Gary Somerfield

Gary George Somerfield (born circa 1958) is a retired high school history teacher from Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Family

He was born to George and Colleen Somerfield, along with his twin Dan. He has two sisters, Wendy and Debbie. His father died on 14 August 2011.

He married Michelle.

Hobbies

Since about 1980 he has been a collector of military medals. From February 2001 to perhaps 2013, through his now-defunct website, www.northwestmedal.com, powered by his former student Andrew Campbell's BrickHost [1], he specialized in British and Canadian attributed items. He ran this mail-order business from his home at 102 Empress Ave South.

As early as 1985 he was selling medals:

FOR SALE IN CANADIAN DOLLARS:

WAR ORDER OF THE GERMAN CROSS "GOLD." Very nice cloth version with field grey backing and very good finish on wreath. Paper backing intact and no damage. Worn by Army and Waffen SS - $150.00 postage and handling included.

GARY G. SOMERFIELD (OMSA #3598) 165 ACADEMY DRIVE, APT 18, THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO, CANADA PTB 8J3

— Orders & Medals Society of America (OMSA) Newsletter, 1985

Medal collecting is a wonderful hobby. I started collecting about 20 years ago and in February,2001 I decided to start my own company; I am probably the only registered medal dealer between Winnipeg and Toronto. Everyone probably knows some family member who served in the military and hopefully can begin collecting with some family medals. The wonderful thing about specializing in British and Commonwealth medals is that most of them are named -- thus allowing one to investigate the man behind the medal as well as the action or war itself. As well, many of the medal and casualty rolls are published thus saving one time and expense in

contacting researchers. I encourage you to get into the hobby. Viewing by appointment available.

NOTE: 1-888-618-3679 is only usable in Canada & US only.

Respectfully,

Gary Somerfield

OMRS #3234

MCCof Canada #3133

OMS of America #7273

CSMMI # 679

— Gary Somerfield, northwestmedal.com [2]

Career

As a student, he acted the part of Daniel McKenzie during the summers at Fort William, and sent author Marion Elizabeth Fawkes the results of his research for her book on her father. She thanked him in her book.

He taught Michael Currie History in 1999 or 2000 and served as the chaperone on Michael's trip to the Winnipeg Model United Nations Assembly [3] in May 2001. His inspirational and humourous teaching style endeared him to many of his students.

He rated 4.37 stars based on 11 teacher ratings at the Rate My Teachers website.

Sources

In Search of My Father. Page 16. [4]

Chronicle-Journal, August 2011. [5]

Military medal dealer list. [6]

OMSA Collectors Market Place newsletter, 1985. [7]

Rate My Teachers [8]

Northwest Medal. Accessed via Wayback Machine, 31 May 2013. [9]