It was late December in 1984 and my friend, Gwennie Brown, was hosting her annual Christmas party.

Paul Wilson, eggnog in hand, waylaid me in Gwennie’s hallway.

“I want to talk to you,” he said excitedly. “I’m thinking of running for council next year.”

“Then, Paul, we should talk,” I (probably with eggnog in hand) replied. “I’m thinking of running for mayor.”

As it turned out, we both did and we both won.

Paul and his wife, Gillian, lived in Monaghan Ward, but he ran in Town Ward, which proved to be the perfect spot for him. The most eclectic of the city’s five wards, it had a healthy population of Trent students, both current and past. And Paul was immensely popular at Trent.

He came to Peterborough in 1966 as the university’s founding athletic........

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