DAVIS FAMILY & ARVIDA - BONDED BY A COMMON DENOMINATOR - BORN AND RAISED IN ALCANS' ARthurVIningDAvis

"It's better to create memories than live 

with regret."  

           The momentum is building for the celebrations surrounding the 90ieth anniversary of the official founding of Arvida ( 1926-2016 ) to be held during La Fête d'Arvida weekend of June 04/06 in Davis Square. As a proud Arvida Ambassador, I will be present to help with the celebrations and record the milestone historical event. 

Arthur Vining Davis in his 20s

Actually, Arthur Vining Davis had of course visited the area many times in previous years before 1926 with his business friends and close associates, ( names like the Mellon brothers , Hall,  Hunt, Cothran, Gillespie, Price and Duke - household street names )  BUT it was on September 10, 1925 that he started construction of his Arvida aluminum plant and decided to name the townsite after himself :  Ar-Vi-Da , Arvida, Québec. Five . yes 5 homes were being built every day ...actually 270 homes in 135 days ...absolutely amazing !!  Now that is efficiency and excellent town planning ....carried out by Mister Harold R. Wake, a civil engineer from the USA who took charge of property development in Arvida, guided the townsite planning, and was the much respected father of the city for many years. As a kid , I knew many of the families living on Wake street during my youth, but I never had a clue at the time just how important this man was in the building history of Arvida.

           My conclusion is that Arvida was such a great team effort, led by the Davis family, but with hundreds of brave, intelligent, hard-working other men and women participating to lead towards the world class status that was eventually attained by Alcan's Arvida.  In 2016, I firmly now believe that the recognition and  status of a UNESCO  world heritage site is clearly within reach !

             Arthur Vining Davis ( known as Art )  lived a long and fulfilling life as an adventurous and far-sighted industrialist and philanthropist, passing away on November 17, 1962 at the ripe old age of 95 in Miami, Florida. His net worth at the time of his death was $400 million USD, which was approximately  1/1103th of the United States GNP. At the time of his retirement from Alcoa in 1957, he was already listed as the third-richest individual in the world. Most of this money was set up in a trust to become the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, with all monies to remain in the USA.  He actually went on to have another successful career in real estate in Florida after his so-called first retirement from Alcoa.  He was born on May 30, 1867 in Sharon, Massachusetts, the son of a Congregational Minister Perley B. Davis and his wife Mary Frances.  He was one of 3 brothers ......Arthur, the eldest, Edward , and Albert. His brother Edward K. Davis was the father of Holbrook R. Davis, whom I am in contact with. The two oldest brothers went to Pittsburgh where they ultimately  became industrialists, working for Alcoa and founding Alcan in Arvida. The last brother Albert went on to California where he became, like his own father, a Congregational minister.

                   Because Davis cherished privacy, his personal success was not accompanied by much exposure to the media about his business or private life. He did not usually fare well in interviews. "I've had to work hard all my life," he asserted to a reporter. "I've had to work sixteen hours a day to make a good living. Do you work sixteen hours a day?" Time magazine referred to Davis as a "terrible-tempered tycoon...ruling [Alcoa] with desk-thumping autocracy," a view that was not atypical in the press at large.  Unfortunately, no autobiography was ever written about this highly successful businessman. As well, he was married twice and he had no children. He did become a major philanthropist and created The ArthurVining Davis Foundations in 1952, providing financial assistance to educational, religious, cultural and scientific institutions in the USA only. The foundations are regular PBS donors as well.

Arthur Vining Davis in his 90s

           I personally invested one full year of networking to arrange a September, 2015 meeting  with the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations in Boston, as part of my mandate as an Arvida Ambassador. On this occasion, I had the pleasure of meeting at this important dinner and first ever networking meeting, Mr. Maynard K. Davis, the grand nephew of Arthur Vining Davis, along with Mrs. Nancy Cable, the new President of the Foundations. Along with speeches, presentations and gift exchanges, it was a special moment to induct Maynard K. Davis ( 65 )  and his father Holbrook R. Davis ( now 94 )  as honorory Arvida Ambassadors, presenting them with the symbolic personalized aluminum lunch box filled with Arvida history from USB flash drives to post cards to t-shirts.   Since this event, I feel honored to be in the same club, the same family in effect, as a Davis. Consequently, I have become the main liaison between the Davis family ancestors and the town of Arvida, founded by the uncle of Holbrook Davis, Mr. Arvida , Arthur Vining Davis, 90 years ago.  In a recent letter I received from Osterville, MA near Cape Cod , the home of Mr. Davis, he fondly remembers that he had visited Arvida in 1940 where a Mr. Lamontagne ( LaMountain)  had shown him around. He was also invited to the opening ceremonies of the Shipshaw bridge in the summer of 1950. I have learnt that a book along with Davis family genealogy is now in the works.

N.B.    The City of Saguenay ( comprising borough of ARVIDA )  passed an official  municipal bylaw in 2015 specifying heritage recognition for certain important pioneers. Having attended this municipal meeting, I was very pleased to learn that Arthur Vining Davis was officially named as one of the historic figures to be recognized in its heritage, as we work towards UNESCO recognition of Arvida as a world heritage site. Congratulations AVD ! ( and family )
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                 Honorary Arvida Ambassador Club members                           ( inducted  September 2015 ) 

Holbrook R. Davis ( AVD nephew ) and son Maynard K. Davis ( AVD grand nephew ) 

 

                         Arvida Ambassador Club meets the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations                                Boston September 2015 

( l to r )  Terry Loucks - Arvida Ambassador & Meeting Facilitator, Nancy Cable - President AVD Foundations, Maynard Davis - AVD grand nephew, Jean Tremblay - Mayor of Ville Saguenay, Claude Guay - President Ambassador Club  

WELCOME / BIENVENUE / WELKOM / BIENVENIDA

Happy New Year et Bonne et Heureuse Année 2016  !
Welcome to my Arvida Memory Project .....a Blog 

         First of all, I welcome all interested or curious readers to my first ever blog on a brand new idea and theme. As an Arvida Baby Boomer ( born 1948 ) and now an Arvida Ambassador ( induction 2014 ) I will compose and share my thoughts and memories of my utopic beloved home town of Arvida, as well as the researched recollections of others that agree to document and share how their life experiences of having been born and raised in a company town or how their parents experience of having been an Alcan employee, affected the rest of their lives.  My market research gives me the green light and says: Go For It !  Vas-y ! Bring it on !  

                                                 Town of Arvida Coat of Arms

         One of my numerous New Year Resolutions was to start something brand new for me ..... a blog , to become a blogger, to start blogging ! I am a newbie at this, so here goes, after freshly settling back in to my winterized writer headquarters in the Eastern Townships of Quebec after a two week, much needed Christmas/New Year R&R stay at the Vitality Cottage of my sister Trudy and her husband Gustin in Oak Ridges, Ontario. I am re-energized, motivated, feel like I have more voltage, and I am ready to go ! 

        Now what exactly is a blog I said to myself.  The Cambridge on-line dictionary defines the word as :  "a regular record of your thoughts, opinions, or experiences that you put on the Internet for other people to read."  Okay , takes time and effort but I can handle this ! 

         I chose Google simply because it is Google.  The name is solid and the reputation resonates positively. It could be like Burks or Steinbergs. It seems user friendly enough, as this means alot to me as a so called senior citizen attempting to stay abreast of computer technology.   Yikes !   Hard to believe when I write this or even say it to myself. Learning something new always stimulated me and still does as a life-long learner. Being self-taught, being a self-directed learner, google has become my tool of choice, my professor, but only within certain limits. I suppose these same limits could be applied, or should have been applied, to many of my High School teachers of half a century ago. 

         Why the title name "The Arvida Sanctuary" some may ponder.  Well, speaking of Google, here below is the definition of the word : Arvida was, and became, the oasis and haven for numerous individuals in its 90 year history, as well as being a natural park and reserve with exceptional green spaces and beautiful gardens, landscapes and vistas. Of course, Arvida would never have existed if not for the majestic waters of the Saguenay River Fjord. Hence both interpretations of the noun Sanctuary amply apply to Arvida. 

1. 1.

   a place of refuge or safety.

   
   

   "people automatically sought a sanctuary in time of trouble"

   
   

   synonyms:

   refuge, haven, harbor, port in a storm, oasis, shelter, retreat, hideaway,hideout More

2. 2.

   a nature reserve.

   
   

   "a bird sanctuary"

   
   

   synonyms:

   reserve, park, reservation, preserve "a bird sanctuary"

         Although I am a first time blogger, I am not a first time writer , as I always loved to write and have been told that I am actually quite good at it, having written my own personal journals, as well as having written articles for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and genealogy/history websites in the past. I do believe that putting thoughts and memories into words to be preserved forever 'in the cloud' ( wherever that might be ) becomes more and more important as we all age and tend to forget to various degrees. Journals become very important historical documents down the road, always rare yet cherished, by interested parties. I discovered for instance that the life story of such an important and accomplished gentleman such as  Arthur Vining Davis has unfortunately never been written. He never did have children and so an author from that venue was not possible. Much of what he thought and lived went to his grave with him. When I simply think about this fact, it is enough to motivate me to write. To write about everything ARVIDA is even more motivating , especially since I am now a full-fledged member of a team working to have Arvida become recognized By UNESCO as a world heritage site.  My little home on Radin Road has now become a national historically classified ( by Parks Canada ) site ...something I am immensely proud of, and something I wish to properly document and preserve for the world. 

         I thank those so inclined for their feedback, which I consider most important in our virtual world. However, it has become easier and faster to do this , so please choose your words as carefully as possible, as I have become quite skillful at reading "in between the lines."  Hence, I have clicked to allow reader comments.

      I will attempt to keep this blog somewhat bilingual, as I believe that learning both official languages at a very early age in Arvida was one of the greatest gifts from Arthur Vining Davis, the founder of Arvida. It served me well throughout my whole life and especially in 2016 as I still reside in La Belle Province. 

 In the cold of this 2016 January day, ( who can remember the cold winters of Arvida )  I will attempt to warm your hearts with this photo taken in the 1950s of a crowded, saturated, sunny, summer Shipshaw Beach. Les voitures a perte de vue !  Summers seemed so short and winters so long and cold in those days.

       Yes , Shipshaw was a Sanctuary too !  It was not only the pilgrimage place of choice for sun bathers on a hot summer day in Arvida, ( remember, there was no air conditioning in those original Alcan Arvida homes )  but is was also the chosen pilgrimage site for thousands and thousands of visitors from near and afar who came to visit the largest hydro-electric power dam installation in the world in these years. Of this, I am sure because my talented father, Ford William Loucks was responsible for all these visitors and high profile VIP dignitaries from other countries. There were so many visitor requests that he created the first ever special group of Shipshaw tour guides, including the likes of  Patsy Sloan, Arlette Brassard and yes, his daughter Trudy.  

         By the way, he was also a great writer, giving proof to the idiom that "the apple does not fall far from the tree." Yes, kids are often like their parents ....a chip off the old block .....like father,like son. Thanks Dad. You were a great Arvidian and an even greater Father.

             In the photo below, Ford is explaining the intricacies and specifications of the massive Shipshaw powerhouse to Mr. Sigmund Kjos, Undersecretary of State, Oslo, Norway, Mr. Jean Michelet, Managing Director A.S.V.,  all under the watchful eye of Dana T. Bartholomew, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial officer of Alcan Aluminum Ltd. on their visit to Shipshaw on September 27, 1967. Mr. Bartholomew was positively predicting a 7% growth rate for Alcan in the late sixties. ( note the simple paper flip charts in those days )  P.S. I remember well some Norwegian families ( eg. Lund )  living in Arvida in those days ...part of the multi-cultural international aura of the town in my youth. 

                                                                                                                                           PHOTO :  COLLECTION Terrence Michael Loucks

         In June, 2015, I walked in my father's footsteps, during a very special and rare tour of Shipshaw organized for Arvida Ambassadors, and stood before this very same display that he had proudly used on a daily basis half a century ago. It was a very emotional moment for me, especially since these areas are all now sadly closed to the public and off limits to tourism by RioTinto.

Below : On this visit to Shipshaw on August 26, 1967, Ford Loucks shows the generator room to the Minister of Industry for Spain, Excmo Sr. Don Gregario Lopez-Bravo, Mr. D.A. Corbett-Thompson, Vice-President and General Manager of Aliberico, with the Chief Public Relations Officer for Alcan Aluminum Limited standing by , Mr Duncan C. Campbell. He would later pen Global Mission - The Story of Alcan ( 3 volumes) in 1985, copies that had been signed for Ed Lank and graciously bequeathed to me by his wife Elma Lank in 2015.

In this group shot , Ford is standing dead centre among a group of 21 members of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce visiting the Shipshaw installations on September 17, 1968. From this special vantage point commanding a fine view, a Belvedere type look-out spot, my father knew that this was the ideal position to bring guests so that they could fully appreciate the immense and sumptuous panorama, showing nature at its best for as far as the eye can see, including a clear glimpse of the Saguenay Inn , the Arvida townsite and part of the Saguenay valley in the distance. 

                                                                  photo : Collection Terrence Michael Loucks

          In this next photo below, my father Ford W.Loucks, standing foreground left, is over-seeing the Shipshaw guest book signatures of the following VIP visitors, back-dropped by the renowned Swiss André Bieler mural in the powerhouse lobby :  Monsieur & Madame Pierre de Menthon, Consul-Général de France au Québec, Monsieur Antoine Cano, Consul Honoraire de France au Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Monsieur Labadie, Attaché Commercial.   ARVIDA , QUE.  May 29, 1968.

                                                                                  PHOTO :  COLLECTION Terrence Michael Loucks

N.B.    this area still exists but Rio Tinto has unfortunately permanently closed this area to tourists and other visitors. Luckily and with very special permission, I managed to visit and have a guided tour , under strict security protocol, with a small group from the Arvida Ambassador Club in 2015.  Thank you / Merci  Rio Tinto - Alcan Communications for this very special, heart-warming visit down memory lane. I often visited this area and my father's office close by as a small boy living in Arvida. 

                                                                                                                  photo :  Arvida - Shipshaw - circa 1960s

........"ça se passait d'même dans le bon vieux temps." (unknown)

a very popular spot and busy day in Arvida ( especially for those citizens who did not have a cottage on Lac Clair, Lake Kenogami, or on Lake St.John ) The Loucks family cottage was at the Isle Maligne Beach Club at St-Henri-de-Taillon .

Blogger comment on loudspeaker : "Would the owner of the red Chevrolet Belair - License plate numbers  715-971 , Please move your car as soon as possible. You are poorly parked and are blocking traffic !" 

            It is amazing how just one photo brings back so many memories to people. Posting a photo has become my technique of choice as I go about my work as an Arvida Ambassador.  I now possess hundreds and will always include photos in my blogs.  A picture really is worth one thousand words.  I will attempt to obtain and record these words from the non-writers,  so I can preserve and share all these precious thoughts with those that are interested.

          Whew !  The first blog is done. it can only get better from here on in. My goal is to make this a weekly occurrence ....a weekly blog.  It reminds me of my first time on skates in a rink that dad had flooded for me behind our duplex at 828 Montgomery Street in Arvida. It only got better for me, but my hockey career all began here on this small rink.  Years from now, I will re-read this first ever blog and hopefully remember the feeling I had of accomplishing the feat from my warm office in my small hide-a-way in the Eastern Townships of Quebec on this cold wintry day, with my forever loyal furry friends Toby and Budski at my side.

             Heartfelt Thanks / Merci  for sharing my journey into the past and keeping the Arvida Saguenay Spirit shining strong into the future forever.

P.S. Grateful thanks to my sister Trudy and her Dutch Sculptor Husband Gustin for all their love and support while inspiring me to begin this next chapter in my life.

Stay Well ,

Terry 

      -30-