The Honourable J. Willie Comeau

Joseph Willie Comeau was the first of 12 children born to Louis Comeau and Catherine Bourneuf of St. Mary’s Bay. Born on March 12, 1876, he first attended the village school in Comeauville, then in 1890 enrolled in the business course offered at “Collège” Sainte-Anne. He was one of the first group of students to attend this institution, which had been founded that same year in Church Point. At the Paris Exposition of 1900 (at which the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated), Willie Comeau brought honour to his native region by being named Deputy Commissioner for the Canadian Pavilion. The young married man lost his first wife, Grace Sheehan, in 1902. His second wife was Acadian Zoé Doucet.

It was in politics that J. Willie Comeau made his mark. He was elected deputy for the first time in 1907, in the riding of Clare. He represented his region in the Nova Scotia legislature for 10 years, sitting in the provincial cabinet for six of those years (1911-1917). Re-elected in 1933, he continued to represent Clare until 1948, at which time the Honourable Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada, named him to the Senate, a position he held until 1966.