Bradley (John) Hanes

Bradley John Hanes slipped away quietly the morning of Aug. 12, 2025, as if he’d just ducked out for a run. 

He was 85.  A jogger for more than 55 years, John was a familiar presence to all the neighbours he encountered on his daily runs in Dwight. He had such a large collection of worn-out running shoes that he left a pair at every door of the house to use as slippers.

John embodied the motto ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ After being sidelined by his lymphoma diagnosis, his goal was to get back to running someday. And against all odds, he did. For the first few months of 2025, he managed to resume his favourite activity – a testament to his tremendous determination.

His nickname was Speedball, Speed, or Fireball, but it had nothing to do with running. It’s what his oldest friends called him – ironically – because of the slow, deliberate way he had of speaking.

Born May 6, 1940, John grew up in Muskoka, where his ancestors settled 150 ago.  He was the middle child of Jeremiah Walter Hanes, a First World War veteran, and Marion Bradley, who raised three boys almost singlehandedly while her husband was away six days a week working in lumber camps. 

John was predeceased by his parents as well as his brothers, Stanley in 1996, and Harold in 1999.

He was raised on a farm 8 kilometres south of Huntsville that was later expropriated for the expansion of Highway 11. His childhood home was demolished to make way for the route cottagers coming to Muskoka now travel.  John’s humble beginnings made him self-sufficient, hard-working and resilient, values he exhibited throughout his life.  He got his first job while in Grade 8 at the drive-in theatre.  He worked at Ecclestone’s Hardware during high school, where he picked up skills that he relied on later for his many woodworking or home improvement projects.John loved to ski, so he joined the ski patrol to spend more time on the slopes.  The sudden death of his father followed by a bout of appendicitis during his graduating year of high school took a toll on his grades and his family’s finances. He got a job with Bell Telephone to save up money for university.

After a few years, he applied to Waterloo Lutheran University as a mature student and got in. But he ended up going to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI, with his good friend Bob Quantrell instead because he could start there sooner.

Money was still tight, however, and John subsisted on Kraft Dinner, a vat of peanut butter one of his roommate’s parents provided, and the odd steak pilfered from the local supermarket. To make ends meet, he worked overnight shifts as a switchboard operator at NMU where he sometimes connected calls between classmates and their loved ones serving in Vietnam. But after burning the candle at both ends, John got sick and ran out of money. He had to drop out of university before finishing his degree. 

John landed in Windsor, Ont., where he found a job at Ford Credit. It turned out to be a fortuitous change of plans, because that’s where he met a pretty, young receptionist named Shirley Boyko. He asked Shirley to the movies for their first date. Neither remember what picture they saw. Shirley became the love of his life. He called her “Babe.” Their first born actually thought that was her real name at one point.

John and Shirley were married in 1970 at a big, fat Ukrainian wedding. The reception was held in a high school gym in Windsor to accommodate 400 guests and a polka band. They soon settled in Burlington, Ont., where they welcomed two daughters. Allison and Angela were his “Sunshine.” In 1984, Ford transferred John to the Vancouver branch

During their years in British Columbia, John, Shirley and the girls had many adventures, cottaging on Shuswap Lake, touring Vancouver Island in a camper, skiing at Whistler and Mount Baker (where he earned a new nickname, Headplant Hanes), taking in the excitement of Expo ’86, and driving across the Rockies to when they moved back to Ontario in 1987. The scenery was spectacular, but it was no match for his beloved Muskoka. A few years later, Toyota came calling, asking John to help set up its new financial services division. Challenge accepted. With his experience and expertise, he rose to the senior executive ranks of Toyota Financial in Canada. Not bad for a guy who never completed university.

One of his proudest achievements at work, however, was spearheading the office running group that hit the pavement before work or on lunch breaks. But the role John most cherished was that of family man. He would do anything for his girls.

He became a Catholic so he could marry Shirley in the Ukrainian Church. During Expo ’86, he stood in line for over half an hour at the McDonald’s kiosk – the busiest anywhere in the world that summer – to order his daughters plain hamburgers without ketchup or mustard since they were such picky eaters.  When he made the move to Toyota, he endured a much longer commute to avoid having to uproot his family again. He’d leave home before 6 a.m. to cover the distance from Burlington to Markham and back each day.

He once drove from Burlington to Ottawa to fix Allison's printer when she was in university, only to discover she was loading the paper wrong.  

His innate calm and kindness made him a prized baby-whisperer who could soothe the fussiest infants. All his granddaughters napped soundly on his chest to their parents' relief.

He passed on his love of running to all his girls.

John retired to Muskoka in 2005, after finally securing his own little piece of paradise.  Over the past two decades, he enjoyed many rounds of golf with his buddies as well as hosting family and friends on Lake of Bays. And almost every day, rain or shine, snowstorm or heatwave, muddy or icy, he went for a run.

John leaves behind Shirley, his wife of almost 55 years, his daughters, Allison and Angela Hanes, his sons-in-law, Nicolas Van Praet and Jonah Allison, his grandchildren, Beatrice and Georgia Van Praet, and Simone and Jaimen Allison, as well as his grand-dog Archie.

A celebration of life will be held at Hillside Farm.

Instead of flowers, please consider a donation to one of the many organizations that looked after John in his last year:

Algonquin Grace Hospice, in Huntsville

Huntsville Memorial Hospital

Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, in Barrie, Ont. 

John’s family would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to Dr. Lauren Gerard and staff at RVH for their valiant efforts during treatment. They would also like to express their profound gratitude to Dr. Deborah Harrold, Dr. Rich Trenholm, the Huntsville Palliative Care Team, and Huntsville Closing the Gap, for their support in the last few weeks. They will be forever appreciative of the compassionate care provided to John and the entire family in his final days by staff and volunteers at Algonquin Grace Hospice.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Bradley (John) Hanes, please visit our floral store.