Jack Tiernay and his wife Lorette and eight sons and one daughter moved to Alliston in 1967 when he became the station agent at the old C.N.R. building on the west side of town. The family became well known in the little 60s town and they are very popular people.

Ever since those days, the number of good friends has grown year by year until, on Jan. 16, 2010 it was necessary to hold Lorette's birthday party at the Alliston Legion to find enough space for everyone and what a great party it was. The excellent music was provided by their own musical family and Jack and Lorette danced the night away with a youthful vitality.

The history of the Tiernay family is built around the C.N.R. which employed Jack's father and also Jack. James Barcliff (J.B.) Tiernay was working as a telegraph operator when C.N. was building the northern lines.

They were far from any hospitals so he sent his wife (maiden name Margaret Chapelle) to Clinton, Ont. to give birth to their baby. Little Jack Louis Tiernay was born on April 7, 1921 and his father took the position as station agent in North Bay, Ont. where they raised eight sons and two daughters. J.B.'s sons, George, Bob, Bill and Joe were railway men too. It just seemed natural that Jack would become a railway man when he grew up.

The story of Jack Tiernay shows, as William Shakespeare wrote, that man in his lifetime plays many parts and in Jack's life, every part has been interesting and each one could be a separate story.

First, there was Tiernay, the Canadian Yo-Yo champion who went to Europe as a teenager to perform. In the next chapter, we see Jack, the teenage sailor boy in the Second World War. After the war we see Jack the railway station agent and then the family man and band leader who still travels about the county and the town playing his own brand of sweet music. The music is just as professional as it was a half century ago when he and his sons had the finest dance band in the community.

Young Tiernay showed such an interest in music, strumming his guitar, that his parents said, "We've just got to buy a piano." With the instrument in the house, the child just kept plunking away at the ivories until he taught himself to play "Put on Your Easter Bonnet" so that it could be recognized. That may have been when he decided to be a musician, and that gift would open a lot of doors for him wherever he went.

The lad had another gift too, in the days when the world was obsessed with the Yo-Yo and with constant practice, he soon mastered more than 50 tricks. About then competitions were springing up all over the country and the kid from North Bay easily eliminated all competitors until he won the Canadian championship with a Yo-Yo in each hand. He still can put on a show as he demonstrated for me, spinning two at a time, just as he did so long ago.

When the lad was in high school in North Bay, the manufacturer of this wonderful toy took him on a promotional trip to Europe where he wowed young and old with his spectacular gift and co-ordination. It was a great opportunity. The only unpleasant part was the terrible sea sickness while crossing the rough Atlantic.

He did not realize that it would not be the last time for that unpleasant experience in the years ahead. While in jolly old England, Jack the born showman even performed before the young princess who would one day be queen of England. With Princess Elizabeth was her sister, Princess Margaret Rose. No doubt their applause was appreciated.

Finally, it was back to school time and then time for the railway career. The young man was a gifted telegraph operator too and the teenage boy was soon posted to a remote northern C.N.R. station at Bayswater, Ont. where from 1940 to 1941, the only relief from boredom was swatting mosquitoes.

About then the lad had enough of the world passing him by so the 18-year-old went aboard the train to Ottawa to sign up for adventure, fighting against the evil German gang that was trying to take over the world. The sailors had nice uniforms so he signed up and they were pleased to use his talents listening to German messages in Morse code on the wireless. Their group was known as the "HUFFDUFF" (High Frequency Direction Finding.) Jack's job was to try to locate German submarines.

The kid from North Bay was aboard the frigate Dunver which was the senior ship, guarding a great convoy of ships 50 miles wide. It was extremely important to prevent the subs from getting into the group of ships where they might sink them at will. In fact, one ship broke down and was left behind and soon a plume of black smoke on the horizon marked its demise.

A teen age boy will find adventure or it will find him and the sailor boy was given the duty of picking up the mail while the frigate was in port at Londonderry, Ireland. While going to the post office he noticed a number of interesting bars. He had plenty of time and decided to check them out, saying "What could possibly go wrong?" Time can pass quickly in such places and suddenly he asked, "Hey what time is it? Oh no, the ship is about to sail!"

The sailor with his bag of mail ran as he had never run before and missed the boat by only 20 feet. His shipmates were all shouting, "Jump Tiernay, jump!" but it was too late. He said, "Oh I don't want to go to that awful Londonderry jail!" He looked wildly for some kind of boat and the Good Lord must have had other plans for him because, right there before his eyes was a boat named The North Bay which delivered him thankfully to his post and the officers never knew about his little episode.

Jack the musician carried his piano accordion wherever he went, whether on board or housed at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland or at Londonderry, Ireland and he was the life of the party with his lively music.

After the war, the young sailor returned to his role as the railroad man where his seniority had continued through his service time.

One day his father, the North Bay station agent invited him to go with him to the Royal Bank to meet the prettiest girl in town, Lorette Gerbasi, the bank teller. His dad had good taste and pretty soon Jack courted her and married the lovely girl on his birthday in 1948. They travelled on the C.N. train to their honeymoon in Chicago.

The years that followed were busy ones as station agent, first in Foote's Bay and later in Burke's Falls. The Tiernays grew more and more famous as their dance band, The Vibratones, were the big attraction at Sudbury, North Bay, Sundridge and Burk's Falls.

Every year Lorette presented Jack with another fine baby boy and everyone waited for son number nine to arrive and when the baby was a girl, the movie theatre stopped the show to announce, "Tiernay strikes out in the ninth!" The next day the newspaper carried the same headline.

Before being transferred to the old station in Alliston, their children were John, Jim, Mike, Frank, Joe, Tim, Robert, Christopher and Lorie and seven out of nine grew to be fine musicians in Tiernay's ever-popular band. At many fine events in the old Aliston arena I enjoyed their sweet music and their popularity grew and grew. Lorette was not a musician but she was popular for 35 years leading her yoga classes which still continue today.

Fame seemed to follow Jack and in 1964 he was a guest on the television show, Flashback, with Paul Soles on a Sunday night. The panel had to guess his claim to fame which was the Yo-Yo tour.

Today, travelling with his portable electronic instrument, Jack Tiernay volunteers to entertain throughout the community and beyond, especially bringing joy to the elderly in nursing homes with no interest in financial reimbursement. As we read in God's Holy Book, it is better to build up treasures in Heaven than here on earth. May God grant this great musician many more years of playing the sweetest music this side of Heaven.

For more stories from our community history see next Tuesday's edition of the Alliston Herald,

The first 65 stories from 2008 have now been published in a book called The Way We Were Then, Book 1. It will be available very soon in Alliston. A book signing will be announced shortly.