I • BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1973 / . - 500 Gather to Honor The Friendly Milkman Qn^ Admiration accorded , . . received a tcpf « There's a whimsical touch to the serious public service career of Lee Grills. It's pencils. But pencils -- nearly a quarter-million of them -- also helped write his name in the register of Canada's parliamentarians. He's no longer an MP. But, he still has some pencils left around blazoned witih the slogan of his political career; The Friendly Milkman. He even found one in an inside pocket last night as he sat down with the 500 who came to pay personal tribute to Lee Grills, the friend and public servant. The event was testimonial dinner at the Canadian Legion Hall -- a mass gesture of friendliness for the F r i e n d l y Milkman who always insisted he back up a political catchphrase with genuine personal involvement in the 13 years he was C o n s e r v a t i v e MP for Belleville and much of Hastings County. Both the slogan and the aiuiu-ut, «iade an impact that stamped his Commons and community identity as both public and private individuals testified last night. The impression the burly Bellevillian first made as a politician was probably best illustrated by one of the Ottawa p a r l i a m e n t a r y secretary staff attending last night's testimonial. Helen Hassell recalled Mr. G r i l l s ' first day on Parliament Hill in the shape off "this nice, fat, friendly man who pushed a pencil in my hand and said Tm the Friendly Milkman.* " The pencil idea was an advertising carryover from his days in business as a dairy operator -- after he quit farming. That was in 1945 -- when he ordered 1,000 recalled Mr Grills. that Lee used to pass around," reminded fellow Conservative Bill Scott, MP for Victoria-Haliburton. "It was Lee Grills, his personality . . . the un- derstanding of people." And Hastings County Judge Russell Honey, who sat for 10 years as Liberal MP when Mr. Grills was in Ottawa, spoke of his "understanding and sympathy with people. "Only members who have that feeling for humanity and dedication for service that Lee Grills had .. who can be truly effective members of parliament," said the judge. Then there were the national prestige political personalities. Prime Minister Trudeati wrote that the Grills record "fully deserved the respect and admiration accorded by his constituents and colleagues in the House ..." Opposition leader Stan- field's telegram spoke of "dedicated public service and Speaker Lucien Lamoureuxs message stressed a "life of devotion to his community.'* From the testimonials came an impression that the Friendly Milkman at Ottawa meant a political career pursued without rancor. Mr. Grills earlier had in- dicated as much as he waited for the banquet to begin. "My thought/' he claimed, "was always good human relations -~ a much better way than to bully your way through. A man can be aggressive, but not go throwing his weight around." The absence of asperity at the end of a political career received a topping ctf testimony from one more source -- prominent area Liberal Frank Follwell, a former mayor of Belleville who was first elected Liberal MP for Hastings South in 1948, he defeated Mr. Grills' first bid for federal office in 1953. Then, he lost to him in 1957 -- launching the F r i e n d l y M i l k m a n ' s parliamentary career. Mr. Follwell spoke of a firm friendship between the two men reaching back to their early days in Sidney township. Their political: difference added up to one win, one loss each. "It came out even," said Mr. Follwell, as both old opponents shook hands. Chairman for the event wat city barrister Ronald Cass. The order went up yearly. The, after a stint in township and county government he; entered national politics and 1 the supply went up to 10,000 in election years. When he quit last year -- after six federal campaigns -- he figures he's distributed i more than 200,000. "I still have some left." said the 69-year-old retired campaigner. "They're ob- solete now. They were a way of making a contact. A successful symbol -- but only a symbol." The fact there were was more to the Grills' style of politics than pencils was repeatedly emphasized last night. The Grills parliamentary career was "not just pencils \with the Friendly Milkman