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Whistler’s favourite resident passes away

John "Rabbit" Hare epitomized the ski bum Hanging on a dark hallway wall on the way into the Dubh Linn Gate there’s a picture of a man kissing the famed Irish Blarney Stone.
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John "Rabbit" Hare

John "Rabbit" Hare epitomized the ski bum

Hanging on a dark hallway wall on the way into the Dubh Linn Gate there’s a picture of a man kissing the famed Irish Blarney Stone.

That’s Whistler’s own John Albert Hare smooching the slab of rock.

And while rumour has it that kissing the Blarney Stone gives you the gift of the gab, it may have brought Hare untold luck.

"He was a rabbit," said his old friend Guitar Doug.

"He had the luckiest of lives."

John Albert Hare, Whistler’s favourite local who was better known around town as Rabbit, passed away Saturday, Dec. 7 at his "Cottage in the Pines." He was 70 years old.

Rabbit was the quintessential Whistler of old. He was one of the original ski bums, which is perhaps why he was routinely voted as Favourite Whistlerite in the Pique’s annual people’s choice poll. He topped the list again this year.

"He harkens back to the more simpler times of Whistler," said Dave Kirk, his former employer at SportStop.

"He represents a simplicity, an honesty, and almost a touch of debonair because he was polite. But he also represents the Wild West spirit. No holes barred. When it’s party time, it’s party time until you fall down."

That Rabbit loved to party was no secret. His picture hangs in some of his more familiar haunts, like the Dubh Linn Gate and the Boot.

"Let’s just say that Rabbit and I used to love to have a good time," said Guitar Doug, who was weary about going into too much detail about their past escapades together.

He did say they used to love dancing at the Boot.

Rabbit also had a VIP card at the Dubh Linn Gate, where he would pop in for a Guinness regularly – a place where he rarely paid for a drink.

"He epitomized the ski bum," said Paul Cosgrove, manager at the Dubh Linn Gate, who poured Rabbit drinks during the past five years.

"He lived it to the fullest."

That’s the last place Doug remembers seeing Rabbit, on the day George Harrison died, when Doug played him a few old Harrison songs.

"Rabbit was a gentle soul and he could always make you smile, he’d just twinkle his eyes," said Doug.

Rabbit 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.

Guitar Doug remembers that he always had a flare for dressing up, probably as a throw back from his years of selling suits.

"I was always trying to get gigs at the Chateau Whistler because there wasn’t any other gigs around," he said. "So I went down to Value Village and I scored a blazer and he told me how to button it up and all that stuff.

"We were also game to take our clothes off at any time," he added with a laugh.

Rabbit moved up to Whistler in the early ’70s where he met Rocky at the Boot. Although she was 23 years his junior, Rabbit was young at heart.

Together they lived with their young family, two girls and a boy, atop Whistler Mountain, where Rabbit was in charge of starting the ski lifts in the morning.

His eldest daughter, Jessica, who was just a young girl when the lived on the mountain, remembers fondly what life was like then. She recalls the stillness and surrounding quietness sitting on the roof of their house during a full moon.

"He loved the mountains," she said.

"It was such a small town then. Everybody knew everybody then. He was proud to be a ski bum."

Rabbit and Rocky split up in the ’80s 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.

Originally Kirk was just looking for some seasonal help.

"I wanted a person who I could count on as a regular seasonal worker," he said.

"He might not work with us all year but he would work with us every year for a period of time. I also wanted a person who was local. And I also wanted a person who was knowledgeable. And John was all of those people."

He ended up working for Kirk throughout the year full time.

In an infamous letter after years of butting heads with Rabbit over a number of things, Kirk asked him to think about resigning.

"He would drive away more customers than he would bring us because he was trying to do his very best," said Kirk.

"Sometimes he had a small intolerance for visitors who left their brains at home. Very often he was up front with people, very honest with people and sometimes it was not in a very discreet way."

Rabbit didn’t quit SportStop after that letter. In fact he remained working for Kirk for a very long time after that.

Just last month when Kirk was running for re-election to council, Rabbit got out of bed, although he was very sick, and went out to cast his vote for his old employer. It was a true testament to his loyalty.

Kirk went to visit Rabbit for the last time about two weeks ago. He poured him a few stiff scotches and they talked and had a laugh about things past.

"He specifically got out of his bed to go vote for me," said Kirk, who ended up in a tie with Marianne Wade for the sixth and final council seat. A runoff election will be held next month.

"He was a good buddy."

For the past eight years Rabbit was living in a cottage in Alpine, on his friend Jim Watts’ property.

Within a week of moving in, Watts recalled Rabbit saying he liked the place so much, he was going to stay there until he died.

"I found Rabbit to be an inspiration," said Watts.

"During his long battle with cancer, he would never complain about himself, or his condition, and never showed any self-pity."

About three years ago Rabbit was diagnosed with throat/lung cancer. He tried chemotherapy twice and opted out of a third round.

"He made the decision, it was a very conscious decision, to not take further chemo and further radiation or whatever was offered to him," said Kirk.

"He was not prepared to do that any longer. And he really lived as best he could to the very, very, very end."

John Hare leaves behind three children, Jessica, Tara and Dylan and his ex-wife Rocky with whom he remained very close.

A celebration of John Hare’s life will take place at 5 p.m. at Merlin’s on Sunday, Dec. 15. Anyone is welcome to share in remembering Rabbit’s life.