"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.
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| 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.
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| 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
Various methods of modern day communications are providing most interesting feeds and results for my own personal work of recording precious Arvida history. For example, I wrote a 2 page article for the newsletter EMERITUS, ( formerly Alcan , then Rio Tinto Alcan , which Editor Eleanor Hynes was kind enough to include for aluminum people in retirement around the world. ( Dec. 2015 readership 1700 ) I thought it would be interesting to share some of this fast feedback here. ( some email, some phone call, some snail mail ) All fascinating, touching, precious, enlightening, interesting, historical ! I take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those who took the time to read and write and recollect and forward to me ....I am most grateful and appreciate the sharing and the interest. Some of these individuals are authors in their own right. All this feedback has certainly kept me very busy .....and very motivated.
I was over-joyed to receive the following emails from the likes of Bruce & Judy McLellan, Francis Corbett, Steve Connolly, Mike Carson, Barbara Gilbert-Covington, Catherine Anderson, Trudy Loucks-Keser, and others. I also recently reconnected with Arlene Southam ( the Flaman Heights neighbourhood of Arvida ) and was invited to join the closed FB group "Memoires of Bill Southam." Last but not least, I have had the pleasure to reconnect with Peter Lockwood, a Saguenay Valley High School classmate, who lived an exciting and memorable life with DND, after being inspired and guided into chemistry in grade 7 by our teacher, Mr. Frank Bartle. Thank you credits go to the Lockwood family for this original Arvida artifact :
I received a touching email from Bruce & Judy McLellan Spain who asked me to deliver a personal Christmas letter to his friend Walter Wong ( age 102 ), now living in Kingston, which I personally managed to pull off while travelling to Toronto. Kingston has become my new "L'Étape" , as I travel down the Highway of Heroes to visit my sister in Richmond Hill.
Good (Spanish) Morning Walter,
This note is being passed to you through the courtesy of Terry Loucks. It is prompted by seeing the picture of you and Terry in the current issue of Emeritus.
Congratulations on the achievement of 100 years. That has, in recent years, become a realistic goal for many of our contemporaries.
Our encounters, professional and personal extended of many years and yes indeed, continents. A very strong recollection comes from England when I was stationed at Lynemouth, and you visited as a Specialist Consultant. You and Pauline joined us in our home in Alnmouth, where Judy had invited you two and many other friends to celebrate my 45th . Perhaps you will remember our home, from the upstairs salon we had sweeping views of the North Sea.
When you visited us, we had arrived in the UK, four months previously after completing four years of assignments in Australia and Guyana. After our five years in UK, we went on to Spain for four years, Mexico for one year and then back to Montreal for four more with retirement in 1985. While I worked in Madrid (2yrs) and Galicia (2yrs) we purchased a small apartment on the Mediterranean beach, at Alicante. This was an acceptable weekend commute from Madrid.
On retirement, as our homes in Victoria and the UK were both being rented, we decided to go to our Pad on the Med to take time to decide where we wanted to settle. It didn’t take long to decide it was Spain. We sold our other two homes and have been here for 30 years since (with lots of travel.
Although I can’t recall specific instances, I’m sure our paths happily crossed during our 4 Montreal years.
If you have a friend, close by, who has internet access, perhaps he could send me a note, I could get his address, and we could be in closer contact. My address is mclellan_00@yahoo.com . Show this to a friend and he’ll know what to do. Particularly, we have a picture of you and Pauline in our UK home and when I come across it I’d like to send it to you.
With thanks for fond memories and Best Wishes,
Bruce & Judy McLellan, Alicante Spain, December 19 2015
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I received an email from Francis Corbett who spent close to 20 years in the Saguenay Power department of the region, offering to share stories and photos. His name rang a bell in my mind, as I recollected his name from my youthful memories of Alcan business chat around the dinner table. My memory served me right as he knew and remembered my father Ford very well, having worked together at Shipshaw under Russ Fee and Frank Duffy.
On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 3:31 PM, Steve & Carolyn <stevec@picanoc.ca> wrote:
Greetings, Terry …
Please refer to the attachment for some of my past. Ourfamily had lived in Arvida from 1943 to 1947. We had also livedon Radin road … next to the gully. I wish I knew the civic number.The Tremblay family had lived next door (Sybil, etc.). Mybrother, Mike, was born there in 1945. Perhaps we had allplayed in the sandbox together. I recall when Sybil had got hertongue stuck on the fire hydrant on a cold winter day and thefiremen had had to warm it off.I enjoyed your write-up in Emeritus.I believe that you will really enjoy my new book as per the attachment. Lots in it re Arvida and you will recognize many people. My father, Jack Connolly, played poker and enjoyed whisky-embellished song with Jud Nichols, Dutch Turney and Dr. Jim Horwood. They had been called the “Radin Rodents.”
My book is full of a wide variety of interesting stories. Dozens of them, entwined with lots of history. Dick Evans, former CEO Alcan, has written a great Preface.The book went to press in the UK last week and I hope to have a load of books by the end of January. You may contact me then if you are interested for a book (and perhaps 50 more for your museum, smile). Unfortunately, come to think of it, the book is only in english, British grammar in fact, so the francophones who lived the experience may not be able to enjoy it.If you and I met, we wouldn’t have enough time in a week to talk about what we have/know in common. The Tanner family were/are close friends. Nancy married one of my best friends.Some of the Gilbert family stories are in the book. Barbara gave me some good input. My birth doctor in Mackenzie, B.G., had been Dr. Douglas Jardine, of a family lineage well known there. The Gilberts had arranged my parent’s wedding in Georgetown in 1941 and Barbara had been the flower girl. Several of the attendees had been officers off the Lady Hawkins ship … who died four months later when the ship had been torpedoed. The ship, with my mother on it coming to marry my father, had arrived the day prior to the wedding. Full story in my book.
========================================================I will stop here and wish you and your family good health and a …MERRY CHRISTMAS!Steve Connolly
|  12/26/15 | | ||
Hi Terry
…read your article a while ago but then another came through … had to at least answer … having spent 40 years in the Saguenay …still remember a curling bonspiel in Shawinigan with your Dad and you.
You might have seen the name of a certain Mike Carson in the Emeritus …well , c’est moi …
Great article and great work …. Just finished reading my new Xmas gift – Arvida- Archibald …. He could have done better !!! I just sent him a FB request and offered my services for Arvida II …
You probably read my note about Alva Chiasson and family ( here is a refresher)… forgot to mention all the beers at the Loucks’ place and looking squirrel-eyed ( or whatever..) at your sister …Didn’t work out … but your mother really liked me !!!! ( you can forward to Trudy, if you want … ..)
Keep in touch, I play golf regularly with old Alcan guys (1-2 a week) …. You could come and play/stay at my place …
Now live in Vaudreuil-Dorion ( since 7.5 years)
3556 Paul-Sauvé, J7V 8P5
PS: have attached a few of my Xmas articles ( for our family Newspaper) to try and get you up to par … for your slow times … Now , you might be even ahead of me !!!
Mike Carson
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Hi Terry
I recently received my copy of Emeritus and want to congratulate you on your article on Arvida. I am sure everyone that ever lived in Arvida will enjoy it. Bravo!
All the best for the holiday season and good health in the New Year.
I recently received my copy of Emeritus and want to congratulate you on your article on Arvida. I am sure everyone that ever lived in Arvida will enjoy it. Bravo!
All the best for the holiday season and good health in the New Year.
Barbara ( Barbara Covington néé Gilbert )
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| Hi Terry- | ||||
Just got my copy of Emeritus this past week, and was delighted to hear of your appointment as Arvida Ambassador. This all seems rather astonishing, but then again, there was something very special about that place, the people who were there, and the way things evolved. I think Alcan was somewhat of a beacon for the development of bi-cultural relations, not only in Quebec, but also in other parts of the world. I saw a pollin the last year or so that said the people of the Saguenay are the happiest in the world ( or maybe it was the country?).
Also noticed that you made it into Archibald's book "Arvida". He must be one of the professors involved in the project. You should consider returning there and running sometime; too bad it wasn't this election. It might have been you instead of Melany Joly pursuing our national heritage.
Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2016 and your new project!
Catherine Anderson
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I answered a heart-warming phone call on a cold January morning from Aimé Gagné ( 97 ) ex- Alcan VP Public Relations, who had arrived in Arvida in 1943 from Shawinigan under the wing of Mister Claude Beaudoin to begin a prominent career in community and public relations. He generously offered to share his astute memories of Arvida with me, and complimented me on my bilingualism, mentioning that this was in part due to the open-mindedness of my father.
I managed to visit him personally in Montreal and recorded a wealth of historical information. I am invited to return and I will most certainly accept. Being in the presence of such a wise and alert man is such an enriching experience. Mister Gagné is one of a few "Order of Canada " recipients who lived in Arvida.
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On a personal note , I did a quick teacher's quiz on the Internet recently. I sometimes am flabbergasted by the accuracy of the results. Below, is what appeared in the test result box for me :
"You were born in the 40's! ( Precisely, I was born in 1948 )
While the world continued fighting the second biggest war the earth has ever seen, a small miracle occurred: YOU were born !! ( ok , I can handle that . My parents were married in 1942 and I was the first born 6 years later )
You grew up into a world in conflict, and that had a big impact on your life. You've learned that in order to accomplish anything in life, you must work hard, and help others along the way. Nothing comes easily in life, but that doesn't mean you gave up on your dreams. You are the definition of the term "Dedication", and you are a living proof that a person can accomplish anything they want, IF they have the willpower to make it happen.
Now, you have a beautiful family, great memories, and a lot to look forward to, these are YOUR years! "
While the world continued fighting the second biggest war the earth has ever seen, a small miracle occurred: YOU were born !! ( ok , I can handle that . My parents were married in 1942 and I was the first born 6 years later )
You grew up into a world in conflict, and that had a big impact on your life. You've learned that in order to accomplish anything in life, you must work hard, and help others along the way. Nothing comes easily in life, but that doesn't mean you gave up on your dreams. You are the definition of the term "Dedication", and you are a living proof that a person can accomplish anything they want, IF they have the willpower to make it happen.
Now, you have a beautiful family, great memories, and a lot to look forward to, these are YOUR years! "
"Vis comme si tu devais mourir demain. Apprends comme si tu devais vivre toujours."...." La vie est un mystère qu'il faut vivre, et non un problème à résoudre". Gandhi
P.P. a few links
P.P.S. attached is an interesting site to consult for planning your future vacations. Our Saguenay makes the list in the number 13 spot of the 20 best places to visit in Canada.
Vacay.ca Writer Jennifer Merrick writes: “The Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean region in Quebec is known for its glacially sculpted landscape of rocky cliffs, forests, and waterways, most notably Saint-Jean Lake and the Saguenay Fjord. This deep glacial river is the southernmost navigable fjord in North America and one of the largest in the world, stretching 100 kilometres (66 miles) from Saint-Fulgence to Tadoussac at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. The drive on Highway 175 North from Quebec City is about two-and-a-half hours, but it takes less than 15 minutes before the city disappears, replaced by thickly forested rolling hills. With light traffic and beautiful views, the time goes by quickly, and before long, we’re looking up at a wooden cabin perched high among the evergreen boughs. Before we even have the chance to point out the sturdy cables or the outhouse, our kids are clamouring up the two flights of stairs to take a look from the treehouse where they will be spending the night.”
Here is a link to a worthy fund raising item from the Sir William Price Museum ....a calendar with old Arvida pictures in 12 events ...for only 10 dollars. I ordered one ...using this method, and it arrived in beautiful condition thanks to Joelle Hardy - the DG of the museum. I love my historical calendar and I supported an important cause.
In this edition, you will find twelve themes related to Arvida documented from historical research. Military presence during the second world war, the Slater ingot and the 1959 Royal visit are among the topics covered in images and words.
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/260885484/historical-calendar-arvida-in-12-events?ref=shop_home_active_1
Terry
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/260885484/historical-calendar-arvida-in-12-events?ref=shop_home_active_1
On this note, I will sign off for this second Blog, hoping that you have found it to be interesting and useful. There is so much more to write about and follow up on, so keep posted for my future blogs.
with Dedication ....and love for our Alcan Arvida family,
Terry
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