Joseph Aldric Marion (1864-1954)

Merchant, municipal official.

Born at St. Damien de Brandon, Quebec on 14 December 1864, son of Zoel Marion and Philomene Desilets. He came to Manitoba in April 1882 aboard a Red River stern wheeler and, after farming for a few years, he took a job as a bookkeeper with a brickmaking business with a Mr. Lamontagne, the oldest such works in the province. He was the company bookkeeper for seven years, later its manager. On the death of Mr. Lamontagne, Marion administered his estate and later purchased the business (1905). Marion ran the business with his father and, later, with his son Paul, a former alderman in St. Boniface.

He married Marie Couture, with whom he had three sons and four daughters.

Marion was associated with numerous educational and civic affair, being a member of the St. Boniface Council for seventeen years, Chairman of the Winnipeg and St. Boniface Harbor Commission, President of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, and President of the St. Boniface Board of Trade. He was an alderman of the City of St. Boniface from 1907 until 1922, active in the Union of Manitoba Municipalities and its president in 1919 and 1920. He was the senior of the past presidents who received honorary members' certificates at the Golden Jubilee celebration in November 1953. He was a founder of the Association d'Education des Canadiens Francais, a member of the executive of the Manitoba School Trustees Association since 1918 and twice its president and a member of the Advisory Board on Education since 1928. He was honorary president of the St. Boniface Progressive Conservative Association and the Chamber of Commerce and active in the Knights of Columbus, St. Boniface Native Sons and Cercle Ouvrier.

Honored by civic, provincial and ecclesiastical authorities for his community service, Marion was awarded the Medaille d'Or of the French Republic and a King George VI medal in 1939. He was created a knight of the Order of St. Gregory in 1947 by Pope Pius XII and the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) was conferred on him in 1951 by the University of Manitoba.

Marion died on 4 February 1954 at the age of 89 following a traffic accident.

Sources:

Western Municipal News, March 1954, page 69.

Profile revised: 28 August 2009

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