 Paul Joseph Anctil, July 9, 1935 – March 23, 2011
Paul Anctil was familiar to many of us in Cedar Mill as the proprietor of Tilly's Gelato and More. With his wife Barbara, they provided a friendly place to meet friends and enjoy good food and hot drinks. For many others, he was a fellow parishioner at St. Pius X Catholic Church and a leader in many of the service efforts connected with the parish and in the wider community.
Paul and his first wife Mary moved to Oregon in 1967. He was a skilled metal worker trained by his father, and worked for several companies in this trade. In 1976 he purchased a sheet metal business and moved the company to North Portland in 1978, where it operates today as Anctil Heating and Cooling. He retired in 1993, passing the company, which specializes in high-end customized residential and commercial HVAC systems, to his son Tom.
Paul and Mary had eight children. During the Memorial Service, son Michael told several stories illustrating Paul's practical and resourceful side. "In the kitchen there was a long rectangular table with a bench down either side. It was the perfect size because Dad built the benches and the table. The table was actually a piece of plywood affixed to top of a sturdy dinette table. The corners were rounded and, with a tablecloth, it looked great. There were a handful of years when there were eight of us kids at the dinner table; four down either side, with Mom and Dad were at either end. After a number of us left home, Mom said she thought a round table with chairs would be nice for the smaller number that remained. Dad said, "Sounds great." He told her to get a round table cloth and he would grab his saw."
Paul and Mary worked as tireless volunteers for many organizations, including the St. Andrew Legal Clinic, Birth Right, and as a supporter for Catholic education. This increased after his retirement and continued after Mary died in 1999. While working as a volunteer at St. Pius X, he met Barbara Ann Garrova and they married in 2005.
Barbara retired from her job at St. Pius, but the couple felt they were ready for a new challenge so they decided to renovate the little restaurant space in the Milltowner Shopping Center that had previously been Foster's Dinette and then the Hobbitt. They had discovered gelato during their travels, and wanted to bring it to the community.
Paul did most of the necessary remodeling himself, despite having only one arm. The shop opened in December 2006, and one or both of them were there almost daily. They sold the business to Leon White in January 2010, shortly before it was discovered that Paul was ill. Leon operated the shop until last fall. It is now Libertine Deli.
During the last year of his life, he was devoted to serving St. Mary's Home for Boys, a Beaverton facility for at-risk boys. After learning that some of them had never had a birthday party, Paul and his brethren in the St. Pius X Knights of Columbus hosted a party for the boys once a month. He spent much of his adult life serving with the Knights of Columbus and, in March 2011, was named Knight of Knights for Assembly 3239, its first such honoree.
He will be missed in this community and by all those whose lives he touched. His confidence, practicality and generosity are a model not only to his family but to all of us.
Paul is survived by wife Barbara, his four sons and four daughters, and two of his seven siblings, and by 28 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Paul requested that donations in his memory be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society c/o St. Pius.
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