Leo and Harriett (Bray) Lapointe - April 1907OTTAWA JOURNAL
Feb 23, 1923
The funeral of Mrs. Hattie Lapointe, wife of Mr. Joseph Leo Lapointe, Billings' Bridge, who died Wednesday at a local hospital, took place this afternoon from the residence of her aunt, Mrs. J. W. Jamieson, 108 Hopewell Avenue, to Beechwood Cemetery. Rev. J.H. Strike, pastor of Ottawa South Methodist Church, conducted the funeral service.
Mrs. Lapointe was born in Muskoka 44 years ago. She was formerly a resident of Montreal but had lived at Billings' Bridge for the last year. Though of a quiet and retiring nature she made a large number of friends who were grieved to hear of her untimely death.
Besides her husband, left to mourn her are her two sons, Malcolm and Milton Lapointe, both of Billings' Bridge. Two sisters, Mrs. Edward Bush, Uno Park, Ont., Mrs. S. Spiers, Muskoka, and one brother, Mr. George Bray, Uno Park, Ont. also survive her.
The large attendance at the funeral and the many beautiful floral tributes received by the bereaved family showed the esteem in which the late Mrs. Lapointe was held by all who knew her.
THE BAKERY SCAM
By C.M. "Mac" Lapointe
My father, Leo Lapointe, was imbued with one all-consuming desire - to have a "little business". He had not the slightest wisp of a wish to own railroads, lumber or pulp mills, mines, merchant stores manned by managers and clerks, or to be Prime Minister. What he did want, with every brain cell and fibre of his being, was this ideal where he (and in due time, his son) could serve customers' needs with quality at modest prices in reasonable and friendly dealing. However it came to him, this craving never diminished.
North Bay is located on Lake Nipissing 340 km northwest of Ottawa, roughly along an old water route from the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers to the French River and Georgian Bay. In 1882 the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived; rails to Toronto 360 km to the south were built in 1886, and in 1904 the Ontario government built the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway to the Little Clay Belt. My great-uncle George McGillis moved to North Bay to give, at this transfer point to the stopover travelling gentleman, the best shave and haircut in the Ottawa Valley - with a Methodist homily thrown in at no extra charge.
Among the enterprises competing in North Bay's growing business arena was Belanger's bread bakery, with three or four drivers of horse-drawn delivery rigs and routes. Fire, that plague of life in those times, damaged his shop. The business community, in sympathy at his misfortune, organized a campaign to sell blocks of his bread tickets to help him get going again. But Belanger was discouraged with the struggle in North Bay and decided to return to Montreal where his brother was Chief of Police.
So here was a bakery for sale and Leo Lapointe, son of Odilon Audet dit Lapointe, boulanger (baker) of St. Jean d'Orleans, Quebec, quickly seized this opportunity. My great-aunt, #2B Tillie (Spiers) McGillis, raised money from the bank to help him and her valued niece, #231 Hattie (Bray) Lapointe. Leo, and his wife Hattie, carefully checked the books of the Belanger Bakery and the sale of bread tickets showed a number of customers which would ensure the viability of the business. The deal was made. Mr. Belanger departed with his cash price and Leo baked bread as good as any in Canada. The delivery rigs took it along their routes and exchanged it for bread tickets. But these tickets had been paid for - there was no cash flow. Worst of all, when their last ticket was used, most customers went back to buying their bread from the biggest bakery in town.
I wish I could remember the name of this capitalist. He sold Leo flour, yeast, salt and other essential supplies at the same price he paid for them - the discount for bulk buying. But no amount of generosity or hard work could make up for the situation. Aunt Tillie sent Leo to consult her lawyer, naturally the sharpest one in town. He reviewed the facts and told Leo the only chance of escape from their disaster was to do what in later years would be called "a flit". No notice, no arrangements, Leo and Hattie left the bakery, the drivers and creditors with the debris. With me in tow, they took the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway to Earlton.
An ice-cream parlour there did not provide a profitable living so again we moved - to a log cabin on the 'Van Meer place' near Thornloe. Leo once again became a cook for lumber and work camps where he could always be sure of well paid employment.
