Jul 02, 2009 - 10:30 AM

By Stefanie Swinson

Comments (0)

WHITBY -- It was the summer of 1971. Michael Jackson was in Toronto to perform at Exhibition Stadium with his brothers, the Jackson 5, when Whitby resident Jonathan O'Mara met the 13-year-old pop star.

The Jackson brothers were on a shopping spree at an upscale men's clothing store on the corner of Yonge and Carlton where Mr. O'Mara worked as a sales clerk.

"The big fellows, the brothers went to the back of the shop where all of the tailor-made suits were," Mr. O'Mara said.

"Michael Jackson went into this other section of the store which is like a boutique section and it had all of the flowered shirts and funny jeans and that kind of thing, big shoes. He was looking in there and then it wasn't very long until he got a bit bored I guess and he started entertaining himself by running in and out amongst the clothing racks and swinging and he was in there hiding and just doing all kinds of strange things."

Mr. O'Mara's boss saw what young Michael was up to and decided he wanted him to leave the store and Mr. O'Mara said he reluctantly took on the task of kicking Michael out.

"I went over to him and asked him politely if he would be kind enough to wait outside and he kind of hung his head a little bit and then very quietly came out with me to the front and he stood outside the front and he must have been there for 15, 20 minutes just watching very quietly by himself," he said.

"I felt sorry for him at the time. Here he was with these big guys and I knew he'd been touring a lot and he was just a kid, just a little fellow you know and I thought what kind of life is that for him."

Michael Jackson died from cardiac arrest on June 25 at the age of 50.

"I will always remember that day," Mr. O'Mara said.

"I've told all of my friends and family about it. He just looked so sad."

He said he thought Michael looked like a boy who seemed so lonely in an adult world.