Hello all, this is an old case for certain. I am a cousin of George Gumbley and want to add a bit of information to the data listed here. As per the family members also here, George Gumbley is the correct name. His parents were Dorothy and Herbert Gumbley. George had one older half sister, still alive I believe, and two brothers. One brother just died in 2022.
There has not been much information listed on where the potential accident (if that is what happened) could have taken place. George and his family lived on 1st Avenue in Verdun, and according to the families of both of these young boys, they were on their way to Bannantyne Elementary School the morning they went missing. Bannantyne Elementary School was located at the corner of Galt and Bannantyne avenues. Galt runs parallel to 1st Avenue and is just four blocks over to the east, so this was not a far walk for the boys. This was a regular occurrence for the boys to walk to school and this was a well developed residential area with some shops and corner stores, which, in my opinion, would imply that it would not have been easy for the boys to have been kidnapped in that area. There has been some speculation that the boys may have skipped school and gone to Angrignon Park to go to a fishing hole in the park. This would have been over 25 blocks in the other direction going west from Galt Ave. I had been told that George's parents had wanted the lake in the park dragged but that the police had refused or for some reason could not. This would imply that the parents knew that George in the past had gone there to fish or play. My grandmother, who is a first cousin of George's mother Dorothy, spoke to Dorothy after George had gone missing, and another option that was guessed at, and one that has never been mentioned to date that I have seen, is that the boys may have fallen into the Aqueduc that runs along the north side of Verdun, and may have drowned there. The boys would have needed to walk over one of the bridges that crossed the Aqueduc to in fact reach Angrignon Park, and while the sides of the Aqueduc are fenced in today, I have no idea if they were back in 1954. It is definitely known that people fished in the Aqueduc. The Aqueduc has high concrete sides and if you fell in it would not be easy to get out, you would have to swim a distance to finally reach one of the two ends of the Aqueduc. So if you fell in, there is a good chance you would drown unless you were a strong swimmer. One of the boys may have fallen in and they other tried to help him get out and also fell in. If this happened we can guess that they would have been able to tread water for a short time and try to yell for help, but I do not know if they would have been heard. I have no idea of the currents or how the water moves in the Aqueduc and if those factors make this option for where the boys might have drowned impossible, but I know growing up whenever we drove along the Aqueduc my grandmother would say this is where George drowned. If they had drowned in the Aqueduc would it have logically been that their bodies would have floated to one end or the other is also something I do not know. Nonetheless, the Aqueduc or Angrignon Park seem to me better options than the St. Lawrence River to the south.
I would very much support having a DNA test done on the torso that was found if that is possible. The police records should state where that was buried. This would help to put that mystery to rest and perhaps even solve one of the two mysteries of the missing boys. If I can be of any help please let me know.
George's mother died in 1982 and his father died in 1970. From what I understand they let George rest in peace and tried to move on with their lives but I am sure he was always in their minds, and the lack of certainty with what had happened must have been a burden they carried the rest of their lives.
