Serving the Glebe community since 1973 ISSN 0702-7796 Vol. 47 No. 10 Issue no. 519 FREE December 6, 2019
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PHOTOS: GABRIELLE DALLAPORTA
MEET THE MAYOR OF PLYMOUTH STREET Ray Lalonde, the “mayor of Plymouth Street”
By Sue Stefko
If there are two themes that run through the life of Ray Lalonde, they would be the dairy industry and the Glebe Annex. His first foray into the dairy industry was milking cows on a dairy farm in the early 1940s. As the oldest in a family of 11 children, he left home at the tender age of 14 to support himself and to ease the burden on his parents. His first job was on Mr. Spratt’s dairy farm. It came with the added benefit
of shortening his daily walk to school from seven miles to four. That first job paid $45 a month, including room and board. It was enough to get by and to allow him to send some of his salary back home to help his parents care for his siblings. After high school, Lalonde wanted to come to the city for a change of pace. Clark Dairy, located at 634 Bronson, seemed to fit the bill. Quite determined that this is where he was meant to be, Lalonde went in, asked for a job and was hired on the spot.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS Dec. 5............................. Students of Jaya Krishnan art exhibition, GCC, until Jan. 12 Dec. 7............................. Snowflake Special, GCC, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 8............................. Fall Choral Workshop Family Christmas Concert, Southminster, 2:30 p.m. Dec. 9............................. Musica Viva Singers concert, Centretown United, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13-15...................... Ottawa Potters’ Guild show, Horticultural Building, Lansdowne Dec. 14........................... Stairwell Carollers Christmas Concert, Southminster, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14........................... A Child’s Christmas in Wales, St. Matthew’s, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17........................... Tom Jackson’s Huron Carole, Carleton Dominon-Chalmers, 7 p.m. Dec. 18........................... Public Consultation: Bank St. Transportation, The Firehall, 7 p.m. Dec. 19........................... Capital Ward Holiday Party, Banditos, 5 p.m. Jan. 3.............................. New Year Celebration, Abbotsford House, 1:30 p.m. Jan. 7.............................. Glebe Annex Community Association meeting Jan. 12............................ Art Lending Ottawa show, GCC, until Feb. 9 Jan. 13............................ Costa Rica talk, The Firehall, 7 p.m.
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He worked there for the next 44 years, doing everything from office work to shipping. In fact, even now, many years after he retired, his extensive old-fashioned milk bottle collection attests to his continuing fascination with the industry. While Clark Dairy may have first been the first thing to draw Lalonde to the Glebe Annex, it was not the last. At a dance, he met a beautiful young lady named Marion who lived right around the corner from Clark Dairy on Plymouth Street. It seemed that fate
was pushing him to the Glebe Annex. Lalonde married that beautiful lady in 1947 and shortly thereafter moved to an apartment on Lebreton Street. That move was short-lived, however, as the building was expropriated and demolished to make way for Natural Resource Canada’s Booth Street complex. In 1952, the couple heard about a home that was going on the market right across from Marion’s parents on Plymouth Street. He talked to the Continued on page 2
WHAT’S INSIDE
Talking trash..........................................Page 14,15
Rethink off-leash designations?.........Page 6
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