Jump to content

Stuart Trueman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stuart Trueman
Born(1911-11-06)November 6, 1911
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
DiedApril 23, 1995(1995-04-23) (aged 83)
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Occupationhumorist, journalist
Period1930s-1990s
Notable worksYou're Only as Old as You Act
SpouseMildred Stiles

Stuart Douglas Trueman (6 November 1911 – 23 April 1995)[1] was a Canadian journalist and humorist, who won the Stephen Leacock Award in 1969 for his book You're Only as Old as You Act.[2]

Born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Trueman first joined the city's Telegraph-Journal newspaper after high school as a cartoonist and reporter, later becoming a sportswriter.[3] He became the paper's editor-in-chief in 1951, holding the position until his retirement in 1971,[3] and then continued to write a weekly column for the newspaper until 1993.[3] During his time with the Telegraph-Journal, he covered a visit to the city by Amelia Earhart the day before her solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1932,[4] bringing her a copy of the paper directly off the press before she left so that once she landed she could prove she had flown the whole way.[4] He was also credited with the original discovery of Moncton's Magnetic Hill.[3]

As a writer, Trueman published numerous books of both humour and regional history.[3] In addition to his Leacock Award win in 1969 for You're Only as Old as You Act, he was a shortlisted nominee for the award in 1983 for Don't Let Them Smell the Lobsters Cooking.[5]

He was married to Mildred Trueman (née Stiles),[6] with whom he also collaborated on two cookbooks, Favourite Recipes from Old New Brunswick Kitchens (1983) and Mildred Trueman’s New Brunswick Heritage Cookbook: With Age-Old Cures and Medications, Atlantic Fishermen’s Weather Portents and Superstitions (1986).[3]

He died at Saint John Regional Hospital on April 25, 1995.[2]

Works

[edit]
  • Cousin Elva (1955)
  • The Ordeal of John Gyles: Being an Account of his Odd Adventures; Strange Deliverances, etc. as a Slave of the Maliseets (1966)
  • You’re Only as Old as You Act (1968)
  • An Intimate History of New Brunswick (1970)
  • My Life as a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak (1972)
  • The Fascinating World of New Brunswick (1973)
  • Ghosts, Pirates and Treasure Trove: The Phantoms that Haunt New Brunswick (1975)
  • The Wild Life I've Led (1976)
  • Tall Tales and True Tales from Down East: Eerie Experiences, Heroic Exploits, Extraordinary Personalities, Ancient Legends and Folklore from New Brunswick and Elsewhere in the Maritimes (1979)
  • The Colour of New Brunswick (1981)
  • Don’t Let Them Smell the Lobsters Cooking: The Lighter Side of Growing Up in the Maritimes Long Ago (1982)
  • Favourite Recipes from Old New Brunswick Kitchens (1983, with Mildred Trueman)
  • Life’s Odd Moments (1984)
  • Mildred Trueman’s New Brunswick Heritage Cookbook: With Age-Old Cures and Medications, Atlantic Fishermen’s Weather Portents and Superstitions (1986, with Mildred Trueman)
  • Add Ten Years to Your Life: A Canadian Humorist Looks at Florida (1989)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Stuart Trueman fonds
  2. ^ a b "Stuart Trueman, humorist, dies at 83". Toronto Star, April 26, 1995.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Stuart Trueman at St. Thomas University's New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia.
  4. ^ a b "Eighty years since famed flight; Anniversary Amelia Earhart's stop in Saint John may have been brief but pivotal in record-breaking feat". The Telegraph-Journal, May 19, 2012.
  5. ^ "Torgov wins 1983 Leacock Medal". The Globe and Mail, April 29, 1983.
  6. ^ "'I thought, I have to go home, I can't stay here'". The Telegraph-Journal, January 9, 2003.