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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1988-04-19, Page 20et auto -electric basin After many years in business on the main street of Winghaln, Fred and Grace McGee are retiring at the end of this month and closing their auto -electric shop. McGee Auto Electric Ltd. was formed in 1968, but the McGees have been in their current location much longer. Mr. McGee bought the building 20 years ago from his father-in-law, Robin E. Campbell, who came to Wingham in 1936 to carry on this area's first exclusive Canadian Tire business. Leaving the building will be especially difficult for Mrs. McGee as she lived upstairs as a child and has worked full-time in the store since 1950, first with her father and then with her husband, even while raising three children. Even though it will be difficult to leave their loyal customers, both Mr. and Mrs. McGee decided to sell the building and retire when ap- proached by a developer. The building has been sold to Ontario No. 737396 Ltd. and although engine repairs. the McGees are not certain what its They also have sold snowmgbile fate will be, the buyers have ' and lawn; and ;garden,pY, t ;; promised to makethose details public in the near future. • Away back in 1936, Wingham was a booming town when Robin Campbell came to locate here with his Canadian Tire franchise. It was, and still is to a certain extent, the hub of the farming community, says Mr. McGee. The Campbells worked hard in those early years and young Grace came to work full-time in the family business in 1950, the same year a young man named Fred McGee walked into the store. One thing led to another and Fred joined the staff in 1952 as service manager. He also married Grace that year. They carried on with Canadian Tire until 1968 when Mr. Campbell sold the building to his son-in-law, who decided to specialize in auto - electric, automotive and small FRED & GRACE McGEE are retiring from their main street auto - electric business after 20 years. However, the couple has worked at the Josephine Street location since the early 1950s and Mrs. McGee, the former Grace Campbell, lived above the store as a child. ADVERTISING PAYS Spiders don't Mad an easy life. Newspaper advertising creates the kind of curtonser traffic spiders hate and merchants love. If you're a badness owns who sewer to Mark Twain Said,. "The spider looks for a merchant who doesn't advertise so he can spin a web across his door and lead a life of undisturbed peace" be seeing far too many lately, Live errs a call, Our retail display and dassifled advertising. departments can create the kind of advertMing you need to send lazy spiders on their way. 357-2320 THE WINGHAM ADVANCE -TIMES fact,. Nfr'1�.34 4400 Deere 16 sales awardtti 197879 for selling 1 Snowmobile units. Wingham and area have beenkk in to the McGees over the years an they especially value their friends' the farming community. Time change though, says Mrs. McGee Years ago people used to be content to come in and chat, but toda everyone seems to be in a hurry. McGee' Auto Electric's motto ove he years has been "sales backed b service" and Mr. McGee says they have worked very hard to put that into practice every day. Atone time 3 employees were on staff and ov 5 employees were trained in o spect or another of the business Including sons Bob and Ron. Bob currently is a servic manager in Goderieh, while Ron ontinues to work in the family business. His wife Sue joined the taff in 1982 as inventory conte lerk. Over the years the McGees have ad other interests outside the usiness, including the church, ons Club and Lodge..Mr. McGee as . a fireman for 17 years and urrently sits on the Wingham oard of Police Commissioners and opes now to be able to devote more me to his duties there. They also hope to travel and spend ore time with their children and grandchildren. d - d s y t 1 3 a c s c b Li w c h ti m r y err ne e 01 TALENT ON PARADE Paulette Lippert and her partner, Jeff :Mur- ray, sang "Somewhere Out There" at the recent "Talent on Parade" program at the Wingham Town Hall. The variety night waspresented by the Wingham Canadettes,_ are to ream1.,' theme of ducation Week this year "Dare to Dream" is the theme of this year's Education Week and schools in Wingham and area will be marking it with special events Monday through Friday. At the F. E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham, Principal Ken Wood said several students were chosen to participate in a simulated board of education meeting Monday at the Huron County Board of Education office in Clinton. Mr. Wood said Carrie Fortune was chosen to represent Howick and Turnberry Townships, Jeff Mann represented the Town of Wingham, while Katrina Somers represented the Townships of Morris and East Wawanosh and Blyth. Chris Clark, president of the Madill students' council, assumed the role of superintendent of programming for the mock exer- cise. All the students attended the regular April board of education meeting where they received . in- formation packages, said Mr. Wood. Among the topics discussed were smoking in board buildings, AIDS in education and French immersion. Other events planned for the high school this week include a paper- back book fair each day from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., a kick-off assembly Monday morning and the students' counciI's annual fund-raising chocolate bar sale. There also will be severalguests appearing at the school this week, including a representative of the Blyth Festival, a storyteller and several area public librarians. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Local elementary schools also have activities planned for this week. Some events are common to all schools, for example, Monday's balloon release, but each school has special events scheduled. At the Wince Public School, there will be a spring concert Wednesday evening, April 20, at7:30 p.m. There also will be talent shows in the gymnasium in the mornings., Sacred Heart School will hold a talent night this Thursday, starting at 7:45 p.m., says Principal Jim Steffler. Also in conjunction with Education Week, several students will be in Stratford with their science fair projects. There will be an open house for parents Wednesday and Thursday at the East Wawanosh Public School and Kindergarten registration is slated for Thursday afternoon. Wednesday is the big day at the Turnberry' Central School when it hosts "Generation -Appreciation Day" for people of all ages. The school choir will perform at. 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and there also will be a play presented by the Grade 3 class. The school's radio station also will be in operation, says Principal John Mann and parents are welcome. Marg Donaldson of the Wellington County Board of Education spoke on "Whole Language" Monday evening at the Howick Central School. There will be a music night this Wednesday, April 20, at the Howick school, starting at 8 p.m., as well as a book sale. The Grade 5-6 class will present an assembly Friday mor- ning. MEED` Al' TEA TABLE — 8ara Anstett greeted her friend, Emrna Beattie, at the recent tea and bake sale held at the Masonic Lodge in Winghain.