Pius Pfeifer and Ida Pfeifer when he was honoured with Citizen of the Year in 2019. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Josh Ryan

Remembering an icon

Pius Pfeifer remembered by family and community ahead of funeral

Jul 18, 2020 | 12:45 PM

On Monday, a pioneer of the Battlefords community will be laid to rest.

Pius Pfeifer, long-time businessman and community builder, passed away July 11 at the age of 90. He leaves behind a legacy of industry and charity that helped shaped the community into what it is today. Immigrating to Canada in 1953 and moving to the Battlefords in 1956, he went on to create Twin Plumbing and many other businesses, including multiple hotels.

Pfeifer’s work ethic was one of his defining characteristics, starting as a goldsmith in Saskatoon, before owning a number of businesses and giving millions to the communities he was a part of. In an email to battlefordsNOW, his son Gary said Pius constantly gave advice of striving to take responsibility for everything in your life, from being careful with finances to refusing to blame others.

“You have to live your fate, so control your destiny,” Gary said. “Instead of the other way around.”

Pius’s instincts as a businessman had him constantly looking to the future. When he started in the plumbing business, he was the first to employ many products and techniques which are the standard today in mechanical installation. And hard work was always a factor.

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“He was installing two furnaces a day, while his competitors were doing one a week,” Gary said.

Gary said his father always to seemed to be doing something that would become common place years later, whether it was brick barbecues, pioneering waterslides in the Prairies or putting tape decks in cars, the latter of which he had installed decades before 8-tracks came out.

“I remember him 30 talking years ago about water being the new thing, I thought, ‘That’s crazy.’” Gary said. “What’s the biggest seller today? Bottled water.”

While highly successful in business, Pfeifer was also focused on the relationships he had with family and friends, something his son remembers distinctly, where his father educated him while having only a grade school education himself. Gary said his father never viewed money as more valuable than friendship.

“After I came home with five years of college, he said ‘If you have all the money in the world but if you don’t have any friends, it can be very lonely.’ He had many friends.”

Gary Pfeifer said he’ll miss being able to always come to his father for advice.

“He was a man of faith and loyalty to [family] and friends [of his] and that’s why people remember him,” he said.

Many also remember Pius Pfeifer for his connection to charitable organizations in the Battlefords. Kim Morrison, Executive Director with Catholic Family Services in the Battlefords, said he went out of his way to greet staff members and volunteer, praising them for their efforts, even years later.

“I saw him at the Citizen of the Year banquet [2019] after not having seen him in years and he remembered me right away,” Morrison said. “It was that kind of connection in the community that really made a difference.”

“You always knew you had his support in what you were doing.”

And his support went even further. Much like his touch is present in several businesses and buildings in the community, it’s especially present with the Catholic Family Services building, which he donated to the organization. They renamed it Pfeifer Place in his honour last year.

“It was an incredible gift that has provided us with the space and the ability to continue providing services to our community,” Morrison said.

Catholic Family Services renamed the building in honour of Pius Pfeifer last year. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Pius Pfeifer is survived by his wife Ida, his four children (Gary, Linda, Bernie and Marlene) and his 12 grandchildren (Caitlyn, Brody, Corey, Matt, Kenzi, Nick, Eric, Andrew, Katherine, John, Gabby, and Cecily). A prayer service on Sunday evening will precede his funeral on Monday, the latter which begins at 2 p.m. at St. Joseph Calasanctius Catholic Church.

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports