Stompin’ Tom Connors was born in Saint John, but he called Prince Edward Island home, and Islanders are proud of their ties to the Canadian legend.
His song Bud the Spud glamourized the island’s potato industry and gave new meaning to its now famous “bright, red mud.”
While the whole island would like to lay claim to Stompin’ Tom, the small community of Skinners Pond has the ultimate bragging rights.
Connors was adopted by a family in Skinners Pond and put the community on the map.
“Well, I knew him all of my life,” says Esther Doyle, who lives across the street from his childhood home. “I met him when I was very young and he was an awful nice little kid.”
Even though Connors left Skinners Pond as a young boy, its residents have never forgotten him.
“I feel real bad for his wife and family, because I knew him,” says Austin Gallant. “I went to school with him too, so it’s pretty sad.”
Islanders can thank Stompin’ Tom for putting Canada’s smallest province on the map, and for giving them one of the most famous numbers in the Maritimes, thanks to a Prince Edward Island tourism jingle.
Arthur Bernard has lived in the house in which Connors grew up for about 25 years now.
“I knew it was coming because my dad died a couple of years ago and they were the same age,” says Bernard. “They hung around together. My father lived there and he here.”
“I can’t say anything bad about him, only that he was a nice chap,” says Doyle.
Connors died of natural causes in his Peterborough, Ont. home Wednesday. He was 77.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
