Shirley Nadeau

shirley@qctonline.com

Dennis Rioux has an amazing personal collection of military artefacts. Everything from medals to uniforms and hats, buttons, crests, stamps, coins, dishes and even spoons! He also has many beautiful paintings of ships, as well as models of ships. Rioux admits he has a disease … it’s called collecting. It all started with a stamp collection when he was only nine years old. Now he has beautifully organized boxes and books full of thousands of stamps. Then he started collecting coins. He takes delight in preparing framed presentations of a collection about one particular person with mementos, photos and objects such as medals and hat bands. At a recent special birthday celebration for Ted Gunn, for example, he presented Gunn with a framed collection of photos of Ted’s father. Rioux’s son will eventually inherit the collection, but he hopes to find a permanent home for his collection with a local military historical society. Besides collecting military artefacts, Rioux also collects food and clothing for the less fortunate. A Knight of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St-Lazarus of Jerusalem, he and his associates collect essential items and donate them to local charitable organizations, including, for the past two years, the Community Christmas Hamper Campaign.

Dennis Rioux surrounds himself with paintings, ships’ bells, barometers, military hats, stamp collections, and more! (Photo by Shirley Nadeau)