HARVEY, Percy (Punch) Lifetimes - The Record, Kitchener, Ontario, 05 Apr 2007 by Valerie Hill, Record Staff ([email protected]) From humble beginnings, the youngest of nine children born in a Newfoundland village, Percy (Punch) Harvey made the best of every opportunity. A politician, naval lieutenant, company executive, financial guru, entrepreneur and Hespeler historian, Percy did it all with quiet determination. "He knew what he wanted to do, what he wanted to accomplish and went out and did it." said longtime friend Helen Hertel. She recalls the Harvey family moving to Hespeler from Newfoundland, when Percy was barely school age. She remembers his "shiny dark hair and huge brown eyes." A decade or so later, those smashing good looks would attract a certain tennis layer named Marjorie Craig who he later joked he had pursued because "he coveted her tennis racquet," said daughter Barb Harvey. The couple married July 27, 1946, and had two children, Robert Harvey, a medical doctor, and Barbara a long-time youth services worker in Toronto. "My dad's greatest love was my mother," said Barb, who returned to Hespeler three years ago to care for her ailing father. As a couple, Marjorie and Punch did everything together and made themselves indispensible members of their community and St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Percy, who received the nickname Punch after socking a kid for teasing him, graduated Grade 13 from Galt Collegiate and hoped for a career in carpentry. There was no work. In 1933 he was hired at Dominion Woollens mill as a cost estimator working his way up to accountant, then secretary treasurer until retirement in 1981, though his career had a few hiccups along the way. In 1942 he joined the navy and was stationed overseas until the end of the war. As a young lieutenant, he returned to the relative quiet of Hespeler and back to the woollen mill but when the company fell into near bankruptcy, Percy and a couple of business associates launched their own company, Hespeler Fabricators, which became a subsidiary of Silknit Ltd. Percy was never satisfied being just a businessman. He was a longtime member of the hospital board that originally built Cambridge Memorial Hospital and became a justice of the peace for the County of Waterloo then was appointed to the province. Percy was also involved in many volunteer organizations: president of the Naval Officers Association Kitchener branch, member of the legion and Probus club, president of Hespeler Kinsmen and Rotary. He served as a town councillor, in 1963 became the town's mayor and was the last deputy reeve of Hespeler. After amalgamation of Cambridge's three communities, Percy served on Cambridge city council. Hertel explained her friend "fully participated in whatever was going on. He was well known in the community." Somehow, despite all these activities, Percy found time to be an involved dad, to purchase an island on Puslinch Lake and build a cottage. "He loved the lake," said Barb, remembering her dad always puttering, always doing something to improve the place. "Building that cottage would be a high for him." Barb said that as a boss at the mill, her father had great respect from staff and was often the conciliator, able to bring peace when there was conflict. "He was so down to earth at the mill, they never had a strike," she said. "He was a whiz at finances. He knew his stuff backwards and forwards. He was very quick on his feet. "It was the same at the church. He was treasurer for 32 years. He loved the accounting part of it." But Percy was also a people person and loved the personal contact he had with his job, political positions and volunteer activities. "He never did anything mean to anyone," she said, remembering how her father rejected gossip and wouldn't allow his children to speak ill of anyone. "He was a loving, caring father and you knew you had him behind you, 100 per cent." she said. Percy Harvey was predeceased by his wife Marjorie in 2001 and leaves behind daughter Barb, son Bob and two grandchildren. _________________________________________________________________ RealLiveMoms: Share your experience with Real Live Moms just like you http://www.reallivemoms.ca/