Chapleau Women's Curling Club winds up successful 1959 season with banquet and awards night

The Women's Curling Club wound up their 1959 season with a banquet and award presentation at Renison Hall in St. John's Anglican Church.

President Mrs. D.J. Broomhead reported that it was the best in the club's history. Although there were no outside bonspiels scheduled, there were two senior 'spiels and a colt spiel during the season.

A short note of some historical interest. The first attempt by women to become members was in the mid 1930s but their bid for membership was voted down, and it was not until about 1949 that women were accepted into the club. As in many aspects of Chapleau history, exact dates are hard to confirm, but the women's club had come a long way in its short history.

Readers will also  note that in this column married women are referred to as Mrs., with her husband's first name or initials while the first name is used for single women. This practice continued into the 1990s and was in effect when I taught my first university studies courses in Commuications at College of the Rockies --- but the times they were starting to change!

Back to curling.

Mrs. Broomhead also noted in a Sudbury Star story that while the women polished up on their curling technique the social side of club membership also held a high place.  After the banquet, the members adjourned to her home for a social evening.

Winner of the Leo Racicot Trophy for the first senior bonspiel was a rink skipped by Mrs. Yvon Morin, with Mrs. Gerald Garmes as vice skip; Carol Travers, second and Mrs. Milton Schroeder, lead.

The runner up rink was a rink skipped by Mrs. Romeo Martin; Mrs. Vince O'Hearn, vice skip; Berryl Rowntree, second, and Prudence Beechey, lead.

Second senior bonspiel winner was rink skipped by Mrs. Alf Gervais with Carol 'Babe' Chambers as vice skip; Mrs. Garmes, second, and Mrs. Henry Pellow, lead

The Korpela Trophy for winning the Colt bonspiel was skipped by Carol 'Babe' Chambers, with Berryl Rowntree, vice skip; Mrs. Norman Glennie, second, and Mrs. J.G.A. Burns, lead.

Runner up was rink skipped  by Rita Roussel; Mrs. Leonard Ridstill, vice skip; Prudence Beechey, second, and Mrs. Alf Gervais, lead.

In the election of officers Mrs. Broomhead was returned for another term as president, while Mrs. J.D Macfarlane continued as vice president. Secretary was Mrs. J.G.A. Burns and treasurer Mrs. Leonard Ridstill.

Major renovations were underway at the curling club on Pine Street led by men's club president George Collins. Completed in 1960, artificial ice came in 1962. Curling apparently started in Chapleau during the winter of 1885-86 on a sheet of ice on Lorne Street across from the CPR operations. That later became the site of the "old old arena".  The curling rink on Pine Street opened in 1928.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Ontario Provincial Police open "modern" headquarters at Chapleau in 1957

A "modern" headquarters for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) headquarters at Chapleau was officially opened on the outskirts of the municipality  in November 1957, Margaret Costello wrote in the Sudbury Star.

The OPP had an officer stationed in Chapleau for many years prior who either used part of his home as an office, or was located in buildings in the downtown area.

 I still recall visiting Harold Kennedy, (my uncle) when he was the OPP officer in Chapleau in the early 1950s at his office in the building where the Northern Credit Union is today -- he lived in a small room behind the office. (Harold met and married my aunt, Marion Morris, while he was stationed in Chapleau.)

Maggie wrote that the new headquarters housed a courtroom, two offices, a cell block, two car garage, and living quarters  for an officer.

The courtroom did not seem to work out too well, and was moved to the Royal Canadian Legion Hall where provincial court was held on a monthly basis for many years.

However, the cell block replaced the "town jail" located for years below the fire hall. Despite the  new headquarters, the OPP did not replace the municipal police force until 1967 when it was disbanded by the council.

Ron Lewis

Ron Lewis was the officer in charge when the new headquarters was opened, being promoted to Corporal, and remaining in Chapleau until 1971. It became a two officer detachment with the arrival of John Craig. Ron finished his OPP as an inspector located in Kenora.

Although the only highway out of Chapleau in the 1950s, opened in 1949, was Highway 129, the OPP had a huge area to cover as they were responsible for the small communities near Chapleau which were becoming very busy with lumber companies establishing operations throughout the area. They would also travel by CPR to communities west of Chapleau to about White River.

At the official opening of the headquarters, Ontario Attorney General Kelso Roberts pointed out that it came at a time of major construction for the OPP in both Southern and Northern Ontario. Mr. Roberts said Chapleau was one of the "strategic locations.

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It also came as Chapleau was experiencing what is often referred to as its "boom years" with expansion by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and lumber companies arriving after the huge forest fire of 1948.

Chapleau Reeve Leo Racicot took the opportunity to push for a highway to Foleyet, and on to Timmins, having a number of provincial dignitaries on hand for the opening.

"It would be a natural tourist route ... around by Timmins, and I am sure it would benefit all concerned," Mr. Racicot said.

Highway 101 to Timmins officially opened in 1962.

Participating in the opening ceremonies from Chapleau were the reeve, Father A. Marchand of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church and Rev. Frank Leigh of St. John's Anglican Church. A dinner was held catered to by the ladies of the Senior WA of St. John's with Arthur Grout as chairman.  Former Chapleau resident E.D. Wilkins, who was now the Crown Attorney was also present.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Doug Greig recognized importance of community's cultural history and passing it on to future generations

For almost eight years now, I have been writing a weekly column about the life and times of Chapleau, and although many people have provided research assistance, Doug Greig is surely at the top of my list.

Some years ago, Doug took over providing content for chapleaupubliclibrary.com the successor to a site established by Hugh Kuttner, taking it to the next level as an incredible resource for all of us interested in the history of Chapleau.

The site itself recognizes Doug's enormous contribution in "meticulously digitizing more than 54,000 pages" about Chapleau.

Since learning that Doug had died on March 6. 2017 in a car accident, I have visited the site often, reflecting on the passion Doug had for the community in ensuring that its story will remain alive for generations to come.

I had my first chat with Doug at the 90th anniversary reunion of Chapleau High School in 2012, when he was a member of the committee, and also sitting on the municipal council. He served several terms on council.

Ever since, Doug has responded to any requests for assistance that I needed as I wrote my columns.  I have also accessed information from the web site.

In 2015, when I was home for the launch of "The Chapleau Boys Go To War" which I co-authored with my cousin Michael McMullen, I was chatting with Doug again, and asked if some time he could provide me with  digitized copies of The Chapleau Post and Chapleau Sentinel.

Hours later, before I left town, Doug delivered them to me.

Doug was also of great assistance to Michael and I when we were working on our book. We noted that he provided "incredible research support. Doug seemed to be available 24/7 in responding to requests."

He was also a staunch supporter of the Chapleau Centennial Museum.

Another significant contribution he made to Chapleau's history were his very complete histories of J.E. Martel and Sons Lumber Ltd, A and L Lafreniere Lumber Ltd. and Sheppard and Morse Ltd. all available in Chapleau Trails, edited and published by Dr. William R. Pellow.

I extend my most sincere sympathy to his wife Anne, his family and friends, who have lost one of the community's most passionate citizens ever! However, his legacy will assuredy include his efforts to make its history available to future generations. 

I asked Ian Macdonald if he would contribute his thoughts about working with Doug, and I extend my thanks to him for responding so quickly. Ian attended Chapleau Public and Chapleau High schools, and has a continuing interest in Chapleau and area. He is Professor Emeritus and retired head of the department of architecture at the University of Manitoba.

 Here is Ian:

"Doug Greig recognized the importance of recording the cultural history of the community and the importance of passing those expressions of living from generation to generation.

"Doug’s passion clearly was developing chapleaupubliclibrary.com into the website of choice for anyone seeking any information on the history of Chapleau. This multi layered website provides both information and insight in to the life and times of the community from before the time it was established in 1885 to the present day.

"Doug understood the challenge of posterity and the importance of accuracy. Many of our e-mail exchanges over an article or a photograph were directed at establishing the correct date and proper identification of individuals to make the context of the image as informative as possible.

"Doug also understood that overlaying items of information with personal bias or speculative interpretation of events would ultimately render information useless.  He had excellent editorial instincts but, at the same time, resisted the urge to be judgemental and avoided any personal editorials other than “this might be of interest”.

"During the time I was exploring something for publication, he would continually forward items from the archives that he thought might be relevant or of interest. My most recent exchange of information related to an article that Mike McMullen and I did on the hauling of supplies from Chapleau to the crews building the Canadian Northern Railway at Elsas in 1912. I’m afraid that I’ll always associate that particular story as my last collaboration with Doug.

"I only met Doug in person briefly at the Library in Chapleau on three or four occasions when I happened to be in town. We got to know each other over time through the e-mail exchange of images, articles or archiving protocol.

 "I felt his loss, however, as deeply as if he were a family member as did many colleagues of mine who still research and write about the community. Chapleau has lost an important citizen and highly respected community advocate."

Thanks Ian... My email is mj.morris@live.ca