Friends and family will remember George "Reg" McGiffin as an entrepreneur.
Reg McGiffin, who died Saturday at the age of 81, sold hobby and craft supplies, he sold stamps, he sold coins and he even sold fishing tackle online.
It all began when Reg and his wife, Helen, opened McGiffin's Hobbies and Crafts in 1967. They started dealing with coins because another local coin shop was closing at the time, Helen said. She added that Reg also was an avid stamp collector.
In the early years, Helen worked in the shop during the day, and Reg would join her in the evenings after working for a truck line during the day. He started working full time in the shop in 1975.
When it came to stamps, Reg had one major area of interest British Commonwealth stamps. He was a native of Winnipeg, Man.
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"He loved the British colonies. He was very proud of being a Canadian," Helen said.
Cathy Keel, Reg and Helen's daughter who later took over McGiffin's Hobbies and Crafts in the 1990s, remembered the shop as being a gathering place for local collectors. She said airmen from Grand Forks Air Force Base often frequented the store. Reg also would invite them to spend holidays with the family.
The store, which eventually specialized in everything from model trains and airplanes to metal detectors to soft crafts, bounced around a few downtown locations before opening in a location on the 1200 block of South Washington Street for 20 years.
The store moved to the Grand Cities Mall after the Flood of 1997, but closed a few years later.
Although Reg retired in 1987, his wife said he had an entrepreneurial spirit within him that endured. Up to the time of his death, he ran an online business, which sold fishing supplies at www.atoztackleshop.com .
Funeral services for McGiffin are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday in Amundson Funeral Home in Grand Forks.
