Maryboro Lodge Personality: Lorne Thurston

Lorne Thurston in front of his honey house, with ribbons and trophy from Royal Winter Fair, 1965

From the time he was a boy, Lorne was very interested in bees, and persuaded his parents to help him get his own hive when he was 8 or 9 years old. It was an unusual interest; there were not many other beekeepers around Dunsford. As a teenager, he built a honey house on his parents’ farm. At 22, he fell ill with Polio and would never be as strong again—he could no longer lift his arm over his shoulder.

While his brothers were working in the construction business, Lorne would be at the hives, putting nail polish on bees so he could learn about them—something that could aggravate his father. For his entire career, he used the honey house he built as a teenager. His mother, Anna, enjoyed helping to sell the honey—she enjoyed visiting with the customers when they came to the farm. Lorne was quiet and enjoyed reading, and even as an adult, would voraciously read anything relating to bees or honey.

A few stores like Lamantia’s in Lindsay carried Lorne’s honey, but he sold most of his produce from the farm or at local fairs—he became the honey man that many people in Victoria County knew. He was inspired to make the best honey he could, and wherever he competed, whether at the Royal Winter Fair or the Canadian National Exhibition, he would win first prize. His mother thought the number of prizes he was winning was unfair and that others would lose interest, so he became a judge. Then one day he met someone who shared his passion for beekeeping—Joe Valas, who became a best friend.

Lorne would care for bees as long as he could, until he was 87. He loved beekeeping—it was what made him happy. It also made life a little sweeter for the countless people who visited Springbank Farm to buy a jar of honey. As he chatted at the Bobcaygeon Fair, not everyone realized that the ordinary-priced honey, which looked just like something they would buy at the grocery store, was handmade by one of the most skilled apiarists in Canada.

Lorne Thurston Collecting a Hive of Bees, Muriel and Murray Walker Farm, c 2005