William Jack "Bill" Arnold

1915 - 2004  (88 years)

• Name	William Jack "Bill" Arnold
  Born	6 Dec 1915	Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Name	William Jack Dewsnap
  Residence	1921	18 1\2 Frederich St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Residence	1921	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Church of England
  Occupation	1950	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	caretaker - K-W Collegiate & Vocation Institute
  Residence	1950	162 Waterloo St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-321392
  Died	26 Nov 2004	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Buried	Parkview Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  Person ID	I321392	Generations
  Last Modified	28 Jan 2025

  
  

  Father	Percy Arnold,   b. 1878, , England ,   d. 1972  (Age 94 years)
  Mother	Maude Helena Williams,   b. 1878, Barnsley, , Yorkshire, England ,   d. 1960  (Age 82 years)
  Married	1902	London, England   [4]
  Family ID	F243590	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Olive Pauline Lorentz,   b. 31 Jan 1921, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 19 Mar 2013, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 92 years)
  Last Modified	29 Jan 2025
  Family ID	F62659	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  He'll swap broom for a pen By ROLAND CRIPPS Record Staff Writer Bill Arnold hasn't done much broom-pushing in the past 11 years. But at the end of the year, Arnold plans to hang up his broom at Kitchener-Waterloo collegiate for good and try pushing a pen. "I always said I was going to write a book," says the 65-year-old head custodian at KCI, who is retiring after 31 years at the school. "I have a lot of notes for it now." The proposed book, I Walked Through Italy, deals with Arnold's war-time experiences when he was with the Royal Canadian Regiment. The regiment landed in Naples, at the toe of Italy, in 1943, and marched the length of the country to Bologna before moving into France. Arnold, who lives in Waterloo, started working in 1929 at the Seagram Stable in Waterloo at age 13, apprenticing as a jockey. In 1932, he rode his first race at Blue Bonnets track in Montreal, bringing Mint Magi across the finish line in first place. "I should have stopped with my first winner," Arnold says. He rode in about 50 other races, but never managed to bring another winner home. Most of the time he worked as an exercise boy, putting horses through their paces, until he joined the army in 1942. While in the service, he "ballooned" from 85 pounds to 130. "It wasn't the army food-it was lousy," Arnold said. "Riding horses is a great way to keep slim." After the war, he worked two years as a painter before returning to Seagram Stable in 1947, the year before. he was married. He spent two years with the stable but summer-long travel on says. the circuit, which keep him from home, and the expenses of supporting a home in Waterloo and himself on the road, made him look for another job in 1949, the year he cards. landed a custodian job at KCI. Three years later, the head custodian died and Arnold was asked to fill in until someone was found for the position. "I've been filling in ever since," Arnold says. "After the first 29 years, it becomes easy." Arnold has a staff of 14 at KCI and oversees seven elementary schools. It means most of his time is spent supervising, but when the going gets tough he'll still pick up a broom and give a helping hand. "What I'll miss most is the people," Arnold says. Each year, there are several students he gets to know well. And there are the staff and teachers who invariably ask him what the score was when his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs have met defeat the night before. "When Toronto wins, there's never any of them around," Arnold Along with the plans for a book, Arnold says he'll fill in time during his retirement by continuing to bowl, pitch horseshoes and play And, there might be a part-time job in the offing, but that's indefinite he says. "I'll just lay around for the first month and see how things go." K-W RECORD DEC 18 1980

  
  

• Sources

  [S2264] Census - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - 1921, Sub District 29 Page 25. [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166808307. [S2657] Directory - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - 1950 - Vernon's Kitchener-Waterloo. [S57] Vit - ON - Birth Registration. Name:Elizabeth Dewsnap Gender:Female Birth Date:20 Jul 1909 Birth Place: Berlin, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Father:Arnold Dewsnap - engineer Mother:Maud Williams Married: London, England 1902

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 6 Dec 1915 - Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada Residence - Church of England - 1921 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - caretaker - K-W Collegiate & Vocation Institute - 1950 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1950 - 162 Waterloo St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 26 Nov 2004 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Parkview Cemetery, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth