For some of us older folk the name Jim Healey will never be forgotten.
Jim was sometimes referred to as Lindsay's Watchdog. If he didn't happen to attend a meeting of local council he would be quick to locate someone who had and learn what, in his words, stupidity they were up to now.
Here was an individual who was intelligent but when it came to hygiene he was greatly lacking and his disposition was best described as just plain miserable.
Knowing he had a short fuse kids used to meet up with him and immediately taunt him by calling him names or mocking him and many times he managed to whack them with his cane and yell at them describing what he thought of them.
Jim had a couple of houses on Lindsay Street just north of Wellington that were so run down the Board of Health had them condemned. They were a sorry sight but despite warnings from the town as to what action they would take if he didn't clean them up he chose to ignore them.
One evening a call to the Fire Department reported that one of the houses was on fire. In no time at all the town's volunteer Fire Brigade was at the scene and commenced fighting the fire.
Fighting the fire at the front of the building and then going to the back for a few minutes then back to the front again and repeating these moves for some time the building eventually burned to the ground!
Walking slowly up to Healey was Fire Chief Cliff Campbell who apologized for the loss of his home saying "sorry Jim, but as you know that house was like a matchbox and when the fire got going there was no stopping it."
"That's okay Campbell, you and your men did the only thing they are capable of doing," he said, "They saved my lot!"
That was the Jim Healey we knew.
