HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-09-08, Page 7Citizens News, September 8, 1976 -Page 7
Vi rna's general store no more
It's the atmosphere of the
place. It hits you as soon as you
walk in the door. The bell above
the door tinkles a warm greeting
and the smell of freshly baked
pies floods around you. The well-
oiled wood floor creaks softly as
you move about, almost as if it
were sighing after so many years
of faithful service. You are in
Ida McClinchey's general store in
Varna.
Ida has run the store for 21
years and she has somehow man-
aged to retain the flavour of all
those years. Now the store 'has
been sold and Ida is retiring to
become a bride and live in
Clinton. She has earned it,
The store is full of "every-
thing a farmer and his wife
needs," says Ida. "I tried to
keep it that way, down to the
basics." .
The grocery selection is basic,
and Ida admits they were not
very important to her. "I was
more interested in the gift items
and toys and my lunch counter
and baking than I was in the
grocery shelves." she laughs.
Ida carried basic farm tools,
gloves, caps, work pants and
shirts, small gift items and toys
in her store.
"I think every child in town has
a birthday party and rather than
go to another town everybody
buys their presents here."
But the real hub of the small
store is the lunch counter which
acts as a gathering place for the
local farmers.
"In the mornings the stools at
the counter are full and more men
just stand- around. They have
their coffee and talk about their
crops and machinery. Some of the
men have been coming in here
in the mornings for 17 years or
more. Many of the young farmers
I get in now are the boys I taught
in Sunday school years ago. In
the winter they may stay an hour
or more."
The 21 years in the general
store have been busy ones for Ida,
working as many as 16 hours a
day during the summer months,
but she says she enjoyed it.
"Being busy keeps life inter -
;sting and I've met all kinds of
nice people." she says.
Ida never advertised her store,
this was done freely by the cust-
omers she garnered over the
years, Her baking made her gen-
eral store a popular place, espe-
cially with the cottagers in the
summer. If you have ever looked
hungrily at her huge butter
tarts all brown and crispy or
tasted a piece of her raspberry
custard pie, you will know why
her summer customers keep com-
ing back year after year.
Up until three years ago Ida
also used to bake bread, both
wholewheat and white.
"One summer I would start
a batch of bread at 11 p.m. and
set the alarm for two hours
later. Then I would get up, knead
that batch into shape and start
another batch, again setting the
alarm for a couple of hours. This
would go on and on and X could
make 58 loaves of bread in a
single day."
Ida also used to make glazed
donuts but they were a lot, of
trouble and were not very nice
the next day so they didn't last
too long.
Her lunch business has always
been good, "as much as I can
handle on my own and some-
times more". It was hard to get
help in the store because "you
never knew when you were going
to be busy."
Ida will be sad to leave Varna,
she feels she may lose the close
contact she has enjoyed with the
community for so many years.
The church especially means a
lot to her. She has been attend-
ing the Varna Church for 40
years and feels part of it.
"But I guess I can always come
back to visit" she muses, then
smiling warmly, "after all, I'm
only going to Clinton and that's
not so very far is it."
ria
WITH 10% OFF EVERYTHING in the store, Ida McClinchey
was kept busy last week. After running the general store in
Varna tor 21 years, Ida closed her doors Saturday and retired.
Above Joyce Armstrong takes advantage of the discounts and
stocks up on a few groceries. Photo by McKinley
Canada's most prolific inve;•tor
Details of one of Canada's
most prolific but largely for-
gotten inventors are disclosed for
ALWAYS READY TO GIVE SOME FRIENDLY ADVICE—Ida
McClinchey was never too busy to help her customers find
exactly what they wanted in her general store in varna. Above,
she helps 'mann Taylor find just the right shade of floss before
closing her doors last Saturday and retiring. Photo by McKinley
HUMAN NATURE
Allow.a man the little he wants
in life and he'll kick himself for
not asking for nine,
INITIATIVE
The ambitious youth strikes
out for himself ---the lazy one de-
pends on a pinch hitter.
the first time in a booklet just the Canadian decided to stake Undaunted, the inventor quick -
published by Union Carbide
Canada Limited.
Thomas "Carbide" Willson,
who was born on an Ontario
farm in 1860, was responsible for
some 60 inventions—more than
one for every year of his life—
ranging from an electric arc
light (which he patented when he
was 21) to the most successful
navigational aids of the time.
His most important discovery,
however, was an accident: while
he was looking for a way to pro-
duce aluminum in an electric
furnace, he found the first com-
mercial method of making cal-
cium carbide and its by-product
acetylene gas.
Acetylene lighting was used
almost immediately in everything
from automobiles and lighthouses
to miners' lamps and floodlights
on construction sites and farms.
in started
And as electric light g
to replace acetylene in the early
1900's, the oxy-acetylene welding
and cutting process was unfolded
to provide a cornerstone for auto-
mobile mass production and
many other industries.
Willson, who was anxious to
move into new projects, sold his
calcium carbide patents to a
group that formed the Union
Carbide Company in 1898,
signalling the birth of the world-
wide manufacturing organization,
then he plunged into a wide
range of innovative undertak-
ings in Canada.
Although he lived in the
opulence necessary to gain the
confidence of high-level back-
ers—he owned the first motor-
car in Ottawa and built a mansion
on a 460 -acre estate near the.
city -his wife seldom had more
than five dollars in her purse
because Willson was always
ploughing, back his money into
his next invention.
Towards the end of his life,
almost everything he owned on a ly raised $20 million for a hydro -
plan to make nitorogen-based electric and industrial complex
fertilizer. He mortgaged his near Churchill Falls, Labrador,
property—he owned more Que- foreshadowing the current mass-
bec timber and water rights than ive development there by some 60
anyone —but the deal fell through years, but died of a heart attack
when he found he couldn't meet before he could get his project
the mortgage interest payments. under way.
BLADE OR SHORT RIB
ROASTS La 89
CROSS R I B
Roast
Chicken Breasts
Chicken Legs
CHAPMAN'S
ice Cream
LB 99`
LB 9®79
LB 99
2 LITRE 99
Inquire about prices on sides and quarters of Local Feed
Lot Beef,
We will cut and wrap to your specification
CUSTOM SLAUGHTERING
BEEF MONDA Y PORK TUESDA Y
Laporte Meat Market.
MAIN ST ZURICH 2364962