Sid Doucette is being remembered as a man with an infectious passion for real estate.
The man behind those ubiquitous yellow Doucette Realty signs died April 12 following a long bout of illness. He was 72.
Over the more than 30 years he ran Doucette Realty, he developed a reputation as someone who could be trusted in helping people make what is often the most important purchasing decision in their lives.
It was also that reputation that helped Doucette draw a following of real estate agents who would stay with him for years.
"In the real estate business, it's all about trust, it really is," said Kirk Gable, who does commercial real estate out of the firm's downtown office. "Despite the smooth marketing campaigns and the sexy Facebook ads and all of that, it's really about trust."
Doucette, who grew up in North Battleford, Sask., was born into a family of entrepreneurs.
His father ran a barber shop, his mother was a furrier, his sister owned a hair salon and his brother a dress shop.
According to a posting on the Doucette Realty website, his sales career began in 1958 when he became a parts man at an automotive dealership in North Battleford. Two years later, he took on a job at Peoples Jewellers, rising to the position of area manager.
In 1972, he and wife Eleanor took a transfer to Prince George to run the store at Parkwood Mall after Peoples bought it from Marlow Jewellers. When Peoples wanted to transfer them again, they decided to stay.
When he wasn't on the road selling chemicals and light bulbs to sawmills and sewing machines to hardware stores around the province, Doucette worked on getting a real estate licence, said son Martin Doucette, who followed in his father's footsteps and has been an agent since 1991.
By 1975, he was working for Canada Trust Real Estate and by 1977, he and two partners started the first Century 21 office in Prince George.
Doucette excelled at his job. In 1981 he was Century 21's top salesperson in Canada and was fourth among Century 21 agents worldwide. He was among the 10 most productive salespeople in the old Caribou Real Estate Board for 11 years in a row.
In 1984, Doucette opened Doucette Realty.
Hans Johansen, who agreed to merge his Metric Realty with Doucette Realty in 1998, attributed Doucette's success to the "Saskatchewan work ethic."
Although there were other interested parties, Johansen said he chose to merge with Doucette because "I respected the guy and he conducted his business in the same way we did, in a very trustworthy way. And I polled the salespeople and they said it's got to be Doucette, it won't be anyone else."
Doucette was also an innovator.
Rather than taking a percentage of agents' commissions, he charged them a fee for the use of his office and brand.
"When I was a salesman in my earlier days, I always felt I wasn't getting fair pay for my performance, so I came up with what I think is a better way," Doucette said in a 2009 advertorial in The Citizen celebrating the firm's 25th anniversary.
Doucette was a big proponent of goal setting for the year, right down to vacation time. He was also a believer in motivation and was a fan of Tony Robbins, the famed self-improvement coach.
Perhaps just as important, Doucette kept the office small - 15 to 18 agents - and avoided spending on "frivolous choices" that could come back to hurt the office if times turned tough.
"He had a completely different style, a different concept," said Bob Quinlan, a real estate agent who knew Doucette since he first moved to Prince George and still wears a watch he bought from him more than 40 years ago.
Eleanor said her husband "lived to work" and didn't like to be away from the office for very long. But there were family holidays - Mexico was one of his favourite destinations - and Martin remembers his father being involved in all the things families do, like downhill skiing and going to the lake.
Doucette was also a long-time Cougars fan and he had time for community service. From 2001 to 2006, he was the co-chair of the Kiwanis Club's Friends of Children Golf Classic.
Doucette had a "great sense of humour" and would often use email to send jokes to staff, Gable said.
There were also plenty of office get-togethers that created a family atmosphere among the staff and agents.
Martin said his father was a more "rounded character" than people may give him credit for.
Friends and family are anticipating a packed house when a memorial service for Doucette is held this Saturday at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 3590 Dufferin Ave, 2 p.m. start.
