Don’t expect Al Crowe to make any speeches. He doesn’t like the limelight.
“I’m not the guy to serve on the executive,” said Crowe matter-of-factly. “I do the small repairs around the club, and cook in the kitchen. Behind-the-scenes stuff. I like being a foot soldier.”
Fonthill Lions’ Mr. Fixit is a longtime member, and one of the club’s most dedicated workers. When he’s not tending to some maintenance issue or whipping-up a delicious meal in the kitchen, Al can be found at the club’s food trailer at the Pelham Farmers Market during the season on Thursday nights. He’s the main man at the stove for pasta dinners, steak barbecues, Breakfast with Santa, and other events hosted by the Fonthill Lions, and also works the kitchen at the Branch 613 Fonthill Legion just down the street from the Lions.
“I love cooking,” said Crowe. “My mother taught me how to run a kitchen when I was knee high to a grasshopper.”
Born in Niagara -on-the-Lake 83 years ago, Crowe and his family moved to a farm in St. Ann’s off Highway 20. “We had mostly wheat and grain, plus we had 20 milking cows, pigs, horses, dogs and cats,” he said.
In his younger days, Crowe worked for Young’s Sod Supply on Foss Road, the Department of Highways, and even delivered turkeys at Christmas. He ran a 48-seat restaurant on Highway 20 called the Fairview for four years, located where Mossimo’s is now.
Crowe started work at General Motors in St. Catharines in 1964, and was with them 32 years.
“I started on the assembly line at Plant One on Ontario Street, and when that operation moved to Tonawanda, New York, I went to Plant Two on Glendale Avenue, where they produce drivetrains. I tested engines and did assembly line tool setup, supervising a crew of mechanics. We must have had 11,000 employees with GM back then. Only about 2,000 there now.”
His toughest employment over the years?
“Way back in the early 1960s, my brother worked for Moyer Sand and Gravel, and I was with Young’s Sod Farm,” he said. “We loaded trucks with all the sand used in the construction of the Garden City Skyway. It was a huge job, and very physical work.”
These days he lives off Hurricane Road, not far from the Lions clubhouse. He has three children and two stepchildren from two marriages.
“I just came back from California where I walked my granddaughter down the aisle when she was getting married,” said Crowe proudly. He has one great-grand-daughter, and another arriving.
Crowe looks to be in remarkable shape for 83, although he did encounter some health issues along the way.
“I had open heart surgery 14 years ago, and in 2019 needed telescopic heart surgery to fix an aortic valve. I was awake through the whole procedure. These days I take my vitamins, try to eat well, and get some exercise,” he said.
Golf and bowling have been enduring passions for Crowe.
“I didn’t start golfing until I was 32, but when I was with GM, a bunch of the guys would go to Brock Golfland after work on Fridays,” he said. “Then our group joined Whiskey Run for 25 years, golfing twice a week. I’ve had two holes in one during my golf career. I still play once a week.”
Crowe bowled twice a week at Parkway and Fairview Mall, and recorded one perfect game of 300, with 12 strikes in a row.
Given a background working on engines, and a knack for fixing things, you’d think that Crowe would be keeping up with the latest technology. Not so. In fact, he has no computer, and never goes online. He reads print newspapers to find out what’s going on in the world. He used to enjoy flipping through the pages of the Voice of Pelham, which transitioned to PelhamToday last January as an online-only news source.
“I guess one of the Lions will read me this story on their iPad,” he said with a chuckle.
