A Smooth Rock Falls native and former NHL player will be recognized by the town in the near future. Mayor Sue Perras says a committee has been formed to honour Jean Paul Parise who was a member of Team Canada in 1972 and had a 16 year NHL career. Perras adds that she had a chance to spend time with Parise during a visit to the community many years ago.
“He took the time and we actually ran late because he was taking his time,” she said. “But he took the time to speak to everyone to those people that were in the Detox Centre. I have so much respect for that gentleman. He’s a Smooth Rock person that has never forgotten his roots.”
Parise died in Minnesota in 2015 where he spent most of his life after hockey as the director of Shattuck St. Mary’s, (Sha-tuck) one of the top prep hockey prep schools in the US.
Perras says funding is also available in the 2023 budget to begin the process to remember others besides Parise.
“How do we keep that focus going so that future people future generations remember these people,” she said. “You know by way of a plaque, by way of something we add names to. We are not sure. You know but it’s definitely in our plans for 2023.”
