Jimmy Hong member of family who gave chosen community a "warm and unforgettable example of the true Canadian spirit"

Boo, Mrs Hong, Jean, Jim, Yen

For about 100 years in the history of Chapleau, Fong Hong, his wife Sue, affectionately called "Ma" and their family have been associated with business in the community headed since about 1960 by Jimmy Hong.

It all began when Fong Hong arrived in the village circa 1916, and started Hong's Laundry which he closed and in 1924 opened the restaurant which to my generation was called the Boston Cafe. After Fong Hong died in 1940, Mrs. Hong continued to operate the restaurant and raised their four children: Yen, Jean, Jimmy and Harry (Boo).

Jimmy who had graduated from Chapleau High School, attended Ryerson and returned home to help his mother and took over the management of the restaurant in 1960. In due course, it was totally renovated and emerged with a new name -- the Redwood and Hongrs. He was actively involved in the Chapleau business community for most of his life. Growing up he helped out in the restaurant with his sister and brothers.

Fong Hong

When Jimmy died on April 1 at age 79, it marked the end of an era in the community's history even though he had retired within the past two years. His brother Yen, who had built the Bridgeview Motel retired in 2009, while sister Jean, a retired nurse lives in Toronto and Harry died some years ago.

Jean, Jim Yen 2012

I have such fond memories of  growing up with the Boston being our central place as kids where we went to hang out and to play as well.

Although Boo was more my age, Jimmy would often join us upstairs above the restaurant, and the late Harry 'Butch' Pellow recalled one anecdote in which I was involved the day Jimmy gave us boxing lessons. 

Butch noted that Jimmy had boxing gloves, and when it came time for my lesson I was "whacked in the face and called it a day." 

Jim and I in deep hockey discussion. He won!!!!

So much for boxing but Jimmy and I remained friends and I had good good visits with him at the Chapleau High School reunion in 2012, at a party in Toronto at Butch and Brigitte's in 2014 and in Chapleau when he made the Redwood our headquarters for the launch of The Chapleau Boys Go To War which I co-wrote with Michael McMullen in 2015.

Jimmy and all the Hong family were involved sports and Butch recalled in an article called GO BOSTON that he was "A powerful steady and fast skater and great stick handler". 

Jim and Butch 2014

After reading a piece by Lillian (Donivan) Therriault about the family  in Chapleau Trails, edited by Dr. William R. `Bill`Pellow, a member of another Chapleau pioneer family I  recalled one hockey anecdote in which Jimmy was involved.

She wrote: "Ma Hong let the boys turn the restaurant into a hockey arena on two successive Sundays and the front entrance door and back kitchen door were used as goalposts. Over the next two Sundays, the boys easily managed to wreak havoc on the family business breaking the glass in the front door and destroying the large wind-up pendulum clock hanging over the back door. Ma Hong closed the arena!!!!" Great fun while it lasted. I was there!

Bill Hong, Yen's son, who played on the team, shared the story of all seven of his family members participating in the same hockey game. 

Bubbie, one of Yen Hong's daughters and to the best of my knowledge the first girl to play organized hockey in Chapleau was on the team and was also the captain. Bill commented: "How do you think I felt with my sister as captain of the hockey team!" Bill played defense while his sister played right wing.

Jimmy Hong was the referee and his son Murray was one of the linesmen. Three more of Jimmy's  sons --Geoff on defense, Doug at centre and Barry on left wing were all named on the scoresheet. Only Steven was not involved in the game.

We also played river hockey on the ice beside the old town dock at the beach on the "front river"  which was usually brutally cold but who cared!!!

Jimmy played on the famous Chapleau High School team of 1956-57, and after retiring as a player refereed Junior B and Intermediate games for many years. When I returned home to Chapleau in 1968, Jimmy and Raoul Lemieux got me involved as an official again.

CHS Hockey team 1956-57

While attending high school he also served as an officer in 1181 CHS Cadet Corps and on the Student Council. He also played in the Chapleau fastball league, and curled. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Stan Barty, Ian Macdonald, Neil Ritchie, David McMillan, Jim Hong 1957

No story about any member of the Hong family would be complete without a mention of Ma Hong's Boston Cream Pie. I am not sure if Jimmy was taught the secret to it but I had some on the three occasions I have seen him in recent years. His sons Murray, Doug and Geoff and sister Jean, and brother Yen had it for sure.

Jimmy Hong was my friend, along with other family members for over 70 years. I was so touched with the outpouring of affection for him when the news that he had died was posted on Facebook. 

I think Lillian (Donivan) Therriault summed it all up. She wrote that Hong and Ma had "richly blessed the small community of Chapleau indelibly leaving their mark, not only on the landscape but on its citizens.... and also given their chosen community a warm and unforgettable example of the true Canadian spirit."

Rest in peace Jimmy.   My deepest sympathy to the Hong family. My email is mj.morris

Joy (Evans) Heft shares 'lasting memories of our treasured roots" in Chapleau remembering Harry 'Butch' Pellow

Butch, Joy, Sharon Swanson at 2012 CHS Reunion

NOTE: Joy (Evans) Heft captures not only memories of our mutual friend Harry 'Butch' Pellow, but also of growing up in Chapleau in the 1940s and 1950s. I vividly recall the games we played in the neighborhood, especially hockey in their back shed and of course, "going down the lake." I lived on Grey Street, just one back lane and back yard  away from Aberdeen. Joy brings back "lasting memories of our treasured roots" in Chapleau. Perhaps amazingly, many of us are still in touch all these years later.   Butch died on December 13, 2016. Thanks Joy.

And the wheel comes full circle in more ways than one. When Joy and I were both attending Chapleau High School, we collaborated on a weekly  high school column for the long gone Mid North News. My email is mj.morris@live.ca MJM

By Joy (Evans) Heft
Butch grew up at the corner of Birch (Main) and Aberdeen Streets two doors from the Evans family home on Aberdeen. In fact at one time their back yard backed onto our side yard but sometime before my recollection there was a smaller home moved to the property which was lived in by the Lapp and Moyle families and later the McEachren family. Butch was a bit younger than my brother, Jim, and a bit older than me. I remember playing with the neighbourhood children, mostly out-of-doors. Sometimes the girls and boys played together – i.e. the girls were allowed. Kick the can and hide and seek numbered among the games and I remember one fierce water pistol fight when I would have been about ten. I think I got called in by my mother likely because it seemed unbecoming.

Our back shed was a frequent venue for some of our games and the loft provided a great hiding place as well as a place to explore to discover what was stored up there. Jim and his friends used the shed more in winter when the boys were a bit older to play hockey or take shots on goal there. When I occasionally played in the Pellow home I had a terrified fascination for the bear rug in one of the rooms.

One of my memories is of a solar eclipse when our family, the Moyles and the Pellows congregated in the Moyles’ back yard early in the morning with our rolls of film through which to view the sun moving behind the moon without damaging our eyes. I think we were about ten at the time and it made a lasting impression.  Butch and I reminisced about this event during a recent visit.  
Another of our activities was going as a group to the Saturday afternoon movies.

My Aunt, Sister Gabriella, recounted an incident which she found very cute. Butch had come over to our place before some of us were heading off to the ‘show’ as we called it. Butch piped up, ‘I have Joy’s  money’. Why he had my money, a dime at the time, I think,  is anyone’s guess, but it presaged his lifelong habit of generosity  from which many of us benefited in many ways, not the least of which were the number of Chapleau parties held at his and Brigitte’s Toronto home, the most recent in October  2014.

CHS "Girl Cadets" from 1950s with CO Neil Ritchie

Another act of generosity that sticks out in my mind was a much later occasion when we returned to Southern Ontario together after a long week-end. I had gone up to Chapleau by train and Butch by car, so he invited me to accompany him  back by car with the plan that I would take the bus from Toronto to Oshawa where I was then teaching. He insisted on driving me on to Oshawa after that long trip  then himself back Toronto. He married shortly afterwards, I believe, and I attended his wedding, but our paths crossed much less frequently in the years to follow. 

Butch, Jim Evans, Doug Slievert, Roger Mizuguchi, Donna Lane, Alison McMillan, Joanne Moyle

Butch attended public school while the Evans children were at the separate school. We met up in high school, though, and once again were part of the same entourage as we dated mutual close friends. Once thing I recall, in particular, was that he loved dancing as we all did and that his favorite song was ‘Stardust’. When I think of it now, it seems like a sentimental song for a teenager, but that is another of his trademarks. I  recall his fondness of the song whenever I hear it. As most know Butch created a wonderful collection of photographs featuring many of his contemporaries in the numerous activities we participated in, a lot of them in the great outdoors  during the summer ‘down the lake’.

Butch and Roger at the Eighteen

One of those was a trip to the eighteen mile rapids for a picnic with a fairly large group. One of my own pictures from that event features Butch clutching an LP (Stardust, perhaps?) about to put it on a portable record player as we called them. 

Butch with record player, Gordon Bolduc, Mabel Doyle

Once we headed off to university we met up occasionally in Toronto – my brother Jim lived with Butch for a short time during that period - and I recall one party Butch invited me to quite a distance from the residence I was living in where the curfew was midnight; the trip to and fro on public transit took more time than we spent at the party and I was docked an hour the following week as a five minute late penalty. In retrospect I reflect upon the gracious stride with which he took the harried return trip, typical of him, really.

During ensuing years when Butch and others of us were young adults home working in Chapleau for the summer we would ‘hang out’ together enjoying our  freedom in the Northern landscape creating lasting memories of our treasured roots.

His appreciation of that youth and the personalities that enhanced it were evidenced in many ways for me not the least of which were the letters he wrote regarding some of my own family members at the time of their death  in which he recalled some of their attributes and/or idiosyncracies and the events involving them that impacted his own life. That he would take the time from his busy schedule to share these is again a mark of his enduring generosity of spirit.

Harry Alexander 'Butch' Pellow lasting memories of the most special of Chapleau friends

Butch and Brigitte 2014

Several years ago I wrote a story about "finding a good stick", and even spoke about it at the 90th anniversary reunion of Chapleau High School in 2012.

I hadn't thought about it much recently, until I received huge box from my lifelong friend Harry 'Butch' Pellow early in 2016. Upon opening it. Butch had sent me a walking stick.

It was the enclosed letter that made me fully realize the metaphor of the "good stick". Harry wrote that it was sent with best wishes "as you carry it."

He added: "As our frailties become more evident, we need to be mindful of every step going forward -- be reminded of your friend many years ago who explained "good stick theory."

My friend of many years ago when I still lived in Chapleau and would go for a walk to the Memegos Property was a man I met along the way who told me "I hope you find your good stick."

All these years later, I realized that I had, in great measure my "good stick" in my friend Butch from the time we were about five years playing at the Big Rock in the Louis Dube Peace Park. 

MJM with 'good stick'

 In the past few years I was able to visit with him in 2012 at the 90th anniversary of Chapleau High School, then in Toronto in 2014 at a fantastic party in Toronto by Butch and his wife Brigitte. It was attended by over 60 Chapleau friends, some of whom I had not seen in more than a long time.

Tout le gang at Butch and Brigitte's 2014 party

In 2015, Butch and Brigitte travelled to Chapleau for the launch of "The Chapleau Boys Go To War" which my cousin Michael McMullen and I wrote.

Alison,Joyand Henry Heft, Butch, Mike, Brigitte 2015

Harry Alexander 'Butch' Pellow died on December 13, 2016. Although he he lived most of his adult life in Toronto, he remained close to his roots, always a Chapleau boy from a family who arrived shortly after the Canadian Pacific Railway did in 1885.

He became one of Canada's most distinguished architects, and Chapleau is included among his projects. He was the architect for the Chapleau General Hospital, Chapleau Civic Centre, Chapleau Recreation Centre, Cedar Grove Lodge and the golf club house. He also made the plans for Trinity United Church.

In paying tribute to Butch I decided to share some excerpts from articles he has written in recent years about Chapleau.

CHS play 1956-57 names below

First: "Chapleau was born of the railway" by Butch

 "Our grandfathers and their children, then their children, their children’s children and now even another generation are still closely aligned with Chapleau and the railroad and it is so disappointing to read of the demise of industry, connectivity which the railway provided, personal attachment to life in the north and Chapleau in particular; and a loss of identity and personality that the community was once known for.  It is time for Chapleau as a community to refocus before it is too late.

"Chapleau was born of the Railway and nurtured by its pioneers in search of opportunity, unafraid of the unknown and adventuresome in the extreme. There is an enormous story still  to be told.

"In these early days men and families were focused on a new beginning. They were building their own homes, creating new industries and businesses as exemplified for example by the entrepreneurial drive of Edgar Pellow. Hotels for labourers, employees and travellers were constructed and schools were built and churches were constructed for several denominations.

CHS Girls Platoon 1950s with Neil Ritchie, CO and Butch 2014

"The railway was the catalyst and it all started with the construction of the rail yard, the station building and maintenance and servicing facilities. Circa 1886, the essentials had only begun with broadly spaced trackage, an original station and a water tower.

"By 1910 things were in full swing and by 1911 there was a formal station building in the CPR style. Chapleau was a divisional point, housed train crews, provided housekeeping and maintenance for trains, marshalled trains and was a stopping point for passengers moving back and forth across the country."

At The Boston names below

"Playing road and pond hockey" by Butch

"I only recall the famous strip between Birch and Cedar but I did play on the pond on the back river once or twice. Both times I froze my toes and fingers and decided that it was too cold for me.

"But on Aberdeen Street it was warmer and much closer to home to play road hockey. Frequently, snow piles were pretty high; often stained with dog urine and rarely without many deep holes in them where the pucks had been lost and had been recovered either by probing sticks or urgent kicks from various team players.

"Players were randomly gathered either by purposeful visits to the destination or picked up on the way by. The skill level was indeterminate but the enthusiasm was always at a critical pitch.

 CHS and other team players from 1950s and beyond in 2014

"Frequently the more proficient and sometimes the more senior amongst us effected a team selection process which created lop-sided weighting of skill and ability resulting in long periods when goals were only scored from one direction. By the way, I was not one of the more senior amongst us if you know what I mean.

 "But there was another venue too and it was on the front river just west of the concrete swimming pier where so many gathered this past July (in 2012)  during the Chapleau High School 90th Anniversary Reunion to celebrate the homecoming and watch the fireworks. 

Butch and Harry 'Boo' Hong

"Like the pond, it arrived when the ice did but it was far more accessible, and collecting a group required far less planning and organization to pull together enough players for shinny. It was often after school and on weekends and as you recall surfaced one Christmas holiday and maybe George 'Ice' Sanders was unable to make a rink on the ‘clinker’ surface of the public school grounds. 

Butch, Joy Evans Heft, Sharon Swanson CHS reunion 2012

"Pickup included anyone who could get enough equipment together to make it worthwhile and at the same time wear warm clothes. Warm clothes because the west wind, however mildly blowing, was cold on that open river front and by the end of a school day

or an early winter weekend evening the sky was grey, sunless and foreboding; and, had it not been for wild enthusiasm why would anyone choose the river over The Boston 

 Cafe

Jean, Butch, Yen

"The wonderful thing about river hockey in Chapleau that I think we all need to think about a lot as we get into the season of joy and remembrances is that it had no religious, racial, language or nationalistic perimeters; there were no upper town or lower town distinctions and I don’t recall there being good players or bad players; albeit there were little ones and big ones too. 

CHS hockey team 1956-57 names below

We were all players and it was a game, a spontaneous moment, a gleeful opportunity to engage in role playing and in doing what northern boys and girls and their parents had done for decades before us. It was about entertaining ourselves, laughter, being out of doors, pushing the limits and building relationships."

"The Big Rock was just that" by Butch

Butch and MJM ready  to play at Big Rock circa 1947

"Emerging from the coarse grass and somewhere from the centre of the universe this seemingly giant granite boulder sat waiting for us to creep up on it as the sun rose on any weekend on a spring, summer or fall morning.  Beside it, the ground was exposed by the regular weekend scraping of heels, the rock’s movement due to frost heave in the winter and erosion along the edge of the hillock. 

"In the early mornings as the sun rose low from the east with dew on the grass it had a crystalline appearance that quickly faded as the shadows shortened, and by evening it was dark and foreboding.  We hid from passersby and calls to dinner from whatever origin in the east of downtown and from the river to lower town.  

"It was our place, and we shared it only infrequently with new friends or others who we would invite in because we needed reinforcements for the cavalry or our posse.

There were the usuals including Morris, Evans, Schroeder, Bolduc, Stein, Hong, Fink, Pellow, Cachagee and other guys too; and even on occasion a few girls who for now will remain nameless, but they would saunter in to see what going on and wanting to be part of the intrigue and never at the early hour we were there.

"It was our time, and it remains a mystery to me today that I would even be able to have this incredibly vivid visual and olfactory recollection of the cool, fresh morning air being carried on the breeze over the windy, weedy, Nebskwashi River with its sparkling water creating a glare over the rock that was blinding.   

"There were other rocks too, other players, and other intrigue, but it was always the cowboys and the other guys; the good guys and the bad guys; and until I saw “Shane” I don’t recall anything meaningful but the out of doors in the movies of the day, and never really seeing the kitchen or parlour of a good guy’s family home.  For sure they lived somewhere besides behind a big rock, but in those days at the big rock we really didn’t care."

Butch, Ian, Jim Evans, Brigitte 2014

Ian Macdonald, retired head of the department of architecture and professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba: "I knew Harry since 1947 when my family moved to Chapleau. We went through Public and High School together, shared an apartment in academic session 1962-63 when we were both attending Ryerson University, were classmates for a year at the University of Manitoba and interned as professional architects at the same office in Toronto.

"Despite taking different paths upon gaining professional registration, we stayed constantly in touch in subsequent years. The professional work that he provided oversight for is well documented, impressive and will remain his permanent professional legacy. Harry’s engaging personality and boundless energy was also his professional style and the style of his distinctive architectural practice.

"It should also be a matter of record that Harry, in his professional activity, always publicly acknowledged the consultants and team members that contributed to the success of his large project work.  

"My enduring memory of Harry, however, will remain his basic decency as a human being.  He was continually generous with his time and always made himself available for a host of reasons. He was supportive of me professionally on many occasions whenever needed . From my position as an architectural educator, I was particularly, sensitive to the importance he assigned to quality mentoring and the opportunities he provided in his office for the personal growth and development of a generation of young architects. While some might argue that this may not have been a cost effective use of employee time, he accepted that this was an important and fundamental part of his professional responsibility . Harry was and will always remain the most special of friends."

Thanks Butch. May you rest in peace.

Butch, his brother Dr Bill, Ian, MJM at book launch 201

Note: I extend my most sincere thanks to Michael and Alison (McMillan) McMullen, Ian Macdonald, and all those who assisted me with this column. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Names for photos

Dolly' Doughnuts CHS play 1956-57 From left back Phyllis Chrusoskie, Butch, Margaret Rose Fortin, David McMillan, Lorraine Leclair: Front Mary Serre, Dr Karl Hackstetter (director), Donna Viet, Jim Evans, Michael Leigh

At the Boston Café from left Georgette Cormier, Rita O'Hearn, Shirley Cormier, Butch, Donna Lane, Joy Evans, Harry 'Boo' Hong, Sparky the restaurant dog

The CHS team of 1956 . Back row from left: David McMillan, Doug Sleivert, Stan Barty,Thane Crozier, Clarence Fiaschetti (teacher and coach), George Lemon (principal) Second row: Doug Espaniel, Roger Mizuguchi, Bill Cachagee . Front are Jim Hong, Bert Lemon, Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Robbie Pellow (Mascot) Marc Boulard, Harry Hong, Jim Machan, Ron Morris.