Hall Of Fame Inductee

Jennifer Guay

Inducted into: Builder Division in 2005

Location: Whitby

  • Builder

Jennifer Guay developed an understanding of the volunteer spirit and also the government grant process following her university education at both York and the University of Toronto. With degrees in English and Psychology, Jennifer, who had a flair for theatre, joined the Toronto Dance Theatre and also produced the costumes for the musical, Hair. In addition, with a Comedia del Arte troupe, Jennifer put together a successful government grant request from the Ministry of Culture and this experience paved the way for future success.

Originally, Jennifer was born in Whitby and her father, Harry Town, owned Town Funeral Chapel. However, her post-university travels took her to St. Catharines, where she met Paul Guay, who was a bowler and also worked in the home construction business. While Paul was busy in the Niagara area, his brother lived in Port Hardy, British Columbia, a small community on the northern shore of Vancouver Island and Paul and Jennifer headed west to be a part of the provinces construction boom.

While in Port Hardy, Paul and Jennifer married and two girls were born, Nicole in 1978 and Paulette in 1980. With a young family, Jennifer stayed closer to home and volunteered for the womens auxiliary. Her fundraising skills were put to use and, in a community of 4,000, a total of $93,000 was raised for hospital improvements.

However, in the spring of 1982, Jennifer and Paul returned to Whitby and, with a young family, a night out was joining a bowling league at the Oshawa Shopping Centre.

Unable to sit on the sidelines, Jennifer became treasurer of her league in 1983 and joined the Ontario Durham Association as Secretary the following year. The Ontario Durham Association, under the leadership of Al Austin, was named Zone of the Year in both 1983 and 1984 and Jennifer, through Al and Dave and Lorraine Peebles, began an educational process about the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers Association. She was a quick learner and became zone president in 1989 and earned top provincial honours in both 1990 and 1992. At the same time, Jennifer was elected to the Ontario board and, as a director, was also the provincial coaching coordinator.

At this time, the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers Association was undergoing both staff and operational changes and Jennifer was called upon to assume the provincial presidency. Under her management style, the Board of Directors, in accordance with a provincial audit that was conducted in 1993, were made fully accountable for the operation of the association.

As president of one of the largest membership sports in Ontario, Jennifer became the driving force behind all the programs and a member of every committee. Specifically, she was part of tournaments, the coaching program and the bowling school. Jennifer sat with the Bowling Proprietors Association of Ontario on the provincial Liaison Committee, was an active part of the Hall of Fame selection process, and became the public relations representative of the sport.

Moreover, Jennifer took on one of the most important tasks of any provincial sport and completed the annual government grant submission for ten consecutive years. Beginning in 1993, Jennifer highlighted the O5PBA membership process and also wrote superlative descriptions of our tournament program, as well as technical, and coaching, staff, volunteer and youth development. In addition, the grant application also includes program assessment and maintenance and Jennifer received government approval for her efforts in all areas. As recently as this year, Jennifer assisted in development of a program of coach mentoring in an effort to develop a process that will allow our coaches to work more comfortably with the elite athletes.

While also developing a strategic plan for Ontario, Jennifer advanced to the national level and took her expertise with her. Working with the executive of the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers Association, a national strategic plan has been formulated and has set the direction for the C5PBA to this day. Jennifer became the national vice-president and, rather than accepting the logical next step, she was courted by the newly-formed Bowling Federation of Canada which includes the C5PBA, the BPAC and the Canadian Tenpin Federation. With this group, Jennifer uses her expertise to write grant submissions on the national level and also arranges for the necessary translations of our technical and administrative manuals.

Jennifer has been recognized with life membership in both the Ontario Durham 5 Pin Bowlers Association and the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers Association and, with the one hundredth anniversary of 5 Pin Bowling approaching in 2009, she looks to a national Hall of Fame as a viable project.

On the local front, both daughters have also established exciting careers. Nicole is a District Manager for the flourishing Tim Horton chain in Edmonton and Paulette, who is a Program Officer with Industry Canada, was recently married on September 30th in Peterborough.

While originally Jennifer was entranced by the provincial Open tournament, she later became tied to 5 Pin Bowling through the people she met through the years and the friendships that have developed both provincially and nationally.