A Norval community pillar and walking calculator who worked on the legendary Avro Arrow can now add another accomplishment to his name.
Today (Feb. 26) Tom Pettingill turns 100, joining a highly exclusive worldwide club of centenarians.
“It feels wonderful to make it to a hundred,” Pettingill said at his birthday party on Sunday, adding that it was “wunderbar.”
His secret to a long life is one that many have heard before but requires repeating: eat healthy and stay active. Many aspects of his life show that he lived up to his own words.
He never ate too much and preferred unprocessed foods. He would make time to prune trees in his community well into his golden years, even when he was working full-time. He was an avid figure skater who kept hitting the ice as late as his 93rd year. He is known to have planted 1,000 daffodils in Norval.
He also kept his mind active. He brought his engineering know-how to make the calculations to design the analemmatic sundial at the Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden in Norval. He stopped playing Sudoku only two years ago.
He even greeted Japanese tourists visiting the home of the Anne of Green Gables author last year.
His daughter, Sonja, recalls her father deliberately parking his car in the far corner of shopping mall parking lots for, she says, “free exercise.”
“I remember when we were young that this irritated us as children,” she joked.
On Sunday (Feb. 25), he and four generations of his extended family gathered to celebrate his birthday.
The jovial room at St. Alban the Martyr Anglican Church in Glen Williams was full of speeches, well-wishing and a ceremonial sword-tap on the shoulders from his son. This "knighting" is perhaps appropriate as Pettingill made his way over to Canada from England.
The birthday boy was born on Feb. 26, 1924 in a town called March, to the north of London. This fact about his life inevitably leads him to joke that he “was born in February in March.”
When studying engineering in university, a government representative came in and told his class that if they passed their final exams, opportunities awaited in industry and the armed forces. As this was during the Second World War, Pettingill joined the Royal Navy.
He was at various postings in the Mediterranean and North Seas as well as the North Atlantic. He worked on repair ships where he maintained boats.
In civilian life, he supervised the installation of compressors for the making of ammonia in South Africa. There, he met his future wife Jutta as he was leaving a skating rink in Johannesburg. He struck up a conversation, one thing led to another and they were married in 1954.
On a whim, the pair filed immigration papers at the Canadian High Commission during a trip to London. One year into their marriage, they took their first steps on Canadian soil.
Their eldest daughter, Mary, was born the year after. They would have seven children.
But it was time to get to work. He was hired by Mississauga’s Orenda Engines to work on the famed Canadian fighter plane the Avro Arrow. He, his wife and young daughter moved to Norval during their second year in Canada.
On Feb. 20, 1959, known in history as Black Friday, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the plane.
“I was disappointed because we were still working on the Arrow when it was finally cancelled,” Pettingill recalled.
He kept working with Hawker Siddley, who owned Orenda Engines, for a decade after he was hired back. But when Sheridan College opened a campus in Brampton, Pettingill taught engineering there. Many of his former students visited him during his Sunday party.
After 19 years, he retired and dedicated his time and attention to Norval. He is a founding member of the Norval Community Association (NCA).
“There are endless community projects and events and stories about Tom, who has been engaged in every single project in Norval for the past 50 years,” current NCA president Kathy Gastle remarked at his party.
In recognition of his service to Norval, Gastle presented him with a banner with his photo on it. It will hang at the Lucy Maud Montgomery gazebo in the hamlet he calls home.
In further recognition of his service to Norval, the NCA plans to install a park bench in his honour.
Mayor Ann Lawlor presented him with a certificate that reads, “May your spirit continue to shine as a proud resident of our town.”
Similar accolades from The Governor General, The Lieutenant Governer, Premier Doug Ford, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many local leaders were bestowed on him. To top it all off, King Charles and Queen Camilla wrote a letter wishing him “joy, fond memories and the love of family and friends.”
“You are a masterclass in growing old mentally, spiritually, every other way,” daughter Christa said in her speech. “Dad, you are a wonderful inspiration and example to all of us, your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We love and cherish you most dearly.”
