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

Jason Rioux provides update on progress made on restoration and future plans for St. John's Anglican Church in Chapleau

Jason Rioux, the owner of the St John's Anglican Church building, kindly provided me with a copy of a letter he sent to the congregation and Bishop Tom Corston about the present situation at the church. The letter provides details on steps that have already been taken to restore the church, and measures that are planned.

I extend my thanks to Jason for permitting me to share the letter with readers of the Chapleau Express in Chapleau Moments and here, as he moves forward. Jason is also open to hearing from you.  His email is jason.rioux@gmail.com

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

BY JASON RIOUX

Happy 2018! We wanted to share how things are going and provide an update for our vision on things yet to come. This building was built by you and taken care of by you for the last 100+ years.

Regardless of a change in building ownership, this remains YOUR church and we are deeply committed to keeping you in YOUR church. It’s not St. John’s Anglican Church without you.

Preserving the Building In 2016 and 2017, we undertook major renovations to improve the bones of the building. Without this investment, the building would have fallen into further disrepair.

Major basement renovations were completed to allow for fully accessible commercial food and retail use. This turned out to be an enormous job with many costly hurdles that were overcome. Exterior brick repairs and restoration work began.

We completed repairs to the northeast corner of the building near the chimney and started on the west wall’s spaulding brick. The brick chimney was rebuilt to full height and lined so it can be used again.

The rear cement patio and landscaping was added. We are lucky to have found Marc, our local experienced bricklayer to take on this work, and he had to find 100 year old reclaimed brick from southern Ontario and haul it north to Chapleau to do the job right.

And as it turns out, our bricklayer is now the tenant downstairs with homemade pizza making skills second to none!

As for 2018, we will finish the brick repairs on the west wall, point the brickwork around the building, and start brick repairs to the bell tower. We would like to bring back the original “castle top” -- if we can find a way to fund it.

Financial Sustainability

The church building remains a money losing project, big time. Our objective is to bring the building into financial sustainability for the for the long term. To accomplish this, the reality is we have 3 things to focus on:

1. Finding additional rent from the main floor

• We need this new rent to co-exist with the congregation, and will likely come from a new additional tenant or from running special events.

• We are currently looking for ideas, other non-profits focusing on local history and culture, performing arts, entertainment, special events, etc.

• Unfortunately this will require most of the pews to come out. More about pews discussed below.

2. Reducing our heating costs

• Step 1 – Install a new wood stove in the basement, just finished!

• Step 2 – Get completely off heating oil – We plan to install a new boiler heating system in 2018 that will use renewable wood pellets as the fuel. These are considered carbon neutral (good for the environment) and will be sourced from northern Ontario (good for the local economy).

 • Step 3 – Seal up the building – we need to seal up air cracks and gaps on the main floor. We will get a blower door test conducted to identify the air leaks and then try to seal them up to improve the efficiency of the building and reduce our heating costs for next winter.

3. Helping our current tenants be successful long term

• We are working closely with our current basement tenant, Stonewalls restaurant, to help them grow their business to meet the needs and desires of the Chapleau community. We are in the process of installing a new wood fired pizza oven downstairs for everyone’s eating pleasure in the next month or so, I’m super excited about that.

• We want to help the Anglican Church congregation find ways to innovate and connect with the community. We are open to trying new things, we have the large vacant lot next door that can host special events, we have the ability to be creative together for mutual benefit.

Please keep this in mind as you plan 2018.

We are here to help where we can, just pitch us your ideas on what you want to try.

Environmental Sustainability

We believe that we can make investments in the b that can both accomplish financial and environmental sustainability. For example the heating system improvements have the ability to make the building “carbon neutral”. Currently we are burning over 15,000 litres of heating oil per winter, this has significant CO2 emissions that are bad for our climate.

It just happens that converting to modern wood pellet heating is lower cost than oil, and is carbon neutral, a win-win situation. But it takes effort to make this switch.

We are working with technology suppliers from Europe, and we are working with Ontario pellet fuel suppliers for bulk deliveries to Chapleau. It’s not easy going first, but we think it is worth the effort.

What to do with the Pews? We expect that any new uses upstairs will require more flexibility in the space, different seating arrangements, more open space, ability to set up tables and We would like to hear ideas and preferences from the congregation on how we select which pews we should keep. We think we can probably keep 6 to 10 long pews in the space. Some questions and ideas we would like your feedback on:

1. Do we add name plaques to identify the original family pews that will remain in the church? This way we can keep track of the pews as they are shuffled around over time. Can you propose which pews we should keep as a priority?

2. We will be looking to sell 20 or more pews to help offset our building restoration costs. Should we first offer the pews for sale to the original families they may have sat in them? If so, how do we contact those families if no longer in attendance?

 3. Any ideas for local businesses or places that might need pews like this?

4. Do we know a local carpenter that can shorten pews so that they can fit better into people’s homes? This could help more of the pew find their way into homes in Chapleau.

 In terms of replacement seating that can accommodate multiple uses, we are thankful to receive 100 chairs from the United Church to help get us started! Opening up the space and getting more people into the church will help with our collective community outreach. It's a beautiful building and sharing it with the community is a positive thing that increases the long term viability of the church.

As always, I want to hear your thoughts. You can email me anytime at Jason.rioux@gmail.com

Reg Sonego sparked Sudbury Wolves to victory with 'brilliant display of skating and puck handling', according to Max Silverman

Perhaps Max Silverman, the legendary president and general manager of the Sudbury Wolves, best summed up the hockey ability of Chapleau's Reginald 'Reg' Sonego, who was without a doubt one of the community's best players ever.

Mr. Silverman commented on the impressive achievements of Reg as a hockey player when he played for the Sudbury Wolves.

"Reg Sonego, former Junior star from Chapleau sparked the Wolves to victory last night despite elbows, high sticks and general rough play Sonego came up with a brilliant display of skating and puck handling to net three goals for Sudbury in his first game in Wolves colours," Mr. Silverman said.

He added that many Chapleau readers of the Sudbury Star would recall the end to end rushes he was noted for.

Born and educated in Chapleau, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Carlo Sonego, he took to playing hockey at an early age, and by 1946, he was playing on the Chapleau High School team. As an aside, we have a photo of that team, but not all the names. If you can add names, please contact me.

names below

By 1949 Reg, or 'Reggie" as many of us called him, was playing for the Chapleau Junior team. 

names below

Playing in Chapleau for a pre season game in the highly competitive town league before a large crowd at the rink , between the Reds and Whites, the Chapleau Post reported that Yvon 'Shorty' Morin scored two quick goals in the first period, followed by Reggie with the same in the second. The final score was not mentioned.  Reg won the town league scoring title.

A bit later he joined the Sudbury Wolves.

Mr. Silverman actually brought the Wolves to play an exhibition game in the community's "old old rink" on Lorne Street.

A story about the game noted that the Wolves "demonstrated their prowess" defeating Chapleau 13-1 "in front of the locals "who were unable to cope but gave a good account of themselves, adding that "Reggie Sonego, Chapleau's contribution to the Wolves scored three goals."

Baisel Collings scored Chapleau's only goal.

Reg was described in a newspaper story as the "smoothest skater and clean player who managed to stay clear of the penalty box", adding that he was regarded as the most valuable player on the team.

Aside from hockey Reg entered into an apprenticeship with the Canadian Pacific Railway at Chapleau, North Bay and Montreal, and became a Diesel Electrician. He also worked at the Agincourt Shops.

Dr. Bill Pellow provided the following from his brief career as a hockey player and commented on Reg. "We had a choice in the 40s. My allowance was 10 cents a week. I had choice to go to the Regent Theatre or go to the rink and play hockey on Saturday mornings. Pop Depew was the coach. I tried hockey for a few Saturdays, with Eaton's catalogues for shin pads and my skates laced up as tight as any adult around the rink would or could perform the task for me. 

"I remember my last game, The puck was in front of me and on wobbly skates I went for it. Reggie Sonego was on the opposite team and boarded me like I was struck by lightning, my head ached, the stars came out, my body hurt and his comment, if you have the puck you will get hit. I quit."

Every once in a while, I am asked to enter into a discussion by email to decide Chapleau's Top Ten hockey players in its history. I decline to participate but Reggie Sonego would likely be included in my picks. I would enjoy hearing from you about who would be on your list -- remember that Chapleau had a hockey team starting circa 1887.

I extend my most sincere thanks to Reggie Sonego's family, especially Bonnie (Cappellani) Byrne, who collected material from the family for this column. Much appreciated. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

CHS TEAM 1946  Reggie played for CHS in 1946 but we do not have all the names. Front row from left Mike Mione, unknown, Yen Hong, unknown, Sonny Bignucolo, unknown, unknown, unknown. Back row Elmore Leigh (coach), unknown, Fred Goheen, unknown, unknown, Reg Sonego, unknown, unknown. If you can identify players please email me mj.morris@live.ca

Chapleau Juniors 1949.Back row are from left Orville Robinson, Doug Swanson, Lorne Riley, Greg Lucas, Tee Chambers, Fred Goheen, Keith Strapp, Toddy Collinson, Ernest 'Sonny' Bignucolo, D.O. Payette (manager), Pat Serre, Ross Hamlin, George Payette. Front from left, Yen Hong, Bob Evans, Reggie Sonego, Ross Thornton (coach), Tom Jardine, Angelo Mione, Johnny Morin, Mike Mione, Clarence Fiaschetti

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