More than a century of North Bay and area history intersected this past weekend during the 100th birthday party for Bill Parfitt, a local Second World War veteran and long-time farmer.
West Ferris Legion Br. 599 hosted the celebration on Saturday, attracting federal, provincial, and municipal officials, as well as family (including Sheila, his wife of 77 years), old friends, and his fellow legion members.
It was a timely event with North Bay focused on its Centennial in 2025. However, the city’s 100th birthday wasn’t on the minds of those gathered to salute Parfitt’s contribution to defeating Nazi Germany. However, many people in attendance had family stories and roots linked to North Bay’s development and growth.
Nipissing-Temiskaming MP Anthony Rota, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, and North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico, for example, all came from families that immigrated here after the Great Wars. And accompanying Fedeli was Bill Ferguson, a descendant of John Ferguson, respectively considered North Bay’s Founding Father who arrived in 1882 on the Lucy Dalton, the CPR’s first steam locomotive to reach the east end of Lake Nipissing.
Also in attendance was North Bay Coun. Mark King, son of the late Don King, a Second World War veteran who was the Reeve of Widdifield Township, with Parfitt one of his constituents on Four Mile Lake Road.
The location for Parfitt’s celebration was the perfect place for looking back in time, with Br. 599 developed around the former Nipissing Junction school initially built nine decades ago – long before West Ferris and Widdifield amalgamated with North Bay in 1968.
The Legion sits at a pivotal spot in North Bay’s history. For most of the 1880s, the Grand Trunk Railway served Lake Nipissing through Callander and the Junction was a going concern, complete with a rail station. The decision to run the Canadian Pacific Railway east-west route through North Bay altered the Junction’s development timeline significantly.
Those who had settled in the area and established homestead farms were eventually included in West Ferris Township, which built the Junction school in 1934 – coincidently the same year the Dionne Quintuplets put the area on the international map.
Parfitt, who credits good luck for both his longevity, family, and farming legacy, was a tail gunner who flew more than 20 bombing missions over Europe. He was honoured recently during the 22 Wing Band’s annual performance at the Capitol Centre, with the 2024 event celebrating the RCAF’s 100th anniversary and North Bay’s role in national defence.
His father was a veteran of the First World War and was the bush foreman in charge of clearing the land for the North Bay Airport, which saw the first terminal built in 1938. His farmland was acquired as part of his veteran’s benefits, according to the City of North Bay website section describing its official heritage sites.
“The Parfitt family acquired the farm as part of the Soldier Settlement Act following the First World War, the goal of which was to re-introduce veterans to everyday life and help them get back on their feet after the war. As a result, Christopher Parfitt received the farm in 1919 after the Soldier Settlement Board revised their mandate to state that “idle” land on native reserves could be acquired for soldier resettlement.”
Parfitt’s strong convictions and spirit were on full display on his birthday as he used the opportunity to preach the importance of democracy and inclusiveness.
“There’s only one place in the world where they have a very good sense when it comes to democracy, and that’s Australia,” the Centurion said, noting they fine citizens if they don’t exercise their democratic right to vote in elections. “That’s what we need to do here, that’s what the Americans need to do … 20,000 of my chums got shot out of the sky and how many other people got shot and killed in Europe over the years for the sake of democracy, so we got to smarten up right across the world.”
“We got to educate them,” he said, noting that school curriculums should focus more on the importance of democracy and how to keep groups and individuals from taking power.
“We got to stop having religions where they kill one another … if you’re going to be a free person – man or woman – you have a right to your own opinion, and that’s what you have to teach in school.
“Something’s wrong, we got to smarten up before we do kill ourselves off, with guys like Putin of course who doesn’t know any better,” he said, adding that he sent a registered letter to the Russian leader after they invaded Ukraine, suggesting that the president retire to his cottage and live a life of peace.
Fedeli announced, on behalf of the province, that Parfitt will be a recipient of the King Charles Coronation Medal in the coming months.
In perfect Bill Parfitt form, he said: “Whatever turns you on.”