Community holds final farewell for Perras Place

by Lucie Roy
Morinville News Correspondent

Members of the Raymonde (Perras) Riopel family gathered for family photos in front of the Perras Place building on Saturday during the Farewell Open House.

Riopel’s children Paul, Suzanne Farrell and Robert Riopel along with their spouses, children and extended family toured the house along with many from the community.

Paul Riopel had a few musings on the relevance of eradicating a building such as Perras Place from our memories.

“As a nationhood, the survival of our culture will depend entirely on our collective memories of those contributions made by our founding fathers,” Riopel said. “Old structures such as Perras Place serve to remind us of the debt we owe them for the hardships they endured, the sacrifices they made, the vision they shared, and the gifts they left behind for us to enjoy.

“Our failure to properly memorialize our founding fathers will lead to an ambivalence and detachment from our core values. Only the future will tell where that will lead us. Some might argue that those times are already upon us.”

Council voted unanimously earlier in 2017 to have the property repurposed.

Future plans considered are to create a park with green space, incorporating onsite historical signage to preserve the history of the home and the Perras Family.