Phidelem Sinai Demers (1887-1973)

Portrait from the Sanford Tribune, April 16, 1959.

  Possessing one of the more exotic-sounding names you'll see on a roster of past Maine state legislators, Phidelem Sinai Demers was a native of Quebec, Canada who, following removal to the United States, began a long career as a pharmacist in York County, Maine. In addition to his chosen vocation, Demers also cultivated a reputation as one of Sanford, Maine's leading citizens, being a past president and treasurer of the Maine Pharmaceutical Association, a member of the Maine State Commission of Pharmacy, and a two-term state representative from York County. 

  Demers' story begins with his birth in Saint-Fortunat, Quebec, Canada on November 11, 1887, being the son of Telesphore (1847-1950) and Henriette (Lamontagne) Demers. During a long life that extended more than a century (he lived to age 102), Telesphore Demers and his wife raised thirteen children and he himself would achieve success in local Canadian politics, serving as mayor of Saint Fortunat and as school board president. Telesphore removed to Maine with his family in 1890 and after a brief residence in Springvale, settled in the town of Sanford, where he resided until his death.

  Young Phidelem Demers would attend "parish and public schools" in Maine and during his youth worked in a drug store. This work would have a lasting effect on Demers, and after deciding upon a career as a pharmacist enrolled at the University of Buffalo's College of Pharmacy. Following his studies, he earned his New York and Maine pharmacy certificates in 1909 and in the following year joined with his elder brother Donat in establishing a pharmacy on Sanford's "east side." Phidelem Demers married in Maine in April 1912 to Laura Brunelle (1886-1947), with whom he had two sons, Edouard (died in infancy in 1914) and Arthur (1916-1998), the latter also becoming a pharmacist.

   After several years of operating a pharmacy with his brother Donat, Demers sold his interest to his brother and in 1914 opened his own pharmacy, which continued until 1916. After the sale of that pharmacy Demers removed to Rumford, Maine to join the Rumford Drug Store, where he was employed until 1919, afterward returning to Sanford to operate his own pharmacy. In 1923 he purchased the Philip Woods Drug Store, which he continued to operate for over three decades.

  Through the following decades, Demers' status as one of York County's established pharmacists saw him maintain longtime memberships in both the York County and Maine Pharmaceutical Associations. His five-decade-long career in his field saw him hold both the presidency and treasurership of the Maine Pharmaceutical Association and was a member of the Cumberland County Pharmaceutical Association and treasurer of the Maine Independent Merchants Legislative Council. Further honors came Demers' way in 1937 when he was given the American Druggist Award for Service to Pharmacy, and in 1947 was appointed by Governor  Horace Hildreth to the Maine State Board of Pharmacy, serving a three-year term. 

From the Sanford Tribune and Advocate, November 30, 1933.

   While distinguished as a pharmacist, Phidelem S. Demers' time in political office is another noteworthy aspect of his life story. He began his political career at the local level, being a member of the Democratic town and county committees. He was first elected as a member of Sanford's school superintending committee in the early 1930s and was later a trustee for the Sanford Water District for over twenty years, first being elected in 1943. In 1934 Demers announced his candidacy for the Maine House of Representatives and in September of that year won the election, polling 3,014 votes. 

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1935-37 session, Demers' first term saw him introduce legislation that would establish a "representative town meeting form of government" for Sanford, as well as an act that changed the name of the Nasson Institute in Sanford to Nasson College. He would win a second term in 1937, polling 3,246 votes, and sat on the committee on Public Health. The 1937-38 term also saw Demers help draft a new Maine state pharmacy law, taking to the floor of the house to outline the bill's benefits, remarking:

"The purpose of this bill is to regulate the practice of pharmacy, to regulate the sale of poisons, to eliminate certain evil practices, which have been a menace to the public health, and to revise and clarify the present apothecary law, so as to make it workable. Due to our very liberal pharmacy laws,  we find variety stores camouflaged to look like drug stores, selling poisons and other dangerous drugs without discrimination."

From the September 10, 1936 Sanford Tribune and Advocate.

   Following his terms in the legislature, Phidelem Demers returned to his work in Springvale and remained active in other Springvale civic organizations, including a stint as president of the Springvale Rotary from 1947-48 and as a trustee for the Springvale Public Library, serving well into the 1960s. He continued service as a member of the Sanford Water District and retired from his pharmacy in April 1964, being feted with a celebratory dinner at a local steakhouse. Widowed in 1947, Demers would remarry three years later to Aurore Brunelle (1900-1987), who would survive him upon his death. Sources also denote Demers as a keen philatelist with an impressive knowledge of American issues and commemorative issues.

  After many years of service to York County at both the local and state level, Phidelem Sinai Demers died aged 85 on June 6, 1973. He was later interred in the Demers family plot at the St. Ignatius Cemetery in Sanford, Maine.

From the Biddeford Saco Journal, April 17, 1964.