Sources of Montreal-W

CHARLES ERNEST (CHARLIE) DORMAN
(1904- )

From "A Dorman Arrangement"
By Karl Sack

Charles Ernest (Charlie) Dorman was born on the 24th of March 1904 in Montreal, son of James William Dorman and Isabella Marriah Fackrell. He was the 7th son of the 7th son and was named ‘Septimus’. The ‘7th son of the 7th son’ is supposed to have healing powers. This proved to be true during Charlie’s lifetime. Charlie joined the St. John Ambulance Brigade (Lieut-Colonel Herbert Molson Division No. 50) on the 29th of October 1940 at the age of 36. He was an active member and saved numerous lives in the Montreal area during his 19 years of service. All of his service time was volunteer work.

Charlie worked at many jobs from Butcher to Mortician to Insurance Salesman at Prudential. During the 1930's Charlie worked at the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal. In the early 1940's he worked for Elmhurst Dairy Limited as a milkman also in Montreal. In the mid 1950's he worked as an 'Assistant Medical Officer' for the Department of National Defense at Lake St. Peter in Quebec at the radar base near Nicolet, Quebec. He was also a sports trainer for the Montreal Police Department (1945 - 1949) and for Loyola College (1949-1950). Charlie was very outgoing. He knew a lot of people. According his brother Frank Dorman, Charlie was also nicknamed ‘Squirrel’ because he was nuts!

Here is an article that appeared in the St. John Ambulance Newsletter section 'People You Know':

“Agent Charles Dorman of Montreal has an interesting and highly unusual hobby; he saves lives. To date he has saved eleven people from violent deaths and administered artificial respiration and first aid to numerous others.

A corporal in Number 50 Montreal Ambulance Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, Charlie was the first resident of Quebec to ever to be awarded the 'Life Saving Medal' of the Order of St. John. This honour was presented to him for the rescue of a woman and her brother from a burning building in Verdun in 1942, but the record of his heroism goes far beyond a single incident.

It was in 1930, as an employee of the Canadian Pacific Railway, that Charlie Dorman became interested in first aid. That year was awarded the St. John's First Aid Certificate. Ten years later he joined the Ambulance Unit in the Brigade of which he is still a member.

During the summer of 1944 he rescued two children who had been overcome by smoke from a burning summer cottage. In November 1945, he helped a mother and her two children to safety from their burning home.

Charlie hasn't however, confined his efforts to fires. For many years he was a familiar figure on Laurentian ski trails and has applied innumerable splints, bandages and slings for luckless skiers who schussed when they should have slalomed. In August 1949, he assisted in pulling nine young men from the waters of the St. Lawrence River. Five of these responded to artificial respiration but for the others it was too late.

In December of last year, Corporal Dorman was awarded the 'Matthews Trophy' in recognition for "outstanding individual first aid work." His division has won the most efficient Ambulance Division in the country the last five years in a row.

In 1942, Charlie joined Prudential as an agent in Montreal. His knowledge of first aid proved invaluable even in the office, for one day an employee of a company in the same building fainted and fell through a large pane of glass, sustaining serious cuts to his neck and arm. But our man was Charlie on the Spot! His prompt and efficient treatment of the man's injuries received high praise from the doctors who received him at Montreal General Hospital.

An expert on family security and life-saver in every sense of the word - Charlie Dorman is a pretty handy fellow to have around.”

Charlie had a very colourful career. He also delivered milk at Aylmer’s Dairy; bread; and coal. The Mayor of Verdun honoured Charlie in 1942 for his heroic efforts during the fire at the Palace Theatre on Egan Avenue. In the mid 1950's he posed for a picture as the St. John Ambulance Poster as one of "Canada's Finest - In the Service of the Public." Charlie was well known in Montreal. If you said your last name was 'Dorman', people would immediately ask if you were related to Charlie!

See also........

Robert O.Dorman (brother)
Bill Dorman (brother)
Merton Dorman (nephew)

Laurie Dorman (nephew)
Bob Dorman (nephew)

Submitted by Karl Sack ................great nephew (From his book "A Dorman Arrangement")

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