B.E. Ellis and Paddy Riley around 1910. Fidele Arsenault repaired shoes in the rear of Philip Evans’ harness shop on the present site of the Credit Union.

Hany Turner and family L. Roland, Harry, Florence, Lorne.

About 1915, Philip sold his shop to Jack Burns. In turn he sold to Claude Clow who did some shoe repair in his harness shop.

In the 1930’s David Inglis, James MacLeod, Lawson MacDonald, and Harry Turner all did shoe repair and/or made shoes.

The most recent cobbler Percy Vey, born in London, England, came to Ontario with his family when eight years old. In 1943, he moved to O’Leary and opened "Percy Vey's Shoe Repair" on Ellis Avenue. Later he moved the shop to his lot directly behind the Baptist Church. He charged one dollar ($1.00) to sole a pair of shoes, twenty-five cents ($0.25) for a shine and ten cents ($0.10) to sharpen skates.

After twenty years in business, he took a full time job with H.B. Willis Inc., but continued to do shoe repair work in his spare time. In 1964 he returned to Ontario.

COOPER SHOP

James Adams was O'Leary’s only cooper. Around the turn of the century he carried on his trade of making barrels in a small building behind Pate’s store (the original store). In those days when barrels were much in demand for pickling fish and meat and for shipping

37