Feature ArticleNovember 28, 2001
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Denis and Lettie Dinelle leaving Sharbot Lake after 25 yearsBy David BrisonDenis and Lettie Dinelle bought the Sharbot Lake Motor Inn in 1976 and operated it until 2 years ago when they sold it to Cathy and Dave Saban. They are now in the process of buying a B & B in Friesland, Holland and will shortly leave on what they regard as a five-year venture. They retain property in Sharbot Lake and could possibly return at the end of the five years.
The Dinelles both started in the restaurant/hotel business early. Denis was working in a kitchen in Ottawa at the age of 13 and Lettie worked in her aunts hotel in Holland at a young age.
The couple met in 1969 in Switzerland. They were both working at a hotel in Zermatt near the Matterhorn. Denis, who had taken a three-year chef program at Algonquin College in Ottawa, was working in the kitchen and Lettie was a receptionist.
They
initially were considering a hotel in Richmond along with the one in
Sharbot Lake. Their
accountant/business advisor thought that Richmond was a dead town and
Sharbot Lake a better bet. They
were also encouraged by talks with Wayne Robinson.
Denis was sold by the kitchen.
He said, I had worked in kitchens all my life and knew a
good one when I saw it.
The early years were very prosperous ones and the business remained solid through the years. When they bought, the pub was open seven days a week, the rooms were filled and the restaurant was busy.
Ice fishing was a major activity in the winter until, Denis says, the Ministry of Natural Resources closed the lake trout season. He recalls the days when there were 50 or 60 huts on the ice. The hotel ran a very popular ice fishing tournament during those years.
Several well known guests stayed at the hotel over the years: Margaret Trudeau with her children from her second marriage, Terry Fox, David Peterson, then the Premier of Ontario, Dan Aykroyd, and the son of the Prince Phillip of Spain.
The Dinelles have, over the years, invested in property around Sharbot Lake. They owned, developed, and sold two islands in the lake and built a large stone house on the hill opposite the Simonette financial centre. They have sold this house to a couple from Dorsett, England who will operate it as a B & B.
Denis
and Lettie both cut familiar figures in the town.
Lettie rides her bike, with its nice woven basket, around the
village and Denis, who has competed in ten triathlons, runs along Road
38 to St. George Lake and back.
Lettie says, This [going to Holland] is something that I have to get out of my system. I think it is dull to stay in the same place all the time. She will be more involved than Denis in running the B & B. He will, she says; probably play a lot of golf.
They will both miss friends and swimming in the lake. They could be back but it is not hard to envision them getting into other business ventures.
