Paul Virgin

It is no accident that an account of Paul Virgin should buffet my renditions of Des Houston, Brian Gallagher and Scott Newton. Paul is currently President of the Mississippi River Power Corporation. He and I overlapped service on that Board for a number of years.

Paul and I began our alliance together when he was President of the Mississippi Golf Club. He retained me to act for the Club in the purchase of its second nine holes from the Lowry farm. It was a complicated transaction and he always preserved confidence.

When he later joined the Board of Directors of MRPC he came with the lubricating advantage of knowing me and Des Houston from his golf club association.

While Paul’s father Jack Virgin operated a long-standing insurance business in Town, Paul worked for a larger urban insurance corporation in Ottawa. Paul did however actively work to insinuate himself in Almonte, including for example chairing the Almonte Hospital Board. His community involvements may have succeeded to warrant him the distinction of the “Order of Ontario” for which I was recently asked to provide a commendation.

Paul is a gregarious and flamboyant person of the first order. He and his lovely wife Rhonda (from Prince Edward Island) regularly entertained the MRPC Board at their home on Perth Street, Almonte where they had a magnificent back yard complete with pool and gardens. Paul is a big man and his size speaks to his uninhibited appetite for life generally.