Individual Details
Eileen Cusack
(28 Nov 1919 - 26 Nov 2012)
SYDNEY WOMAN VITAL PART OF BUSINESS LIFE OF DOWNTOWN FOR 50 YEARS WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
TRANSCRIBED FROM A PUBLICATION IN CAPE BRETON POST, JANUARY 27, 2000
Just after her first communion at Sacred Heart Church, seven-year-old Eileen Landry was taken by her family for breakfast at a Sydney hotel that would one day become a central part of her life. "They took me to the dning room at Paul's Hotel and I felt like a queen," recalls Landry, now 81 and the owner-operator of rhe hotel. "But who would have thought that I would be there so many years after that." Fifty years ago, Landry and her late husband, Doug, took over the daily running of the 24-room hotel that has been in the Landry family for over 100 years, raising a family of three sons---D.A., Paul and Colin---in the two-storey building on the Esplanade. Today, Landry still puts in a full day at the hotel, usually followed closely on her rounds by her faithful canine companion, Pug. Besides Landry, two fulltime staff run the hotel. Born in the Ashby area of Sydney, Landry, the daughter of the late Michael and Margaret Cusack, was part of a large family (four brothers served overseas in the Second World War) and recalls a time when the area was a selfsufficient community in its own right. "From Ashby Junction to Ashby Corner; the area had everything: clothing shops, barbershops, confectionery stores and pharmacies. Now, if you want to buy a spool of thread, you have to go downtown." As a young girl, Landry went to Constantine School and then Sydney Academy. Working in Slaven's Drug Store in Ashby led her to a course at Dalhousie University that qualified her as a certified drug dispenser. "I worked in pharmacies for many years," she says. "I retired from Slaven's when I had my family, but went back to work --- Slaven's, Buckley's and Pollett's -- when the children were out of school." But through it all, Paul's Hotel remained a central part of Landry's life. "The hotel has been here for 100 years and I enjoy every aspect of it," she says. "Everything about the business is interesting -- I even get to choose my clientele from among the travelling public." A tour of the hotel reveals an attractively laid out establishment, decoated with restored original furnishings and an abundance of rest areas complete with sofas and chairs. "I do all my own decorating and make all my own drapes,'' she says. "You have to be very versatile and be willing to work at anything to make a success of this business." In recent years, Landry's efforts have not gone unnoticed by the business community. Along with Charlotte Street businessman Harvey Webber, Landry was honoured as one of the two businesspeople to stay in business in downtown Sydney for more than 50 years. As well, Women In Business Conference '99 selected Landry as an Honoree Woman Entrepreneur. But Landry's years of experience in running a family business have also shown her the negative side of business trends in Sydney. In 1938," she says, "we had 138 confectionery stores in Sydney, but since then the big chain stores have come in and pushed them out. "But people are always looking for a small hotel, especially one with a nice, comfortable lobby and a small coffee shop like we have. In fact, I had a fax from a woman in British Columbia the other day, wanting my recipe for scones."
TRANSCRIBED FROM A PUBLICATION IN CAPE BRETON POST, JANUARY 27, 2000
Just after her first communion at Sacred Heart Church, seven-year-old Eileen Landry was taken by her family for breakfast at a Sydney hotel that would one day become a central part of her life. "They took me to the dning room at Paul's Hotel and I felt like a queen," recalls Landry, now 81 and the owner-operator of rhe hotel. "But who would have thought that I would be there so many years after that." Fifty years ago, Landry and her late husband, Doug, took over the daily running of the 24-room hotel that has been in the Landry family for over 100 years, raising a family of three sons---D.A., Paul and Colin---in the two-storey building on the Esplanade. Today, Landry still puts in a full day at the hotel, usually followed closely on her rounds by her faithful canine companion, Pug. Besides Landry, two fulltime staff run the hotel. Born in the Ashby area of Sydney, Landry, the daughter of the late Michael and Margaret Cusack, was part of a large family (four brothers served overseas in the Second World War) and recalls a time when the area was a selfsufficient community in its own right. "From Ashby Junction to Ashby Corner; the area had everything: clothing shops, barbershops, confectionery stores and pharmacies. Now, if you want to buy a spool of thread, you have to go downtown." As a young girl, Landry went to Constantine School and then Sydney Academy. Working in Slaven's Drug Store in Ashby led her to a course at Dalhousie University that qualified her as a certified drug dispenser. "I worked in pharmacies for many years," she says. "I retired from Slaven's when I had my family, but went back to work --- Slaven's, Buckley's and Pollett's -- when the children were out of school." But through it all, Paul's Hotel remained a central part of Landry's life. "The hotel has been here for 100 years and I enjoy every aspect of it," she says. "Everything about the business is interesting -- I even get to choose my clientele from among the travelling public." A tour of the hotel reveals an attractively laid out establishment, decoated with restored original furnishings and an abundance of rest areas complete with sofas and chairs. "I do all my own decorating and make all my own drapes,'' she says. "You have to be very versatile and be willing to work at anything to make a success of this business." In recent years, Landry's efforts have not gone unnoticed by the business community. Along with Charlotte Street businessman Harvey Webber, Landry was honoured as one of the two businesspeople to stay in business in downtown Sydney for more than 50 years. As well, Women In Business Conference '99 selected Landry as an Honoree Woman Entrepreneur. But Landry's years of experience in running a family business have also shown her the negative side of business trends in Sydney. In 1938," she says, "we had 138 confectionery stores in Sydney, but since then the big chain stores have come in and pushed them out. "But people are always looking for a small hotel, especially one with a nice, comfortable lobby and a small coffee shop like we have. In fact, I had a fax from a woman in British Columbia the other day, wanting my recipe for scones."
Events
| Birth | 28 Nov 1919 | Sydney, CB, NS, Can. | |||
| Death | 26 Nov 2012 | Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney, CB, NS, Can. |  | ||
| Alt name | Eileen Landry | ||||
| Reference No | 2910 |
Families
| Spouse | Douglas Landry (1915 - 1992) |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Living |
| Child | Living |
| Father | Michael Emmett Cusack (1889 - 1978) |
| Mother | Margaret Hines (1894 - 1987) |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Pauline Cusack (1930 - 2014) |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Carmel Ann Cusack (1935 - 2013) |
| Sibling | John A. Cusack (1914 - 1979) |
| Sibling | George James Cusack (1916 - 1998) |
| Sibling | Living |
| Sibling | Frank J. Cusack (1913 - 1949) |
| Sibling | Gerald York Cusack (1918 - 1999) |
Endnotes
1. , Tuesday, 27 Nov 2012.