See the feature written by columnist Nancy Avery about Rhondi Palangio in the Fall 2025 edition of the Back in the Bay Magazine, published by Small Town Times.
Copies may be available at the North Bay Museum, Darkhorse Comics, North Bay Hospital Gift Shoppe, Allison the Bookman, Callander Bay Museum and at 176 Lakeshore Dr. (door near old Tweedsmuir gym) by Oct. 1 or earlier. Email [email protected] to confirm before then.
Until then, you can check out the first part of the transcript story from this interview below:
Interviewer: Nancy Avery
Subject: Rhondi Palangio
Nancy: Rhondi, we’re in this very old historical building that your dad owned. Is that right?
Rhondi: Yes, it actually was their family home. All 11 children lived here at one time. It was full of Palangios at one time, and it’s called the Palangio Block. Built in 1922.
Nancy: Wow. All of your relatives lived here?
Rhondi: That’s right. The last person to live here was Angela—quite a gal in North Bay. I think she pierced everybody’s ears known to mankind, including my daughter Sherry, who fainted on the kitchen floor because she can’t stand the sight of blood or anybody piercing her ears. But anyway, that was a long time ago. Angela was an interesting person for sure. I remember her going to all of the city hall functions.
Nancy: We don’t know each other as well as I’d like to, but I do know of you and I do remember the first time we met. I think we were going to a school concert or something. It’s nice to see you in this beautiful studio with all of your artwork around you and your jewelry, and we want to talk about that. But I’d like to first start with the history of you growing up in a well-known family. Where did you go to school?
Rhondi: I went to public school—started off at St. Hubert’s, then St. Alex was built just down the street on Bloom Street. I went from grade six to grade eight there. From that, I went to the girls’ college for one year, then off to Chippewa because it was much more art-oriented than the girls’ college. That’s where I found myself and graduated from Chippewa.
Nancy: And you were how old when you graduated?
Rhondi: Eighteen.
Nancy: And then what did you do?
Rhondi: Well, no vision of university or carrying on my education. It simply was fashion. I wanted to be a fashion model and knew I couldn’t do it in North Bay. Although I had done every kind of fashion show we had here growing up—anything that was put on, I was number one. “Let me do it!” I wasn’t shy at all. Then I went to Toronto at 18, and that was it. I was fortunate, Nancy, because it happened quickly for me. Every door opened at the right time, and I was there and they liked what they saw.
Nancy: Excellent.
Rhondi: I went runway, I went print—you name it. I modeled right across Europe as well as Canada and the United States.
Nancy: This is just when you were 18?
Rhondi: Well, 18 up to about 22. A lot gets packed into years when you’re young. I did do a bit of modeling after I was married, but not a lot. I had a busy life in a different channel.
Nancy: What about Guys and Dolls? When did that happen? I’m curious because I bought the best dress I ever owned at Guys and Dolls.
Rhondi: Oh goodness! Stunning, and I can see it still in my mind. Thank you. I mean, I didn’t design it, I’m sure, but yes, we had some great clothing. “Behind the purple door,” as the Nugget wrote. 1966 is when it opened—April 25th, I believe, 4:00 in the afternoon. A silly time to open, a lot of people thought, but it wasn’t. It was just different. Everybody in town came. They were there till probably 11 at night. We couldn’t stop them.
I was coming back to North Bay to see my parents, and every time I’d come, the young people would say, “Oh, if we could only have clothes like that—the clothes, the jewelry, everything!” So I said, “Uh-huh. There’s something to be said about people needing and wanting, and I can do it.” I went to my father and said, “Dad, I’d like to borrow a little money here.” He said, “Rhondi, I’ve been behind you in a lot of things, but a boutique? I don’t know.” He didn’t even know what a boutique was, I don’t think.
Nancy: Just let me stop you for a second. Your dad was a well-known person in North Bay—Mr. Pete Palangio, right?
Rhondi: That’s right. He was a very spiffy dresser too, so clothes were very important to him as well. But he said, “Rhondi, if you think it’s going to be something that’ll work and the people need it, go ahead.” So I took my money from modeling and Dad’s bit of money and put it together. I was lucky because I had some friends that were English and owned many boutiques in Toronto—Climax Boutique and different very popular places. They helped me put it together. It was a real go-getter, a busy time. I was still working in Toronto, back and forth. The store opened and it didn’t stop.
Nancy: Tell people where it was. I know where it was because I bought that dress there.
Rhondi: 323 Algonquin Avenue. It’s a little straight, kind of Georgian-looking building that stands out by itself. Chichow’s was right beside it, and it was also across the street from Torr Bay Restaurant, which my grandmother owned. When I was thinking of doing the boutique, I thought, “Where will I put this?” I didn’t want to be on Main Street. I wanted to be a little off the beaten track, and that building was just sitting there. I knew that was it. It had an upstairs and a ground floor—upstairs was men, hence “Guys and Dolls.”
Nancy: I probably never went upstairs.
Rhondi: Probably not. It was full of Carnaby Street bell-bottom pants, long-collared shirts, great leather belts—anything that was different was up there for men. That was something they sure didn’t have elsewhere. They all shopped down Main Street where all the Jewish people had their stores.
Nancy: How long did that last?
Rhondi: For me, it was ’66 until 1970—a good little run, four years. I knew that it had great longevity, this type of store, and I had many ideas to bring more clothing and concepts to that store. But I happened to fall in love, got married, and ended up living in the Bahamas. I’m a firm believer you can’t run a business from distance—not the way I’d want to do it. My cousin Donna DeMarco hadn’t started her modeling career yet, and I said, “Donna, I’m passing this off to you. You don’t have to do anything—just open the door and go in. It’s all done. Just order from the people I order from and you can’t go wrong.”
Nancy: So she took a big breath and away she went.
Rhondi: She did, and she stayed with it until… that’s a good question that I don’t have an answer for. We can always look that up. Then it sort of fell into the hands of Rosemary when Rosemary was on Main Street with that shop—another great ladies’ shop, very stylish but a little more conservative. Mine was a boutique. Then Donna took it a little less boutique, more mainstream. I think it was whatever our personalities were at the time that the stores portrayed.
Nancy: So you went to the Bahamas and did what?
Rhondi: “Sadie, Sadie, married lady”—that’s me! I was married.
Nancy: Tell me how you ended up getting married to Jean Carlo.
Rhondi: Well, I was in the Bahamas probably two months prior to meeting Jean Carlo in the Bahamas doing a film. The night before we left, we all went to the casino just to see what it was all about, and there he was. I must say I was taken aback—fantastic-looking man, but he had a presence, something that grabbed me. But I was leaving, so that was that.
On my 21st birthday, Guys and Dolls needed more clothes, and I thought, “I don’t want to spend my 21st birthday alone in Montreal, but I have to do it.” I got on the plane, and who was on the plane? Mr. Jean Carlo! So that rekindled everything. I spent four days in Montreal, we met again a couple of times, and married in June of the same year. It was very quick, but it was meant to be. I have one daughter, Alexandra, and a granddaughter, Harper, from my marriage.
Nancy: How long did you stay in the Bahamas?
Rhondi: I was there about 10 years, basically.
Nancy: And then what did you do?
Rhondi: I spent a year and something in Miami figuring out fashion because I had many friends in Miami with stores and ideas. I needed that time to think about what I was going to do. It was wonderful—I learned a lot, traveled a lot. Then I went to Toronto from Miami and started to import silk. I opened a business called Silk Unlimited.
Nancy: Is that the silk that you showed me?
Rhondi: Yes. The fabric’s very sumptuous and gorgeous. I was selling the silks to all the designers in Toronto, and I thought one day, “Why am I selling silk to other people when I know what I would do with it?” So I put a whole team together and away we went, creating incredible fashion.
Nancy: With no training in design?
Rhondi: No training, no school—just a lot of know-how, God-given I guess. And magazines, and through my lifetime always searching, always looking.
Nancy: And this was in the Yorkville area?
Rhondi: Silk Unlimited in the Elmhirst village. I took over one of the Edwardian houses and made it like an atelier. I did after-five clothing in silk. For instance, I did all the clothing for Anne Mirvish (Ed’s wife) when they opened up the Royal Albert in England, and their daughter-in-law’s clothing. Lise Watier, the cosmetician—she was probably our first Canadian woman who really made it worldwide. She won Woman of the Year in France and needed an entire wardrobe for probably four days, so we did that for her. A lot of people who needed that type of clothing, a lot of fashion shows, TV exposure, magazine writeups. It all worked.
Nancy: Did you have a studio that you worked out of?
Rhondi: It was in the building—I had the second and third floor.
Nancy: When I was first married, we used to go down to Toronto for a weekend and we’d go shopping in that area where all the cool stuff was.
Rhondi: Cool stuff and cool restaurants—a very nice area. That’s what brought me to that street, that feeling. Again, like the Guys and Dolls building—the feeling of that building was very unique. In fact, I had the first room in Silk Unlimited decorated like a boudoir—big chandeliers, very palatial but warm. That was 1982 when I opened that store.
Nancy: Were you still coming back and forth to North Bay to visit your mom and dad?
Rhondi: Oh yes, that was always part of my life. I was very close to them. My mom was my best friend, and I don’t think I have to tell anybody in North Bay how I felt about my father—he was my man. Wonderful man.
Nancy: I think everybody in North Bay can agree with that. Was this building attached to the Deluxe Bus Company?
Rhondi: Well, it wasn’t attached, but they were in this area. This building right next door was almost like a garage because the Deluxe Bus Company was the only bus that went down to Ferris. When I lived in Ferris all my youth, I had to take the bus to come to school both at Tweedsmuir and when I went to NBCI. So I knew the bus drivers that worked for Deluxe Bus Lines. That was my uncle John Palangio, and that all passed down to his sons. Then they sold that to Stork. So many years of buses in North Bay, and Uncle Johnny had the first taxi in North Bay—Deluxe Taxi.
Coincidentally, the building that I live in now—I’ve lived there for 23 years—was a great building built by a Palangio, John Palangio. That was the first building in North Bay that had underground parking and an elevator. Believe me, in January and February, that underground parking is a blessing!
Nancy: Getting back to your designing, after you did the designing for Lise Watier and so on, how long did you carry on that business before going into something more personal like your acting and singing and dancing?
Rhondi: Well, this was all going on actually—the singing and dancing when I was modeling, studying voice and acting. All of that part of my life, TV commercials, print—you name it. When I think of what I crammed into four or five years, it was wild. But I guess when you want something, you know how to do it, and you do it. I made it happen, and I was fortunate.
Nancy: Did you tell me the other day that you were the first Carnival Queen?
Rhondi: Yes, the first Carnival Queen, 1965. I was going to bring you a picture—all of 16! This was before I went away. Mr. Hewitt was the mayor, and I won a sheared beaver white fur coat from Northland Furs. We did a huge fashion show at Memorial Gardens modeling all these furs, which tied in nicely with the Fur Carnival. This carried on with many girls for probably five or eight years after—they always had a queen with a big parade.
Nancy: Did your dad buy you a nice car when you were a youngster?
Rhondi: Yes, he certainly did, and it was a total surprise to me. I was 16. Dad said to me, “I want to take a drive down to Mario’s Auto Body. I’ve got to check on something.” I said, “Oh, okay.” It was a Friday, and he said, “Come on with me.” Away we went. He said, “Just wait here for a minute.” Mario opened up the door, and there was this thing sitting there all covered in brown paper. Dad said, “Come here, Rhondi, for a minute,” and they took the paper off the car. I didn’t know what this was all about. He said, “Happy birthday.”
Nancy: What car was it?
Rhondi: It was a Pontiac Parisienne—red with white interior and a white convertible top. I was so taken aback. When I used to drive that car to school, I was embarrassed because, you know, what am I doing with this car? But that didn’t bother Dad. He thought if she needs a car, she should have a car. That was my 16th birthday present. I was spoiled, let’s put it that way.
Nancy: I think you were spoiled with love too.
Rhondi: Yes, not just spoiled with cars. Nobody was trying to buy love—it was just showing love by doing whatever you could for the other person, and rightfully, I did the same for my parents. I learned that from my parents—a lot of that giving and loving.
Nancy: When did you come back permanently to North Bay?
Rhondi: I came back in 2000. I should go back and fill in a bit here. I did Silk Unlimited, then I realized that people weren’t dressing up like they used to. The after-five look, the structured suits—that was all leaving. They needed something easy to wear, and travel was the big thing at that time. Tilley—remember Tilley’s hats? Well, he started his business when I started “Rhondi, Fashion That Travels the World with You.” That was my company—a clothing line of seven pieces in a bag. Simply roll and pack, made of pleated fabric that you couldn’t kill. It would just bounce back. Wash it in the sink, hang it up, drip dry. Ahead of its time, I think.
Nancy: Oh, it really was.
Rhondi: That’s what made it so successful. So then I took a bigger store across from Silk Unlimited and turned that into Rhondi. This is where I started to wholesale all of this product—well-received right across Canada, United States, into Europe. Cruise ships, Holland America Line bought tons of it. It was very successful because it was needed. There’s where you find success—when you can fill a need, find that niche that’s not filled, and make it different enough that everybody wants it. It was a good fabric that would fit any type of body because it gave, expanded. You could be that wide or that wide.
Then a very big company saw what I was doing and wanted to put a big chunk of money behind me and really take it to the moon and back. I was iffy about it, but I was at the tail end of my career—this was the ’90s, probably ’95—and I thought, “Let’s do it.” It didn’t have to be me anymore. They’d push the product through the door. That lasted probably five years.
In the year 2000, I said maybe I did my thing, and my father sort of needed help, needed someone. He was living alone—Mom passed away in ’86. He went out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, driving the big Cadillac, meeting with a bunch of sports guys. He’d go whenever he felt hungry, and they’d all gather together. It was fun for him, but then the winters worried me to death.
Nancy: Did he belong to that group that Britt Jessup was in?
Rhondi: He did, but Dad never followed anything religiously. He went when he wanted to go. If he didn’t feel like it, he wouldn’t.
Nancy: So you came back home by yourself?
Rhondi: I did, all by myself. My daughter was doing her own thing—Alexandra would have been in her twenties, a very successful makeup artist in the movies. Very talented girl. Her husband Robert is also in the business, the movie business. So back I came to take care of Dad, and I was here. Dad passed away 2004, Christmas Eve. No health issues really to speak of—he was 96.
Nancy: That bodes well for you!
Rhondi: Well, we both were there for each other, and it was a great time. At 96, he said, “Well, we’ll see you in the morning. I want to be the first to open my presents,” and he just went to sleep.
Nancy: That’s a very good way to pass away for sure.
Rhondi: That’s right. So that left a big hole in my life. Is that where the jewelry designing came in? That came in shortly after—I’m going to say maybe three to four years later, about 2010.
Nancy: What did you do in between?
Rhondi: Took a look at my life. The reason that I came back—although I came back to North Bay and said, “Boy, I love it here.” When I was ready to leave, I couldn’t wait to go because I needed to be in a big city like we all did. But when I came back, I fell in love with the lakes again, the air, the beauty of North Bay, the ease of North Bay.
Nancy: I’m so glad to hear you say that.
Rhondi: We can’t ask for more here. It’s fabulous. I never stop talking about it. A lot of people do come back to North Bay, and that’s happened since COVID as well—people are coming back to buy houses that they couldn’t afford in the GTA. But to be able to get in my car and drive down to that lake and sit there any time of the day or night I want—it’s like not five minutes. How lucky are we?
Nancy: So something sparked the design of jewelry.
Rhondi: I’ve always had a love for jewelry—you don’t want to know how much jewelry I own! I was in Toronto looking around for ideas, and I happened to see boxes of these colorful beads, very unusual beads, just everything tumbling out in this old shop on Queen Street. I went in and said, “What is all this?” They said, “Oh, we brought it from India. It’s a resin that they made, but they don’t want to take the order now.” I said, “Well, are you selling it to someone else?” “Oh, we’re more than willing to sell it. We have to sell it.” I said, “Well, here’s your buyer.”
So I bought up all the boxes. I had no idea, but the color, the look of the beads—they weren’t perfect, they were earthy, and I don’t know, they were magical to me. When I did touch them, I felt an energy in them, and I could picture where they were made, all these things going on, the heat and the color. Anyway, that was my first collection. I made it all up—bracelets and necklaces. I went out to The Green Store here in North Bay on the shores of our beautiful Trout Lake and saw Kathy Grady, who was doing the buying. She said, “Oh my god, this is too much!” She didn’t know me but knew of me, and she said, “We want this in the store, and you’re a North Bay lady on top of it.” So they carried it. That’s all gone now because it was 2011 when I brought that to them. I do believe the Nugget did a story because they always did an open house around November for Christmas, and they tied that in. But that was my first opening—I’ve got to make jewelry and sell it. That progressed and progressed, and then I started to sell to stores in Toronto and Montreal.
I wouldn’t do anything over the internet or by mail. I would get in my car and I love the words “cold call.” I’d go in: “Hi, I’m Rhondi. Let me show you.” It’s like an old song and dance routine. That’s what my dad was—a door-to-door salesman.
Nancy: What about the sea glass? How did that come about?
Rhondi: That’s right—we’re really going all over, but that’s my life! When I was in the Bahamas, 1970, I was in Freeport. This ring was the first piece of sea glass that I ever collected. I was walking along and I felt something under my feet. I didn’t know sea glass—I knew of it. I went down, picked it up, and there it was—turquoise as blue as the turquoise water of the Bahamas. I said, “Oh gosh, this is magic!” I started collecting. That took me from the Bahamas to Mexico to Aruba to Puerto Rico. I just started searching—it was like I was a miner going along looking for gold.
I literally have in this very building over 2,000 pieces of sea glass, and I transported all of that from the Bahamas back. Call me crazy, but I didn’t know that I was going to do anything with it.
Nancy: So you not only design the jewelry, you make it too?
Rhondi: I make everything here. As you see, all the artwork is another company that I started—Art in Bloom. I’m a flower preservationist where I pick flowers, press them, do everything I can to make them speak. The faces come out, and if anybody ever comes to my studio, they’ll see what I’m talking about. The door is always open.
Nancy: How does someone make an appointment to come and see you?
Rhondi: Well, they can call. I’m trying to design a sign. Now that I have this other collection going, I have to put the two of them out.
Nancy: You’re talking about the collection of dried flowers?
Rhondi: Yes, Art in Bloom. You can tell in here how much I have. But I also sell to The Green Store, The Farm, Michelle’s Frame Gallery in North Bay—that’s Art in Bloom. Anna does all my framing, by the way. Fabulous girl.
Nancy: It’s great to work with local people, isn’t it?
Rhondi: Oh, it’s wonderful. They’re so proud to get involved and be part of something different. I sell in Toronto, too. There are a lot of people who collect this kind of art, unbeknownst to myself. I’ve been doing pressed flowers since I was a teenager—like everybody has in books, you know, and you open it up and you’ve got a beautiful thing but you do nothing with it. So I make incredible greeting cards, and The Farm has a wonderful selection. They do really well with them. As Katie says, “Bring us more cards, Rhondi!”
Nancy: That’s a great store.
Rhondi: Both fabulous—Michelle’s and The Farm. The door’s always open. I also do custom work. Somebody can bring me their own flowers, like this bouquet, and I’ll take each flower and dry it and press it. Let’s say that’s a commemorative bouquet for someone—I will design and make a beautiful piece for them. Also, if they have their own sea glass.
Nancy: Are you on Facebook, Instagram, or have a website?
Rhondi: Rhondi Rocks—just think of rocks as jewelry. I do other jewelry as well, and I’m going to lead into the 2013 TV series “Reign,” the early days of Mary, Queen of Scots. Fabulous four-year run of that show, and I was fortunate enough to be the person who designed all that fabulous jewelry. They used it for the whole series—the whole four years I was working with them. What an experience that was! I can’t tell you, I’ll never get over that.
Nancy: Is that filmed in Canada?
Rhondi: In Toronto and also in the UK. We had Megan Follows, a Canadian actor, and people from Australia, people from England—just a cast to die for. Costumes, I can’t even describe the fabrics.
Nancy: I love period shows.
Rhondi: That’s right. There’s part of my collections that went to “Reign.”
Nancy: We haven’t talked about Mary Quant.
Rhondi: Oh, Mary Quant! Well, that’s Guys and Dolls all the way.
Nancy: People like Dave don’t know anything about this era. I was trying to explain it to him. What was the name of that era?
Rhondi: Well, it was the “Mod” scene—Carnaby Street in England. Mary Quant was the instigator of the miniskirt. The shorter you could wear it, the better. Twiggy. I was fortunate enough to do two fashion shows with Twiggy when she came to Toronto when I was young and modeling. I remember her so well.
Nancy: Oh, she was a cute girl with legs up to her armpits!
Rhondi: She was a shy but unassuming kid, really. But you could make her up to look like anything. They used to draw the fake eyelashes on the bottom.
Nancy: I remember that very well. I have to say I have so many stories in my head that I would love people to hear because… And you want more people to come into the studio as well?
Rhondi: Oh, absolutely.
Nancy: Do you have something planned for the next five years?
Rhondi: You’ve got so much going on right now! And it’s building as we’re sitting here, and that’s what I want to see. I’m at an age now where I can’t—my idea was I’ve got to take on the world. Well, I don’t need to do that anymore. The world can come to me if they need a beautiful piece of sea glass or a beautiful work of art. I can’t make that my life. I’ve got a granddaughter, a young teenager, 14, that I want to grow with. It’s just a great mixture of life.
Nancy: Great time in your life.
Rhondi: Oh yes, looking back as well as doing all of this artistic stuff. Without art in my life, I wouldn’t be Rhondi. I can remember so many people who knew me—they’d say, “You could go into a junk shop and come out with three pieces of fabric or an old beat-up something and make it look like a million dollars. You’ve got that whatever you want to call it.” And it’s all because you never took any post-secondary or post-high school training?
Nancy: Never trained in anything?
Rhondi: No, not even… Well, I did study piano for four or five years, but I can play by ear, so I can just sit there and play away. I have no answers for you, Nancy. I guess I got a hat and I’m pulling different things out of it.
Nancy: Before we close, is there anything else you want to talk about that we haven’t covered yet?
Rhondi: I don’t know. I think we’ve covered a good chunk of my life, which is hard to put all into one story because I’ve jumped around so much and done so many artistic things. I’m looking at a picture over there where you’re on a stage.
Nancy: Oh yes! That was the closing night of “Chi.” I got the starring role in Nassau. They had what was called the Dundas Center for Performing Arts, and I was astounded by the talent—all English actors who lived in Nassau. They used to put out calls, and I thought, “I’m going to go and try out.” I got the part—I played Hortense. That actually was closing night.
Nancy: You’ve never thought about writing a biography?
Rhondi: I’ve had many people ask me, “Let me write about you,” and I’m not just saying that. I even have a lady here in North Bay who’s interested in doing that. The trouble is pinning me down long enough with all that I’m doing. I don’t know how I could, and I don’t want to be half-dead, let’s put it that way, and can’t think of everything that should be in the book. I think there has to be an opening for me to do something like that.
Nancy: Well, you’ve got lots of time yet.
Rhondi: I’m motoring! There’s no end in sight.
Nancy: Do you have any questions, Dave?
Dave: I think if you talk a little bit more about your dad and what he was like and what was important to him, that’d be a nice memory for people.
Rhondi: Dave, when I run into anybody—whether they were of my dad’s era or younger—they say, “Boy, that Pete Palangio! I can see him when he was walking down Main Street with those straight shoulders. He must have been 80 in that camel hair coat, and he’d come to the arena with the beaver hat and the camel coat—all of these things that made Dad who he was.”
Then you get the person that says, “You know, I had to go over to Pete and say, ‘Pete, I’m a little short.'” Dad would say, “Oh, a little short. How much do you think you need?” “Well, just enough to tide me over.” Dad would reach in the back pocket—that was it. No mention of it, no “When are you going to pay me back?” Nothing. I’ve seen people at the back door—no problem.
What he did at Christmas for people—it would take a whole show to talk about that. Neverending man of generosity. I could even tear up here. What he did for hockey in North Bay—there’s never been a man like him. He used to say, joking to my mom, “We’d be millionaires if I didn’t have this love of hockey!”
Nancy: Did he have the Trappers hockey team?
Rhondi: Yes, Larry played for him. Then he had the Palangio Blackhawks, 1948, around when I was born, and they went right to the finals. He almost brought that cup back. It wasn’t that he wanted to win like “Pete Palangio’s team won”—he wanted to bring that back to North Bay. He wanted that for North Bay.
Nancy: What team did he play for when he was active in hockey?
Rhondi: He turned pro with the Montreal Canadiens at about 18. Then he went from Montreal to Chicago, won a Stanley Cup in ’37-’38, ended up in St. Louis. They weren’t an NHL team—they were just on the verge of it. So he played for Montreal, Chicago, and Detroit—Detroit Cougars at the time. But he had great involvement with hockey even when he left the professional end of things.
St. Louis wanted him to come and be the general manager/playing coach of St. Louis, and Dad said, “No. I don’t want to uproot my family. I’ve done enough in hockey.” Then he turned around and gave hockey to North Bay in a very big way, because it takes time and money to back a team, and Dad always wanted to do that for the town. Wasn’t he called “Mr. Hockey”?
Nancy: He was.
Rhondi: Dave, I will leave you with a great sort of hats-off to Dad. When he went to Montreal—I was with him—to close the old Montreal Forum and open up the new one, that is something I will never forget. He was probably 89 or 90. We drove down, and he was treated like a king. Dad said, “That’s so long ago when I was playing. What are they remembering me here for?” But he couldn’t take it—he just couldn’t believe it. Humble, humble man.
Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau—all “Pete, Pete, Pete,” and oh, loving him up. They couldn’t do enough for him. In fact, they used to come to North Bay to see him, to have lunch. I remember cooking for all these guys—an Italian lunch—because they drove up to the house from Montreal just to see Pete. “Got to see Pete.” There was some wisdom in that man.
But anyway, back to the Montreal Forum. It was time to get on with the show, and all of a sudden I’m looking and seeing—that can’t be my father standing at the boards with no cane! He had the worst wonky knee you’d ever want to see. That was one of the reasons I came back. I said, “He is not going to walk on that ice with no cane.”
“1908, Pete Palangio, the first Original Six player of the NHL. Let’s welcome him.” And on he comes to the ice with no cane.
Nancy: You must have been scared to death.
Rhondi: I was, Nancy. And the roar of the crowd—I mean, it was like a rock star was coming out because Montreal, they’re the best fans. Tears to my eyes. There he was in his Oscar de la Renta suit, and out he comes. I said, “That’s my boy.” The tears were flowing because I said, “That man just doesn’t stop.” He was not coming with a cane—that was it. He wouldn’t talk about the cane. He was going to walk out, and he said, “If I never walk back, I’m walking out.”
Nancy: Good for him.
Rhondi: Yes, wonderful. So we had a fabulous weekend. Mol Rooney, you name it—just all over him.
Nancy: Dave will edit some of this for you, but I’m glad you asked that, Dave. We were so into talking about all your stuff, but your dad was also an amazing person.
Rhondi: He certainly was. I will say this—I had a very, very hard time when Dad passed. I’m sure you did, for about two years. Oh, it was terrible. It was, in a way, selfish of me because the man lived a great life, but there was such a loss of love. I just loved and needed that man as a human being in my life.
Nancy: Well, you’re very fortunate. Not everyone has that relationship with their parents.
Rhondi: And nowadays I feel sad because it’s not there. The kids don’t want their parents like that.
Nancy: Well, no, those days are gone. I think we’ve got everything we need, Dave.
Dave: Good. Thanks for asking that. Don’t you think so, Dave? I thought it was an excellent interview, very well done.
Nancy: Oh, thanks. I have to say I’m a better interviewer than interviewee. Dave will verify that—when we first got together, it was pitiful.
Rhondi: It was not as bad as us yesterday!
Nancy: Oh, well, that was too funny. I’ll never get over that.
[End of Interview]
