34 Winnipeg Avenue

34 Winnipeg Avenue, the Burnfords' former in-town residence, owned by Carl Mickelson as of 2026

34 Winnipeg Avenue is a Thunder Bay house on a double lot in Mariday Park. It is one of the nicest homes in Mariday Park, and was the in-town residence of the famous Burnford family, and was later bought by engineer / architect Carl Mickelson, who lives there as of 2026. Oddly, Carl has nearly zero internet presence.

Sheila Burnford

Main article: Sheila Burnford. See also David Burnford, Stephen Morton, Prue Morton, G.G. Niemi, and The Incredible Journey premiere.

Sheila Burnford with her daughters outside 34 Winnipeg Avenue, the family's in-town home

• Author of The Incredible Journey (1961), the basis for the 1963 Disney film.
• Born Sheila Philip Cochrane Every in Scotland (Edinburgh, 11 May 1916 per Wikipedia; some Thunder Bay sources say 1918).
• Married Dr. David Burnford in 1941. (David Burnford was a rower who competed for Britain in the 1936 Olympics.)
• Three daughters: Peronelle, Jonquil, and Juliet.
• The family immigrated to Canada in 1948; Dr. Burnford took his certificate in paediatrics in Montreal. They settled in Port Arthur c. 1948–1951; they were already photographed at a Port Arthur sailing event in 1947 though.
• 34 Winnipeg Avenue was the in-town home; she also kept a cabin at Loon Lake outside town.
• A photograph posted to the Thunder Bay Memories Facebook group by Kelly Saxberg (13 September 2017) shows Sheila with her three daughters in front of the house.
• "At some time in Port Arthur in the mid-1950s, he had gone into private practice with another Cambridge man, Dr Stephen Morton. Both were paediatricians and both were highly thought of in their field, something noted by a local newspaper in 1957. Shockingly, in August 1961 Dr Morton was shot six times by an intruder while asleep beside his wife in his home. The killer was never found and a motive never established." [1] [2]
• Burnford continued to practice medicine in Port Arthur until 1968 when, in a strange move, worked on a hospital ship, the SS Hope, in what is now Sri Lanka, later returning to England to practice medicine.
• The Burnfords were divorced in 1972 and David moved to Florida in 1973.
• In 1981, Burnford moved to Colorado Springs where, on 9 June 1984, the FBI found thirty-six pounds of cocaine in a rented car in his driveway. The value at the time was $3m; he shot himself dead the next day.
• Sheila spent her last ~20 years between the Loon Lake cabin, remote and Arctic communities, and a writer's retreat in Sussex, England.
• Sheila moved back to England to live with her second husband, Dr. J.D. Loughborough.
• Sheila of lung cancer on 20 April 1984 in Hampshire, England, just two months before her first husband would kill himself.
• Unconfirmed: exact year she left the Winnipeg Avenue house; year she remarried.
• Close friends with local artist Susan Ross; both were members of the Port Arthur Puppetry Club and shared an interest in Indigenous life. There is speculation in the family's telling that Burnford and Ross were romantically involved.

The Mickelson family

Not to be confused with the unrelated Enni Mickelson of Surprise Lake.

• Elsie & Andy Mickelson (Sr.): the elder generation. Friends of Jack and Lucy (Ron's parents). Lived at the NE corner of Ray Blvd and Beresford.
• Andy Sr. founded the engineering firm Mickelson & Fraser, which eventually built the first 3 buildings of Lakehead University, and the Avila Centre [3], where Rick Dewell taught in the 1990s.
• Their children: Carl, Andy Jr., and Ann.
• Ann Mickelson: "brainy cheerleader," became a neurosurgeon with a doctorate earned in Switzerland.
• Andy Jr.: son of Andy Sr.
• Carl Mickelson: became an engineer, took over Mickelson & Fraser, then bought 34 Winnipeg Avenue (the former Burnford house). Married to Elizabeth. Carl & Elizabeth originally lived beside Barry Anderson's house on north Hill Street before moving to Winnipeg Avenue. Friend of Bill Currie in the 1960s.