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Tributes

Gatineau personalities and historical events

by Ernie Mahoney

Published 2010 by Gatineau Valley Historical Society.

Original document PDF Document 28 MB

Tributes - Table of Contents

Editorial Notes

In 1985, Ernie Mahoney joined the staff of The Low Down to Hull and Back News, a weekly newspaper based in Wakefield, Quebec and published by Art Mantell of Chelsea. His assignment was to produce a regular column on interesting residents of the Gatineau Valley, of which there has never been a shortage.

Ernie was no stranger to the Gatineau. He also had the capacity to gain the confidence of the subjects of his interviews and to record their stories discreetly and honestly.

After moving to The West-Quebec Post in 1987 as the Wakefield editor of this Buckingham-based paper, Ernie continued to write a similar column. It was entitled "West-Quebec Life" and was featured in selective issues of this weekly for a number of years.

Prior to the print technology available to us today, board paste-ups were often used in print production. This was the method used to print Ernie's early stories and the accompanying photos taken by him. Over twenty years later these boards were deemed to be of archival interest, and at a meeting of archives volunteers for the Gatineau Valley Historical Society (GVHS), Erik Rask volunteered to scan the boards and make them available on computer disk.

Following the scanning project, we spent many hours reading and editing the stories with a view to re-publishing the best of them. Also, we were aware that over the years Ernie had written no fewer than twelve articles for the annual journal of the GVHS, Up the Gatineau!, and several of these have been included in the collection.

In his articles Ernie often used the word "tribute." For this reason we have entitled the book "Tributes," applying it to Ernie himself, as well as to the many historic figures he profiled within its pages.

We dedicate this publication to Ernie Mahoney in recognition of his many contributions to the preservation of the rich history of the Gatineau Valley.

Sadly, Ernie, who was aware of our plans to publish this book, did not live to see his stories in print once more. He passed away on April 28, 2009.

Norma Geggie and Anita Rutledge

Tributes

Table of contents