Ernie Ferguson, the former owner of Ferguson Cleaners in Peterborough, has passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by family at the age of 97.
Ferguson, who chose to pursue medical assistance in dying (MAiD) due to serious complications from heart issues, selected Monday (May 12) as the date of his passing — the 74th anniversary of his marriage to Mona (nee Peirson), who passed away in 2022 just days shy of her 91st birthday.
Married on May 12, 1951 at George Street United Church, the couple had two children early on: Heather Jane and Clarinda (Cindy) Catherine. In January 1970, the couple welcomed Marcus Charles, who they adopted and brought to Peterborough from Ottawa.
Ferguson’s decades-long career in laundry and dry cleaning originates in 1941, when he was in Grade 8 at King George Public School.
“Dad delivered for Lansfields Cleaners on Louis Street,” Ferguson told kawarthaNOW in 2023. “One day, Ivan Lillico, who owned Lillico Motors where Dad bought his vehicles, said ‘You’re working for Lansfields and he is making all kinds of money but you’re doing all the work. You should start your own business.'”
After accepting Lillico’s offer of space at a building he owned on Water Street, Ferguson’s mother and father opened Ferguson Cleaners, a laundry and dry cleaning business. Young Ernie worked there along with his brother Wayne and sister Arlene, alongside a host of longtime loyal employees.
When Ferguson’s dad decided to incorporate the business in 1959, he brought Ernie and Wayne in as partners. When Twin Cleaners on Monaghan Road went up for sale, the brothers bought the business, which Wayne ran. With time, the laundry and dry cleaning ’empire’ grew with four buildings — the last being at 128 Hunter Street East, today home to Ashburnham Ale House.
The last day of 1990 saw Ferguson sell the business, freeing up time for him and Mona to do what they did for years and still loved to do — volunteer.
“Mona started volunteering with her mother at the old Civic Hospital; she took a cart around and sold books and treats and stuff,” Ferguson said. “Next thing you know she’s volunteering with Community Care (Meals On Wheels) and then got into volunteering with the Food For Kids program. It’s something we loved to do together.”
At age 88, Mona marked 50 years as a Community Care volunteer. Her husband helped out for 29 years following his retirement.
In spring 2019, Community Care Peterborough featured Ernie and Mona Ferguson on the cover of the charity’s “The Thread” publication in recognition of their combined 80 years of volunteering for the organization, with Mona the longest-serving volunteer in Community Care Peterborough’s history.
Shortly before his beloved wife Mona passed away in 2022 and at the urging of his daughter, then 94-year-old Ferguson decided to write the story of his life.
That effort resulting in his 2023 memoir Thanks for the Memories, a 70-page collection of wide-ranging reminisces.
“I was unsure of a title, but one morning I woke up and to my mind came ‘Thanks for the Memories,'” Ferguson recalled, adding “That was my Mona communicating with me. She was thanking me for the memories.”
According to his son Marcus, Ferguson decided to register with MAiD in February after experiencing serious complications from heart issues that would require a difficult surgery.
“For the past three months I have been celebrating my father’s life with my father,” Marcus wrote in a Facebook tribute to his dad. “To be clear I did not want him to go through with it. Knowing my father it’s pointless to try and change his mind. My only option was to love him, and support him.”
“He knows what he wants, he’s thought long and hard about it and never once was swayed. He is a happy person of sound mind. His mantra has been ‘I’m tired and I just want to go home and be with Mona.'”
A drop-in celebration of life for Ernie and Mona Ferguson will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday (May 14) at the Peterborough Legion at 1550 Lansdowne Street West.
With files from Paul Rellinger.
