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12 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2006 FAX: 519-853-1559 379 Queen St., Acton ON L7J 2N2 ??????????????????????????????????? 519-853-1553 CLOSER AND MORE AFFORDABLE THAN YOU THINK Algarve Portugal l t l Package prices are per person based on double occupancy. New bookings only . Prices subject to change anytime without notice. For full terms and conditions refer Signature Vacations Winter 05/06 brochure. Signature Vacations, a division of First Choice Canada Inc. Ont. Reg #500013562. Air & Hotel Packages Pateo Village 1 Bedroom $668 $788 2 Weeks 3 Weeks Vila Gale Atlantico Kitchenette $698 $938 2 Weeks 3 Weeks Vila Petra Aparthotel Full Kitchen $828 $1028 2 Weeks 3 Weeks Real Bellavista Includes Breakfast $898 $1128 2 Weeks 3 Weeks Additonal fees and taxes $187 Toronto Departures Monday January 23/06 Air only $498/2 weeks Harry Nortons 90 Worked around the globe but came back to Acton to retire By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner Actons Harry Norton, 90, travelled the world to find himself. When I worked for my dad in Acton I was Bills boy but in South America, I was shop foreman and my title was in charge of land, sea and air. I wasnt just Bills boy I was Harry Norton, and I think thats what kept me there. The time I was home I was just Bills boy. I dont know if thats what held me there or not, but I was somebody down there, Norton said on Monday as he reminisced about his nine decades of life all over the globe, the last three, in retirement in Acton. On Sunday, many of Nor- tons family and friends helped him celebrate his 90th birthday with a party in the common room at his Birchway Place residence. On Tuesday, Norton, who said he was embarrassed by all the fuss, and other Acton seniors with January birthdays were feted at a luncheon at the Acton Se- niors Centre. Harry was the son of Wil- liam Robert and Ellie Mae Chapman Johnson, and older brother of Harold and Marjorie, who now lives down the hall from Harry at Birchway Place. Harry was born in the prairie town of United, Sas- katchewan, on January 10, 1916, and as a boy moved with his family to Moose Jaw and Calgary, and then to Toronto where his father was shop foreman at a Ford dealership. When the Ford dealership in Acton became available, it was offered to Harrys dad who opened a garage and dealership in Febru- ary, 1929, in a livery stable where Eds In-N-Out Vari- ety is now located on Main Street. We kids stayed in Toron- to until the end of the school year and I remember it was my last day of public school and the van was loaded and we threw my bicycle on top and we came to Acton to the house dad had bought, right across from the Cenotaph, Norton said. Unfortunately, as the fam- ily settled in to Acton, Mrs. Norton became ill and died of cancer in 1931, at a time when there was no univer- sal health care or medical support. My dad had a hell of a job paying for it, but he in- sisted on a private room for her. It was a real scramble in the end of it, we lost the house and Dad built a garage that was across from the old Station Hotel, Norton said, adding his dad eventually sold the building to Art Gordon, who oper- ated a Canadian Tire store on the site. As a young man, Norton followed the lead of his brother when things were slow at the Acton garage and dealership and worked in the mines in Northern Ontario and at a Sudbury Ford dealership. He was left with a handi- cap from his days in the mines 10 years after get- ting what he thought was some dirt or dust in his eye, doctors found a piece of steel in his eye and had to remove the eye. Through their contacts at Ford, the Nortons learned that Imperial Oil was look- ing for a mechanic to look after its fleet of Ford ve- hicles in Columbia, South America and Harold Norton took the job while Harry Norton worked for his dad, honing his skills and earning his papers as a mechanic. During this period, Norton met the love of his life his wife Dorothy MacArthur, who he married on October 9, 1940 in the Knox Presby- terian Church Manse, now a private house located across the street from St. Albans Church. (When Nortons grand- daughter was ge t t ing married, he went to the owners of the house and showed them the picture of he and his bride on their wedding day on the porch and received permission for his granddaughter and her groom to be photographed on that same porch on their wedding day, along with Norton and his wife.) Harold came home for vacation and they sent me down to South American to BIRTHDAY BOY: Actons Harry Norton celebrated his 90th birthday with a party at the Acton Seniors Centre on Tuesday. Frances Niblock photo REMEMBER WHEN: In February 1929, Harry Nortons father Bill, sold this Model A Ford from his new Ford dealership in Acton, located in a livery stable on Main Street North, now home to Eds In-N-Out Variety. Harry Norton reminisced about those days on Tuesday as he celebrated his 90th birthday. Submitted photo Continued on page 14