Hare, John Albert "Rabbit"

John Albert "Rabbit" Hare was a sailor, suit-seller, alpine caretaker, ski technician, and bike mechanic who was known as an 'original ski bum' in Whistler from the 1970s onwards. He was born in Portsmouth, England in 1932. As a young man he spent time sailing around Europe and to the Caribbean. He eventually settled in Canada in his early 20s and ended up selling suits at the Hudson’s Bay Company while living in Vancouver, by English Bay. Rabbit moved up to Whistler in the early 1970s, where he met his wife, Rocky, at the Boot. Although she was 23 years his junior, Rabbit was young at heart. He had three children: Jessica (also known as "Pika"), Tara, and Dylan. The young family lived atop Whistler Mountain, where Rabbit was in charge of starting the ski lifts in the morning. Rabbit and Rocky split up in the 1980s and Rabbit went on to work at SportStop, where he started off in retail sales and then moved on be a ski technician at the rental shop and a bike mechanic during the summer. He was known in Whistler as 'one of the original ski bums', which is perhaps why he was routinely voted as Favourite Whistlerite in the Pique Newsmagazine's annual people’s choice poll. He loved to ski, drink, dance, and be up all night partying before working split shifts to go up the hill. He also loved riding his bike in the summertime. For the eight years prior to his death, Rabbit was living in a cottage in Alpine, on his friend Jim Watts’ property. About three years before his death, Rabbit was diagnosed with throat/lung cancer. He tried chemotherapy twice and opted out of a third round so that he would not spend his last days in a hospital, but rather among the pines in Whistler. He passed away Saturday, December 7, 2002 at his residence, called "Cottage in the Pines." He was 70 years old. A party was held in his honour after his death where Rabbit posters were on sale, with proceeds benefiting the Canadian Cancer Society.

Portsmouth, England
Europe
Caribbean
Vancouver
Whistler

Alpine caretaker
Suit seller
Ski technician
Bike mechanic
Sailor

RAD, July 2008 version. Canadian Council of Archives.

Catalogued September 2022.

1) Archival material
2) https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler-news/whistler146s-favourite-resident-passes-away-2463306
3) https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/local-arts/remembering-the-man-with-the-purple-cape-2477749
4) https://blog.whistlermuseum.org/tag/john-rabbit-hare/
5) https://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2017/10/17/history-of-whistler-ski-snowboard/
6) https://www.flickr.com/photos/dbsteers/127736529