Wilfred "Frip" Lemieux

Wilfred "Frip" Lemieux was born in Capreol on March 14,1924. Wilfred later married Rose Mazzei and they had one daughter Rosemary. Wilfred "Frip" Lemieux as he was called, worked for the CNR and was also a volunteer firefighter for the Capreol Fire Department for over 25 years. Frip started on the Fire Department in the late 1950's. A few of Frip's good friends on the Department were Jack Clark, Donat Lepage, Luke Langis and Harvey Harrison.

In those days the Fire Department had no pagers and each volunteer had a "Fire Phone" in his house. Rosemary recalls that one day her dad worked all day at the CNR, came home for supper and was called back to the CNR to do stock pen duty at night. Frip got home late at night and finally got to bed only to be awakened by the "Fire Phone".

During one of his fire calls to a burning house in Norman, Frip, in his attempt to rescue someone from the house, got trapped inside and had to be rescued by his fellow firefighters. When Frip decided to retire shortly after this incident, the Capreol Firefighters Club threw a retirement party for Frip at the Capreol Fire Hall. They gave him a fire hydrant and a tackle box for his years of dedicated service to the department. Frip was very honoured and proud of what his firefighter friends had done for him and he remembered this gesture for the rest of his life.

Wilfred "Frip" Lemieux passed away on March 25, 1989 but his dedication to the citizens of the Town of Capreol will always be remembered.

Alex Nepitt ansports@sympatico.ca