WINDLE, John W. R.

WINDLE, John William Rushton (1903-1999), son of Ernest and Miriam Windle, life-long resident of Santa Catalina Island.

In the News~

May 14, 1999 [TI/Avalon]: “John Windle, who has lived on the Island longer than anyone, passed away last Wednesday. He was 95. John William Rushton Windle was born on Sept. 27, 1903 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to Ernest and Miriam Windle. His father moved to the Island in 1908 and in 1910 his wife and family arrived. Miriam cried for a month after arriving because the only long-term housing at that time was in a tent and she had left behind a nice home in England. They moved into a home on Metropole Avenue in the ensuing months. John, however, fell in love with the Island the moment he arrived. He got a job as a rower for the older boys who dived for coins that were thrown from the steamer. Ernest founded the local paper, The Catalina Islander, in 1914 and John went to work after school as an office boy setting type. As he got older he himself became a diver for coins that were thrown by passengers arriving on the steamer. He also had an entrepreneurial streak. On Sugarloaf Mountain, there was an 80-foot ladder straight up that tourists would climb. John would sit at the bottom and when people got to the top, they were too scared to come down and John helped them out — for a price. 25 cents was the going rate for him to climb up the ladder and guide people down. He was also a runner for the Marconi Company, delivering telegrams. As Avalon did not have a high school, he went to the mainland and continued his studies at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School. When John was 16, William Wrigley, Jr. purchased the Island from Captain Banning. John went to work as a messenger boy for the Santa Catalina Island Company and thus began a 31-year career working for the Wrigleys. He was promoted to driver, then to Fleet Superintendent under D. M. Renton. He was responsible for all transportation, including the tour bus drivers, taxi drivers and the stevedores, among other duties.

”