Story by Phil Egan
It’s an historic Sarnia treasure that was saved at the last minute from obscurity.
The inscription reads:
“Presented to W.J. Hanna
No.1 Hose Company
Sarnia”
Retired Sarnia firefighter Kyle McKelvie was doing some chores for an elderly family relation. She was Carla Perry, the widow of former Imperial Oil personnel manager, Don Perry. Don, in turn, was the son of former mayor of Sarnia, and celebrated local football legend, Norm Perry.
Mrs. Perry had asked Kyle to drop off a couple of bags to Goodwill and, at the last minute, said, “Oh, and you might as well take this cane too.” Kyle McKelvie read the inscription and realized that the “cane” was actually an important gentleman’s walking stick with historical ties to both Sarnia Fire Rescue as well as the city’s rich past.
W.J. Hanna was William John (aka Black Jack) Hanna, once president of Imperial Oil, and husband of the legendary Maud Hanna, one of the city’s most important benefactors and philanthropists. She is likely best known for the $10,000 she contributed to the city during the Depression which enabled the purchase of Canatara Park.
When Maud Christina MacAdams Hanna died in 1946 at age 76, her husband had been deceased since early 1919 (it has been suggested that he died of a broken heart following the death of his son, Neil, months earlier in the Great War)
The Hanna family home had been located on the east side of Brock Street, just north of what is now Central United Church. Both the house, and the church’s manse which stood just south of the Hanna home, are long gone. After Maud’s death, the house lay vacant for some time. It was eventually purchased by John Russell Mellon, Carla Perry’s father. Mr. Hanna’s walking stick was still in the Hanna home when purchased by Mr. Mellon.
When John Russell Mellon died, the Hanna walking stick was inherited by daughter Carla. Following her marriage to Don, the stick began a peripatetic journey across Canada, including a two-year stint in the desolate Norman Wells, 3,678 kilometers away in the Northwest Territories, as Imperial Oil transferred the family around the country.
“When Imperial Oil moved you,” Carla explained, “they packed up everything and it moved with you.”
And so, 105 years after W.J. Hanna’s death, his walking stick was handed by Kyle McKelvie to fellow retired firefighter Kevin McHarg, a member of the Sarnia Historical Society. Kevin, people may recall, was named to Mayor Mike Bradley’s Honours List a few years ago for his key role as principal researcher for the book, Walking Through Fire, a history of Sarnia Fire Rescue published in 2017.
There is no knowledge of any particular connection between hanna and the early Sarnia fire department. We don’t know why the walking stick was presented to Hanna. Perhaps one of our readers can shed some light on the subject.
In the meantime, we can only be grateful that Kyle McKelvie’s keen eye saved this piece of Sarnia’s history from obscurity/
Note: If you’d like some additional information about Hanna, please see Observer reporter Paul Morden’s story below:
William J. and Maud Hanna
by Paul Morden for the Sarnia Observer
(2014) William and Maud Hanna was a Sarnia power couple when the community celebrated becoming a city a century ago.
William Hanna was born in Adelaide Township in 1862 but moved with his family in 1871 to a farm in what was then Brooke Township in nearby Lambton County. After graduating from Sarnia Central Collegiate, Hanna taught for a few years and then studied law, opened a practice in Sarnia and became involved in Conservative politics.
He married Jean Gibson Neil in 1891 and their son William Neil Hanna was born in 1895. After Jean died, Hanna married Maude MacAdams, and they had two daughters.
In 1902, Hanna was elected to represent Lambton West in the Ontario Legislature and went on to join the cabinet when the Conservatives came to power.
He was a friend of Jacob Lewis Englehart, one of the founders of Imperial Oil, and became the company’s lawyer after it moved to Sarnia just before the turn of the century. Later, he became a director with the company. Hanna also served as a director with several other companies, including the Imperial Bank of Canada.
During his time in the legislature, and as a Conservative cabinet minister, Hanna played a role in changes to Ontario’s prison and asylum systems, and was also involved in improvements in public health services in the province.
When Sarnia celebrated its elevation from town to city on May 7, 1914, the guest of honour was the Governor General, the Duke of Connaught and third son of Queen Victoria. He was accompanied on the trip to Sarnia by his daughter Princess Patricia, and Maude Hanna was selected to play the role of hostess at a reception held in her honour.
After war broke out later that year, William Hanna served as one of Prime Minister Robert Borden’s advisers. A gifted orator, Hanna also aided war efforts by giving recruiting speeches around the province.
His son graduated from Sarnia Collegiate and went on to Victoria College at the University of Toronto, enlisting in the Canadian artillery in 1915 and serving in France where he was seriously wounded. After time at home recovering on leave, the young Hanna returned to the war but transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and served in France, and then Italy. Just a few days after the Armistice in 1918, the 23-year old lieutenant was killed in an accident and buried in Italy.
His father had become president of Imperial Oil earlier that year but was suffering from ill health, and William Neil’s death was devastating. Hanna travelled to Georgia that winter for the warmer weather and died there on March 20, 1919. He was buried in Sarnia’s Lakeview Cemetery.
Maude Hanna became a celebrated philanthropist in Sarnia in the years that followed, contributing half of the money the city needed to purchase the land for Canatara Park. She made other donations to the city, including land on Mitton Street for Hanna Park.
Shortly after her death in 1946, Hanna Memorial School opened in Sarnia, named in her honour.