Category: P

Honoured by the Woodman Family

Thank you for purchasing a Leaf of Inspiration for James and Irene and for supporting your Waterfront Park project. Story to follow.

Honoured by Julie Perry, Bonnie Davey, Wendie Fitzpatrick, Cynthia Perry-Brown, Heather Perry.

Thank you for purchasing a leaf for Wayne and for supporting your Waterfront Park project. Story to follow.

Honoured by Julie Perry, Bonnie Davey, Wendie Fitzpatrick, Cynthia Perry-Brown, Heather Perry.

Thank you for purchasing a leaf in honour of Eileen and for supporting your Waterfront Park project. Story to follow.

Honoured by Tanya McCubbin and Laura Sinclair

Thank you for purchasing a Leaf of Inspiration honouring Ted and Grace and for supporting your Waterfront Park project. Story to follow.

Honouring all parishioners past and present

HISTORY OF THE PARISH

The cornerstone for the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption was laid in June 1904, however, the faith community here dates back to 1886, under the name “St. Mary’s of the Lake” when the original location of the small framed church was on Main Street West.

During the 1800’s there was considerable missionary activity due to the establishment of the historic fur-trader route through the French River, Georgian Bay and the Lake Superior regions and a number of missionary chapels and outposts were founded.

The original territory was part of the Diocese of Peterborough but it was soon an obvious conclusion that the vast northern segment could no longer be adequately served because of the increase in population as well as the distances which had to be traveled. As a result, the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie was formally established by Pope Pius X on September 16, 1904 and Father David Joseph Scollard was appointed its first bishop.

During his time as pastor of St. Mary’s of the Lake, Fr. Scollard and the community set about to build a more permanent place of worship. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on June 19, 1904 and in the fall of 1905 St. Mary’s of the Lake” later to be renamed the “Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption” was completed and dedicated. It was blessed and dedicated on the last Sunday of Advent December 17, 1905.

The history of our parish is written in the hearts and recorded in memories of thousands of people who built our faith community. The life of the parish has been a life of prayer, outreach and celebration. Our history has been an expression of faith in a God who has called us together as his “visible sacrament”, the body of Christ, a people of the resurrection.

Our faith shall continue to live in the hearts and lives of the people in years yet to be recorded.

Honoured by Louise Sunstrum

Goldie Peever (nee Minniken) was born on a farm in Barrie in 1896 and grew up the youngest of 8
children.  She moved to North Bay in her teens to be a local seamstress.

Her quiet dignity and calm composure are the characteristics I most admired.

I have fond memories of rushing into her house and heading to the cookie jar full of her homemade oatmeal and date cookies.  This always made her smile.

My grandmother was happiest when she was creating a box full of doll clothes for her grandchildren.  I remember her tending her vegetables and raspberry bushes and encouraging us to taste the fruits of her labour.  This is how she passed on her love of sewing and gardening to the next generations.

Once, she reminisced about the Depression, when she fed hoboes who stopped at her door on Laurier Avenue while keeping her own family fed. A lifelong trait of hers was to have empathy and help those less fortunate.

Bingo was her passion and I remember going with her often as a child to the Orange Hall.  We shared the excitement of the game and I beamed with joy at the outfit I bought with my winnings.  My brother and I often gathered around the card table learning the intricacies of games from her and to this day I can sense her when I pick up a deck of cards.

She was a product of her era, a homemaker self-reliant, even in widowhood, helping her neighbours, family, St. John’s Church and the Rebecca Lodge.    By example, she nurtured life skills of determination, level headedness, hard work and flexibility to another generation of daughters prepared to meet life’s complex challenges.

The period of change in her lifetime from the 1890s was formidable. The struggles of the Great Depression and two world wars, the hardship of disease and epidemics before medicare and modern medicine, the physical hardship before electricity and the modern automated world, take survivor skills unmatched today.  She survived with a tenacious character, a stoic determination and a quiet gentleness.

I wish we had spoken more of her early trials and tribulations in North Bay, but she was always interested in the present life of her family.  She was one of the quiet, unsung heroines of this nation who built a foundation of tolerance, community service and family for which Canadians are known.

She died in the grips of Alzheimer’s disease, robbed of speech but still viewed by me with love and admiration of her qualities and virtues to the end. I was named after my grandmother and have always felt a soulful connection to her and I hope that I am a continuation of her spirit and make her proud.

Honoured by Beth Snyder

TM Palmer, my father, was very active in North Bay.  He owned TM Palmer jewellery story and was involved with the Hospital Board, the Scottish Rite 33^rd degree, the Red Cross and was Rotary Club President.  He was also an alderman and then Mayor of North Bay.  He married Edith Ross whose father was one of the early settlers of North Bay.  He also owned a jewellery store and was the watchmaker for three railways.

 

 

Honoured by the Nipissing District Women’s Institute.

The Nipissing District Women’s Institute wish to honour Mrs. Gertrude Phillips. She was born Gertrude A. Nelms at Tham, Oxfordshire, England on May 9, 1890.
She started school at the age of three and at 14, was awarded the first scholarship to be awarded to a girl by the County of Oxford. This scholarship entitled her to attend The Girls’ Grammar School at Tham in the mornings from 9-12 and then train as a pupil teacher in the John Hampden School in the afternoons. Three years later, she taught as an assistant teacher until 1908 when she received her First Class Teaching Certificate. She married Wm T. Phillips, formerly of Thame, but then resident in Ottawa, Canada.

She accompanied her husband to Ottawa. Their family now consists of five children, Kenneth, Gertrude, Joan, George and John.

In 1936, Because of health reasons, the family moved to Redbridge, just outside of North Bay and took up farming on a homestead.

In 1939, Mrs. Phillips became associated with the Phelps Women’s Institute. She was a convenor of five different Convenorships and Home Making Club Leader for five years under Home Economist Miss Lilly Petty. She was also Leader or Assistant Leader of many courses under the Leadership Training Program up to and including year 1963. At district level, she chaired six different committees over several years, as well as being Vice- President and then President for the Area. She represented the Sub-division #27, North and South Parry Sound and Nipissing District on The Federal Women’s Institute Board of Directors from 1959 until 1962. As District President, she had nine branches to visit at least once a year. The Branches were Balsam Creek, Trout Mills, Calvin, Rutherglen, Mattawa, Nipissing Junction, Kipling, Thibeault Hill and her own branch at Phelps. It was also her duty to attend the District annual meeting in her sub-division. Her mode of transportation was the bus that ran from Temiscaming to North Bay that arrived in North Bay at 10am and left at 4pm. Friends and members helped with any further driving that was necessary.
She also had to attend Board Director meetings in Toronto at least twice a year while she was a Director. Gertrude Phillips deposited $2000.00 of her own money, which at that time made $100.00 or more interest each year, and the interest was used as a prize for the most points in Women’s Institute projects. The Institute made up the rules. Late interest was so low that the deposit was turned over to the District level. The Gertrude Phillips Award and trophy are still being used as an incentive for W. I. projects.

She was leader of the first group of Canadian Girl Guides in Phelps Township and was appointed District Commissioner in 1960.

Gertrude was active in Canadian Red Cross work and the Canadian Cancer Society, being an ex-of the North Bay Unit.

Of Anglican faith, she attended St. Francis Church in Phelps Township and taught Sunday school and was organist from 1936 until she and her husband moved to Osgood, ON.

Gertrude returned to the North Bay area after her husband’s death. She died February 19, 1985 in her 95th year.

Honoured by their children: Nadia, Dan and Tammy.

Thank you purchasing a leaf for your parents and supporting your future Waterfront Park.  Story to follow.

Honoured by Irene Pelletier

Thank you for purchasing a leaf for Rose and for supporting the waterfront park project.  Story to follow.