Gordon Lightfoot was a Canadian music icon who loved his hometown as much as it loved him back.
Lightfoot passed away on May 1 at the age of 84 and was laid to rest in Orillia, the city where his musical journey began as a choir boy at St. Paul's United Church.
Lightfoot's death triggered an outpouring of affection across the country and beyond — and countless memories of a man who was as humble as he was talented. In his case, the legend truly does live on.
This podcast features two long-time friends who knew Lightfoot better than most: Pam Carter, president of the Mariposa Folk Festival and Foundation, and Karen Hilfman Millson, a retired minister who was the officiant at Lighfoot’s private funeral (at his request, in the church where it all started).
They talk about the origins and life of this most "reluctant superstar" and remember a man who "has left a huge legacy for generations to come."
While his mark on the music world is immense globally, so, too, is the legacy he left in his hometown, its people and its institutions.
