In focus: former OHS alum Peter Corriveau

On February 17, 1928, the population of Millersburg, a community hovering around a few hundred residents, increased by one. Peter Corriveau was born the second oldest and second son of Edmund and Clara Corriveau. He was one of five siblings and grew up on the family farm.

His formal education began in a four-room schoolhouse. From the beginning he liked learning and excelled in reading, math and history. As a young boy he listened attentively to the radio, soaking up the news of the Second World War, while he felt its impact through the absence of his older brother and the rationing of gas and other goods. Peter had read and heard about the larger world. Then when he was ready to enter the 11th grade, Peter’s world expanded.

Changes in school boundaries took him out of the small schoolhouse to the halls of Onaway High School. He went from being one of a handful of students to part of a larger, active community. He mastered the art of involvement and responsibility as he played on the baseball, basketball, and football teams and then raced home to milk the cows and help with other farm chores.

Peter especially enjoyed navigating math problems. In his final year he took an advanced math class with two other students. The trio plowed through books, devouring learning like a Thanksgiving meal. This appetite for numbers, along with a desire to see a bigger world, came into play when Peter joined the Army in 1946. He spent nine months of a nearly three year military career at Michigan College of Mining and Technology, now known as Michigan Technological University, in the state’s Upper Peninsula.

YET AGAIN, the door opened to show Peter a bigger world as his military duties took him to places such as New York City. Once he completed his enlistment he enrolled in the University of Detroit to complete his education. In 1950, he earned a degree in civil and structural engineering. His marks were consistently high, earning him an invitation into the Engineering Honor Society.

Now calling the Detroit area his home, Peter began his career as a draftsman and designer for a conveyor firm. Over the next decade he was promoted to project manager and helped the company grow until it was sold, at which point he decided to join another firm. Three years after working for a structural steel company, Peter launched Corvo Iron Works, Inc., a miscellaneous iron and steel fabricating firm. The business started in a humble shop on Sunnydale Drive.

Over the next 25 years it would grow to include two shops totaling 120,000 square feet with capabilities of producing up to 2,000 tons of steel per month. Along with keen engineering and project management skills, Peter proved to be a visionary.

In 1978, he stepped away from traditional methods and invested in computer-aided fabricating. From there, he grew the company to be the second largest structural steel fabricating and erecting firm in the state. His steel is part of hundreds of buildings including Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, Renaissance Center, Cobo Hall and the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Along with Corvo Iron Works, Inc., Peter partnered with four others to form Detroit Tubing Mill. Each year the mill produced 60 million feet of steel tubing. In 1988 Peter sold Corvo Iron Works, Inc. Eight years later he retired completely and sold his interest in Detroit Tubing Mill.

Since retiring Peter has traveled extensively, touching every continent except South America and Antarctica. His favorite itinerary includes a tee time. He has walked the fairways and driven the greens of Augusta, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and Oakland Hills, among many other golf courses. He fits his affinity for golf into retirement by splitting his time equally between his residences in Farmington Hills and Marco Island, Florida.

On October 4. 1952, Peter married Virginia Rehberg, whom he had met two years earlier on a blind date. She was a student at Marygrove College in Detroit and went on to b

ecome an elementary school teacher. The two bought a home in Farmington Hills, where they raised four children — two boys and two girls. The house is slightly quieter now except for holidays when it erupts with noise from their nine grandchildren.

Peter is active in his community and his faith. For 49 of the last 50 years of first weekends in January, Peter has attended a three-day retreat at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Center in Detroit. The steel cross in front of the church was manufactured in Peter?s company?s shop and stands as a testament to this man?s accomplishments, vision and faith.

(Submitted by Audrey Casari, who wrote a historical account about the OHS Class of 1945 for the Onaway Historical Museum)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.