Ship builder, businessman.
Born at Selkirk on 5 September 1941, son of Edward H. “Ted” Purvis (c1906-1969) and Mary Alice “Mae” Purvis (c1913-1979), after graduating from the Selkirk Collegiate he attended Red River College and was certified as a machinist and welder. He acquired his uncle Bill’s boat building business and his father’s machine shop and, as Purvis Shipyards, built a number of Manitoba boats that sailed the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, including the Paddlewheel Queen, River Rouge, Lady Winnipeg and Lord Selkirk II. He eventually partnered with Daan Hengeveld and started Purvis Navcon Shipyards at Delta, British Columbia. In the 1990s, the company built the British Columbia “super” ferries Spirit of Vancouver and Spirit of British Columbia. After retiring, he spent his summers at Gull Lake and winters in Hawaii. He died at Selkirk on 12 October 2016.
Obituary [Edward H. Purvis], Winnipeg Free Press, 26 May 1969, page 28.
Obituary [Mary Alice Purvis], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 August 1979, page 62.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 October 2016.
“The mighty and the colourful” by Kevin Rollason, Winnipeg Free Press, 31 December 2016.
Ted Purvis, Gilbart Funeral Home.
This page was prepared by Ian Stewart and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 April 2022
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