(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Local celebrities

P.A. remembers “the Jam Man”

May 21, 2020 | 2:00 PM

Charlie Squires, affectionately known in Prince Albert as “the Jam Man,” has passed away at the age of 93.

Squires checked himself into the hospital last weekend, and passed away this week.

He lived for years at Northcote Manor and was most well known in the community for his homemade jellies and jams. The proceeds from his sales went to local charities including the Rose Garden Hospice, Prince Albert’s Lion’s Club, MS Society, Canadian Diabetes Association, and the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club.

Kinsmen member Marcus Abrametz told paNOW Squire’s passing is a great loss for the community.

“Through good times and bad, he staunchly defended our city and championed its potential,” Abrametz said. “His legacy will live on for years to come.”

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Charlie Squires was a big proponent of the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club, and loved to help out Telemiracle. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

Squires with his friend Jackson Lepage. In 2016, the 11-year-old kicked off Jackson’s Journey to Fight MS and Squires helped raise support. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

Grace Erickson was a close friend, and helped Squires pick fruit for the jams and jellies. The two friends also attended numerous bingo nights in Paddockwood, and Erickson worked in the kitchen at Northcote, when Squires was the tenants’ president.

“He had to be the head of everything,” she said with a laugh.

Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne was also close with Squires, and said his friend worked tirelessly for the tenants at Northcote, looking after their safety and well being.

“We’d get up every Christmas morning, and he and I, and a couple of the other residents would cook all the bacon, the eggs and the pancakes, and we had all the residents who couldn’t get out for Christmas down for breakfast,” Dionne said.

Squires presents a cheque to Marina Mitchell with the Prince Albert Rose Garden Hospice. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

Dionne also recalled Squires was also a competitive Kaiser player, and said the two men played together two to three times a week.

“We played Kaiser more for laughs and friendship. I remember we would we would play and 10 or 15 of the residents would come and sit around us because we would joke with each another,” he said. “He was just a good person.”

Squires had a personal connection to the Lion’s Club and their bowling group. He looked after a blind widow friend at the request of her late husband. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

During an interview with paNOW in 2014, Squires was asked why he donated the proceeds from his sales. After citing numerous personal connections to his causes, he joked that he did it mostly as a past time.

“It feels great, because I’ve been a charitable gentleman all my life,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell