He might not have wanted it, but Percy Johns has been recognized again with a plaque at what was until last year his namesake park in Sudbury’s Flour Mill neighbourhood.
“My dad would never have been able to accept this,” his daughter, Mary Elle McIlmoyle, told Sudbury.com of the recognition. “He was always the guy in the background helping to push people up.
“He was a humble man, small in stature — he was only five-foot — but he was larger than life.”
The plaque was unveiled during a ceremony at Claude Charbonneau Park on Wednesday.
Until last year, the park was named after Johns, but a community effort last year had it renamed after Charbonneau, a longtime volunteer whom the Johns family says has continued their father’s legacy.
“Claude goes out and makes sure the community is well taken care of, so my dad would be very proud of us to be able to pass that baton to someone else,” McIlmoyle said.
Johns inherited the land from his father, Harry, who owned a large portion of the Flour Mill area, from Junction Creek to Leslie Street and from Bond Street to the railway tracks.
As executor of his father’s will, Johns donated the land, on which Claude Charbonneau Park is now located, to what was then the City of Sudbury.
The park was named in Johns’ honour from 1956 to 2022.
With the plaque highlighting Johns’ contribution to the neighbourhood, public recognition of its history has been retained.
“It’s a fascinating history of someone coming here, really establishing themselves, raising a family, buying land and giving back the land to the city ... and this land continues to give back,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre said at Wednesday’s dedication.
“Even though he may not have wanted to be shined upon, now he is,” McIlmoyle said, clarifying that the family he left behind appreciates the effort.
Johns died in 1994.
In addition to his land contribution and dedication to community efforts, including those at his namesake park, Johns is remembered for owning Snow White Bakery at 336 Queen St.
He fought in the Second World War, during which he landed on the shores of Normandy. After the war, he married Mary Colleen Mulvihill in 1949, and joined her in raising six children who all played, skated and enjoyed carnivals at what is now Claude Charbonneau Park, according to the plaque.
The land on which the park is now located was purchased by his father in 1914, and was called the Johns Subdivision, McIlmoyle told Wednesday’s crowd.
Harry sold and rented land to farmers before subdividing it into residential lots for $5 to $10 apiece, with a better price offered to people able to pay in cash.
On July 17, 1919, the area’s first airplane, a Curtiss model, landed on one of Johns’ Sudbury fields.
McIlmoyle relocated to Toronto in 1982, and said every time she comes back to Sudbury she sees progress being made in the Flour Mill, thanks in large part to people like Charbonneau volunteering their time to run community events and activities.
Although it’s “one small little park,” McIlmoyle said it’s “creating so much more.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
