Nick Homorodean: fondly remembered by Libby McLachlan For those of us growing up after the War, the ‘throwaway so - ciety’ had not yet arrived. Worn-out shoes were restored and re-soled, purses and bags re-stitched. Visits to Nick’s Shoe Re - pair on Frank Street were part of our life, especially for growing families on limited budgets. No job was too much effort and you were greeted with a smile when you entered the shop. And in the end, you were handed shoes that looked almost like new, because Nick had polished them on his special rollers before putting them in a re-cycled paper bag. When he retired in 2002 at age 75 the town missed not only his shop but that smile. Nick’s father, Nicolae Homorodean, his wife Mary and baby daughter Mary immigrated to Canada from Romania in 1925. They settled in Windsor, close to Nicolae’s brother, and added Nick and his brother Cornell to their family. Nicolae had been a shoemaker in Romania. In Windsor he learned English while working at various jobs, including one in a shoe repair shop. His goal: to eventually have his own shop. When Nick was seven the family moved to Strathroy, where his father worked for (Hen- ry) Rivers Shoes, repairing footwear in the store basement. Lat- er he opened a shop on Front St W. When that building burned down (the current Libro site), he rented space at the back of Charlie Gill’s grocery store on Centre Street across from the old post office. Most of Nick’s growing-up years were spent in the family home at the top of the hill on the southeast corner of Kittridge and Cara- doc Streets. There were chickens, dairy cows and pigs. Along with school, Nick did the farm chores, while Cornell worked for a fuel business near the railway tracks. When Nick’s father died in 1958 at age 60, he had just sold the Kittridge property to Cam- eron Sommerville, in order to buy J.C. Down’s building on Frank St., where he planned to open a new shop with Nick. Nicolae had taught his shoe repair skills to his son. So Nick opened the repair shop and built an addition, complete with an apartment at the back for his mother. And, doing most of the work himself, he made two rental apartments above the shop. Nick and Lillie McDonald had been married in 1950. When I visited them in 2016 they were still living in “The Homorode- an’s Earthly Home”, the house at 80 Thomas Street they bought when they were married 66 years earlier. Over time they had built additions to each side of their small white house and dug a basement to put a large room downstairs. Nick did most of the interior work, rearranging the space as their family grew. Their house was full of the memories and mementos of a lifetime, and their love and respect for each other and their Christian faith were plainly visible.
Nick and Lillie Homorodean’s home at 80 Thomas Street where they lived for almost 67 years
Nick at work in his Frank Street shoe repair shop, 1986
Back to the shop on Frank Street, where Nick was busy mend- ing shoes, purses, belts and tents, replacing zippers and sharp- ening skates. Tobacco farmers brought in worn canvas satch- els and bibs, and hockey and baseball players needed leather gloves repaired. Nick had his Dad’s heavy sewing machine, and added a new one. Almost every night he would go back to the shop to keep up with the work. He closed on Mondays in or- der to catch up and, like the whole town, the shop closed on Wednesday afternoons. Once a month a representative from his supplier in Windsor dropped in to take orders for leather, soles, heels etc. Two settees along the wall encouraged peo- ple to come in and visit, especially Dutch and Portuguese folks who were learning English. Nick always remembered who had brought in which items for repair, and exactly where they were amidst all those on the shelves – although he did use a ‘dupli - cate ticket’ system with numbers, never names. So he knew his customers by sight, if not by name, and they all felt welcome in his shop. For many years, Nick closed his business for three weeks each summer. He and Lillie took their five children camping at the Pinery. (While growing up Peter, Holly, Sandra, Andy and Donna all helped in the shop.) He had sewed a big addition to their tent, to cover a picnic table in case of inclement weather. Later, Nick and Lillie had a trailer, which they used until age 80. In 1992 they spent a month visiting Nick’s sister, Mary, who was married to a Presbyterian minister in Hong Kong, and brought home lots of souvenirs. Sadly, Nick died earlier this year, on March 25. For the past several years complications following knee surgery had left him unable to walk. But when I visited a year ago he greeted me with the same smile I remembered from his shop. He had a well- thumbed large print Bible beside his chair, which he had read from cover to cover in each of the past three years, and which gave him great comfort. Editors note: Originally published in the Age Dispatch, November 2, 2017. Nick Homorodean died on March 25. Photos courtesy of Homorodean family
Page 14
Hometown Strathroy-Caradoc July/Aug 2025
To advertise here please contact Gloria@villagerpublications.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs