Honoured by Paul Emile Perron.
Philip Perron was born on May 2nd, 1927, one of sixteen children to Azarias and Clara (nee Guillemette). Philip attended primary school in Astorville, now known as École St-Thomas D’Aquin. After graduating, Philip became a carpenter by trade, working mostly in the North Bay area and later at the North Bay Airport.
Philip married Bernadette Groulx on May 24, 1948. They had four boys and two girls. Shortly after they wed he started his own contracting business. Later in 1955, he built a shop on the same premises as the family homestead and started manufacturing windows. Gradually he added plywood and lumber for the retail trade.
In the early 1960’s he bought a 22-acre property on the corner of what is now known as Nosbonsing Lake Road and Astorville Road. He then bought a sawmill, moved it, and rebuilt the mill on his newly acquired property. He milled his own lumber to sell at the homestead shop. In 1966 he built a new store where the mill site was. He moved into the new location in 1967. There he added a full line of building and hardware supplies for the retail trade.
Throughout the years the store expanded several times to add more lines, such as paint, plumbing, heating, carpet and linoleum until it became a one-stop shop. At one time or another all of his children worked in some capacity at the store and construction side of the business. In the mid 1970’s he ceased the construction side of the business, as the store was getting busier by the year. In the late 1970’s Philip went into the gravel business. He had a loader, dozer and dump truck. Hauling fill and gravel, he also installed septic beds. This became more of a hobby for him.
In 1983, he sold the business to his son, Paul-Emile Perron, who had been working at the store since 1967. Paul-Emile’s wife, Liliane joined him to help run the office. In the early 1990’s after graduating college, their daughter Brigitte and son Ronald joined the family business. Shortly after, Brigitte’s husband Chris Ranger also took interest and joined them. This was one of Philip’s dreams, to have the company grow and stay in the family. Now, we are looking at a fourth generation to help run the family business.
After Philip fully retired he built very fine and exquisite furniture for his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Philip Perron was quite the entrepreneur and very successful at all of his business ventures. The whole family is very proud of him and his accomplishments. That is why we are honouring him with a leaf of inspiration at the pergola of Community Waterfront Friends.