sitak, yeah, yeah. John taught shop across the hall from me – and he was a practical joker, as was I…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco rekindles with her experiences as a teacher and talks about her colleague the late John Sitak of St. Catharines on whom she played a practical joke.

Keywords: Ferndale School; John Sitak (teacher); Valentines Day; birthdays; practical jokes

Subjects: Remembering experiences teaching and connecting to sports-involved colleagues.

Partial Transcript: Probably not because Rex Stimers and Gatecliff were already there, and I think Haig did a lot of recreational sports…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco shares what she remembers about the Haig Street Arena, it’s enclosure in 1973 and connects it to her memories of the Garden City Arenas.

Keywords: Haig Street Arena; arena matters

Subjects: The Haig Street Arena; roommates

Partial Transcript: I was kind of, sad, you know, because it’s been such a big part of life of St. Catharines…

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco shares how she felt about the news that the Garden City Arena may close for good. She ties in all her experiences in this closing segment of the interview. Later, she connects more into her experiences at Brock and talking to Bob Davis.

Keywords: Arthur Schmon Tower; Bob Davis; Brock University campus; Mackenzie Chown Complex; The Blue Line Club; The Garden City Arena; Thistle Complex; Walker Complex

Subjects: Brock University sports complex; The proposed closure of the Garden City Arena complex

Partial Transcript: I didn’t really go Downtown all that much. I did, like I said, I lived there for eight years, so that was convenient, I didn’t have a car so that was easy.

Segment Synopsis: Ms. Timco talks about her connection to the local area around the arena, the neighbourhood and the Downtown area. She also talked about more recent participation in St. Catharines sport.

Keywords: Colombian exchange students; Downtown; Meridian Centre; Niagara Ice Dogs; Queenston neighbourhood