After Decades Of Silently Supporting Community Organizations In Muskoka
By Jack Hutton
On Thursday (Aug 26) in Bala, the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce paid tribute to the Debes Family Foundation as generous supporters of Andy’s House in Port Carling and other key community organizations in Muskoka for many years.
Linda and I did not learn until the following day that Harry had died peacefully on Wednesday at Naples, Florida, where he and Mary Ann spent their winters year after year after summers at their beloved Lake Muskoka cottage north of Bala.
We knew that Harry had been ill but the news which came in an e-mail from Mary Ann was still a shock. Harry and Mary Ann were co-founders of their Debes Family Foundation. His death is a great loss for Muskoka.
Harry and Mary Ann never sought headlines. Only the community organizations involved realized just how deeply committed both Harry and Mary Ann were to making sure that special needs were being met for families who needed help that over-worked social organizations were having difficulty providing.
Harry and Mary Ann Debes were among the first to offer help when Andy’s House was being planned. When Terry and Marilyn Chute were brainstorming a Muskoka Food Bank at the First Muskoka Congregational Church, they were surprised by phone calls of support from the Debes whose cottage was only a short distance from theirs on Mortimer’s Point Road. The Debes continued to be strong supporters when the Food Bank moved from the FMCCC church to the former Community Centre in nearby Glen Orchard.
As Linda and I worried about the financial future of the Bala and Area Meals on Wheels program last year (Linda co-founded it with a friend in 1984) Harry phoned Linda offering their support. The fact that the Meals on Wheels program is doing well today is because of support that followed from Harry, Mary Ann and their foundation (daughter Elis, son Michael, granddaughter Avery and other family members all share the same values)
A tribute shared by the family shortly after his death paints an eloquent picture of Harry Debes. “Harry touched the lives of so many people. He was a loving, supportive, and caring husband and father. We will remember him as a funny, polite, hyperintelligent, generous man who always stayed true to himself. He loved golf and approached it like a business. He set goals and expected to meet or beat them. It made him consistent and successful.
“He enjoyed playing the piano, and the guitar and singing karaoke with his friends. He was a world traveler and amazing host and entertainer. Harry was an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge and believed education was key. He was a mesmerizing storyteller and had a passion for history. Being a teacher at heart, Harry always found time to offer guidance and advice to anyone who asked for it.
“He was a philanthropist helping local communities through charitable contributions to a wide range of programs. His work will continue through his Family Foundation.”
The reference to Harry as a piano player who loved singing karaoke caught me by surprise. I wondered if he had ever played one of my favorite tunes – I’m Just Wild About Harry, written in 1921 by Eubie Blake for ‘Shuffle Along’, perhaps the first Broadway show with an all-African American cast.
I’m Just Wild About Harry, a fast-paced fox trot, turned out to be the big hit of the 1921 show. Part of that was because the singer who performed it couldn’t handle the dancing instructions given him and improvised his own Harlem fast steps. Night after night he stole the show which lasted for 504 performances.
In 1948 the song had a new life when President Roosevelt died and his vice-president Harry Truman was given little chance of replacing him. I’m Just Wild About Harry became the campaign song and swept Truman into office.
I know the tune well because I played it for Eubie in Rochester, N.Y. one night in 1982 as he was celebrating what we thought was his 99th birthday. If a celebration of Harry Debes’s life is ever held in Muskoka I hope someone will ask me to play this tune. It sums up how many of us feel about our Harry in Muskoka.
Al Jolson captured the magic and excitement of this song when he recorded it in the 1930’s. Click on the following computer link and I think you will agree that it applies today to Harry Debes who we have just lost.
