William-percy Donahue (1897-1981): Sherbrooke Police and Fire Chief
In 1988-1989, the City of Sherbrooke built a new No 1 fire station on Terrill Street. It was and still is the nerve center of the Fire Department. The fire station replaced the one that had stood on Marquette Street from 1925 to 1989 and had been demolished to allow for the building of the Éva-senécal Library in 1990. In 1992, the City of Sherbrooke gave names to all the fire stations. The main one was named after William Percy Donahue because of the important part he played with the police and firefighters forces.
William Percy Donahue was born in Sherbrooke on June 24 1897. He was the son of Aurélie Rousseau (1866-1935), from Saint-apollinaire, and of William Donahue (1864-1928), a Sherbrooke policeman and firefighter. They had been married in 1886 in Saint-michel Cathedral. It was William’s father Thomas, of Irish descent, who had settled in Orford Township and then in Sherbrooke before his marriage in 1865. On December 24, 1912, Percy Donahue went along with the firemen fighting a fire, which is how he became “hooked” on becoming a firefighter. But he had started by learning the trade of an electrician and at the same time doing odd jobs for the firemen. In 1917, he joined the Police and Fire Department as a policeman and firefighter. From 1919 to 1921, he also worked as an electrician for the Donahue Electric family business. In 1920 he married Yvonne Roy (1901-1987) in Sherbrooke. They had 16 children: Gérard (1921-?), Violette, Yvette (1923-2008), Thérèse (1924-2015), Madeleine (1926-2018), Rolande (1927-1990), Jeannine, Liliane, Fernand (1931-2012), Claude (19321989), Georges (1934-1987), Pierre (1935-2020), Marcel, Denise (1938-2012), Jacqueline, and Michel. From 1921 to 1927, Percy was the first motorcycle policeman in Sherbrooke. In 1930, he was promoted Lieutenant and became Chief of fire station No 3, at the corner of King Ouest and des Grandes-fourches streets, where a SAQ store now stands. He then moved in with his family on the second floor. He was promoted Captain in 1938 and a year later, interim Chief of the Department, taking over from Arthur A. Maranda. From 1942 to 1944, he was the last Chief of Police and Fire Department because they were then subdivided into separate departments: police and fire protection. With this reorganization, Percy became the first Fire Chief, a position he filled until he retired in 1967. He was succeeded by Charles Audet. In recognition of his professional competence, Percy was asked to become the President of the Quebec Fire Chiefs Association in 19451946. He also was the prime mover for organizing the 1962 Fire Chiefs
Association of Canada Congress in Sherbrooke. He was elected President of the Association in 1967. He was the promoter of the project to provide toys for underprivileged children. He was also the pioneer in the use of the fog nozzle. He died in Sherbrooke on May 26, 1981. Citizens paid a warm tribute at his funeral held in Saint-michel Cathedral. According to one of his daughters, he volunteered at an annual meeting of the Fire Chiefs Association of Canada at Chalk River, in the 1950s, to take part in an experiment to expose his hands and feet to radioactivity. This may have caused him health problems later on, that ended up with the amputation of both legs. He was buried with his wife in Saint-michel Cemetery.