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Home My WebLink AboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-06-11, Page 15Gorrie seniors take boat cruise on the Grand The Gorrie Senior Citizens held their annual bus trip on Tuesday, June 3. They en- joyed a boat cruise on the Grand River near Caledonia with roast beef dinner on board and also visited a museum and Conestoga Mall. There were approxi- mately 30 on the trip. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Scott attended the 40th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Hedley of Teeswater held at the Turnberry Tavern on Saturday, June 7. Rela- tives attending were from, Toronto, Kincardine, Don Mills, Weston, Tiverton, Ripley and Kincardine Town- ship. A number from the village attended the McIntosh and Molesworth Garden Parties on Wednesday evening. TEXAN GRILL & GAS BAR Brussels We Thank You for helping us celebrate our 1st Anniversary Prize Winners A Special Thank You to our Sponsors Jill McCutcheon - lawn chair Bill Weber - case coke Cecil Moore - $10 gas Merle Freeman - dinner for two Danny McNeil - case pepsi Barry Golley - lawn chair Debbie Prior - bag of goodies Betty Graber - cleaning products Jim Carter - lunch J.M. Schneiders Canada Packers N.D. Cameron Ltd. Tuckey Bev. Erie & Huron Bev. Courtneys Confect. Rowe Fuels Sunrise Dairy Lloyd* Vera Weber '(,Amway' Canada Ltd.) Texan Grill Thank you for your patronage over the past year and hope we can serve you as well or better in the years to come . Your host & hostess, Bruce and Sharon Weber CRANBROOK STORE OWNERS—Mr. and Mrs. Doug Chubb arid Mr. and Mrs. Siegrfried Schwark owners of the Cranbrook General Store stopped long enough to have their picture taken but hadn't decided yet on Saturday, what the future of the store would be after nobody bid on it at the auction sale. (Photo by Ranney) THE BRUSSELS POST, JUNE 11 .1990 • rtru e Bolger onored by Ma' Bell Cranbrook garage sale a success correspondent ' MRS. MAC ENGEL 887-6645 The garage sale sponsored by ,the Ladies Aid of Knox Church on Wednesday, June 4 was a success. Many articles of clothing etc. were sold and the lunch booth convened by Mrs. Jack Conley and Mrs. John Vanass was kept busy. Watch for the stop signs when driving through. Cran- brook. We now have 4-way stop sign which were put up on Friday. These should help make our corner safer for the children in the area. Mr. and Mrs. Clare Veitch attended the retirement tea on June 3rd for Mrs. 'Carrie Pickard at Wilson school, Oakville. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Stager, Mississauga, visited with Mr. and Mrs. Veitch for the weekend. ' Will Perrie, son of Mr. an Mrs. John A. Perrie, re- ceived his Ph.D. in science from Massachusetts. Institute of Technology in graduation exercises held on Monday, June 2. Mr. and Mrs. Perrie attended the graduation exercises for their son in Boston. At present he is on the staff at University of B.C. Ma Bell is celebrating her 100th anniversary this year and in honor of that, recently held a celebration to honor its life and active members. Gertrude Bolger of Brussels Was just one of the life members who attended. A life member is someone who has retired and is pen- sioned from Bell Canada and an active member is someone with 21 years of service or more. Guests attended dinners on, May 31 at different areas including Sudbury, Orillia, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Lon- don, Brantford, Windsor and Niagara Falls where they heard different speakers on a closed circuit television sys- tem from Toronto. There was also a • similar set-up in Montreal which was seen by Bell employees in Chicoutimi Trois Rivieres, Quebec and Sherbrooke, Mrs. Bolger attended the celebrations in. London with • over 400 people. The oldest life member received an award and some of the people there had as many as 45 and 50 years service with Bell Canada. Mrs. Bolger retired as a Bell Canada employee in 1961 after 33 years.and three months of service. She start- ed out as an operator in . Listowel in 1928 and worked in histowel, Seaforth, an- over and Goderich before retiring from Kitchener. When she first started, phones were operating on he Magneta system. People used to have to crank the to get Central. Later, the board was modernized so that telephone customers just lifted the receiver to get the operator. By the time, Mrs. Bolger went to Kitch- ener, the phone system had been converted to dial. AMUSING MEMORIES Like, many others, Mrs. Bolger has amusing memor- ies of her experiences as an operator like the time she was working in Kitchener and a customer "who wasn't feeling any pain" got dis- gusted, with 'his telephone and came and threw it in the door of the telephone office. When the snow and sleet storms hit and she couldn't get home, Mrs. Bolger was one who had to bunk in at the office as, best she could. A NICE GESTURE Mrs. Bolger thought the 'centennial celebration on Bell Canada's part was a very nice gesture for older people. "They transported us- and everything. They don't forget their old employ- ees, even those who are retired," she said. A man from Bell Canada also comes around to visit retired Bell employees once a year to see if there's anything they need. Mrs. Bolger has, also helped make a contribution to some of the organizations to which Bell has\ donated. She made quilts and the money raised from the ticket •sales on them were donated to make wire dolls for hard of hearing children among other Bell Pioneer causes'. Some of tIte,„ former Bell employees at one time used- to hold a. reunion before Christmastime where they also raised money for such •lorganizations as the Listowel and District Association for the Mentally Retarded. SERVICES Bell employees offered some interesting services in the past, Mrs. Bolger remembered when she was 'in Goderich and the Fall Assizes were held. All the 'cases were settled out of court and the Bell operators managed to get in touch with the men involved to let them know, thus saving time and money. In those days, operators also used to give out inform- ation about where fires were and Mrs. Bolger recalled one gentleman who got rather irate when she told him the fire was in Mr. Johnson's fireplace. What she meant was, that it was in the wall 'behind the fireplace but, lunfortunately, the wording 'didn't come out just that way. Mrs. Bolger's respect for her former employer comp- any is evident as she tells how she started working in Listowel at $7.50 a week in 1928 and paid $5 for board. She doesn't think much of strikes either. She said that during the dirty 30's, the other operators would have taken a day off without pay, rather tlian see one girl discharged. And although some may complain about the high telephone rates, 'Ars. Boger says labor and. high cost of material has put the rates where they are today. If Bell Canada has been good in taking care of its employees even after they have retired, some of that has been returned by the constant loyalty of such for- mer employees as Gertrude Bolger. Gertrude Bolger of Brusspls at Vancouver. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Peter, Bowmanville, spent several days last week visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Earl Dunn. Visiting Mr. and Mrs. Howard Mitchell on the Weekend were their son - Gordon and boys and Mr. and Mrs. Russ Playford and girls, Al-of Thorold. Mr. and Mrs. Leslie: Knight and boys attended the wedding of their nephew Danny Caryl and Joan McLaughlin on Saturday at Watkins Glen, N.Y. • State. They also attended the Ward reunion in Listowel at the Orange Hall on Sunday. YOUNG S Variety •' Party Needs • ,Baked Goods Tobacco ',Groceries • Stationery Good Selection of Father's Day Cards Weekdays 9-9, Holidays & Sundays 12 - 6, Brussels 887-6224