Insurance salesman, community activist.
Born at Brandon on 12 May 1917, son of Harry Penton and Emily Norwood Rodgers, during the Second World War, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, achieving the rank of Flight Sergeant. Following his military discharge, he returned to Brandon and sold life insurance with Mutual Life and later Crown Life. Toward the end of his life, he was a partner in the firm of Penton-Hudy Insurance. He also served for 20 years as a consultant to Paul’s Hauling of Winnipeg.
On 19 February 1941, he married Irene Grace Longrigg (1918-2014) and they had three daughters and four sons. He served as a Brandon city councilor (1963-1969), was a Liberal candidate in the 1966, 1969, and 1973 provincial general elections, and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Brandon (1975). He served on the boards of the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society, John Howard Society, Elizabeth Fry Society, and Alcoholism Foundation of Manitoba. He served a term as national Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association, was campaign manager of the Brandon United Way for one year in the 1960s, and hosted western Manitoba’s first radio phone-in show (1970-1972). He served on the UIC Appeal Board in Brandon. He was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1965) for having played “a significant role in getting community help projects off the ground.”
He died at Brandon on 7 October 1985 and was buried in the Brandon Cemetery.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 October 1985, page 42.
Obituary [Irene Penton], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 September 2014.
Grave transcriptions, Brandon Cemetery.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 November 2022
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