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DO YOU HAVE AN UPCO M ING ROAD T E S T ? Benefit by tJw experience of a form er Ministry of Transportation Driver Examiner Pre test consultation a n d in vehicle coaching WE HELP YOU M EET THE EXPECTATIONS REQUIRED TO PASS YOUR ROAD TE S T To set up a pre-test appointment call The Ex-Examiners a t (416) 726-6050 5^^S«taminer.com >««0ce< * y ^ «n Editor: Wilma Blokhuis Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 250) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: blokhuis@haltonsearch.com WEU ).\H SD A Y. l- E B R t A R Y 4. 2 (X )4 · I 'age: m FOCUS 01OAKVILIK FOURTH LINE AUTO G O O D Y EA R For AH Your Carts Needs Drive Clean Emission Testing Government Safety Inspection 1Uw-Ups · Brakes · Exhaust ·Coding Systems C M Approved Shop v__________________ I________________ / 5 5 9 Speere Road (905) 842-3001 Centenarian counts his blessings Retired teacher worked in northern Ontario during Great Depression By Wilma Blokhuis B E A V E R F O C U S E D IT O R llan Fish is living proof that a coffee and a cigar or two a day can lead to a long healthy life. " I never inhaled," he says of his smoking. " I used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day - plus four to five cigars - until my doc tor, (the late) Cam MacArthur got after me 50 years ago to quit smoking. I finally said okay. I'll give up everything except one cigar a day until I'm 85 - and I lived up to that until I was 85. " Now I smoke one cigar a day and another for a special occa sion...and every day is a special occasion." Fish, a spry thin man with a sharp memory and a ready wit, celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, Jan. 31. Every week day, he meets for coffee with the guys - all years younger - at the White Oak Restaurant, the last remaining old-fashioned dining establishment in downtown Oakville. Somehow, the environ ment suits the men - all of them retired - who congregate in the back of the restaurant to " talk about our inequities and solve the world's problems - everything is laid bare," said Fish of the infor mal `coffee club meetings.' An articulate man. Fish pulls the group's attendance sheet from his pocket " so you can see who came and who paid the $8 for coffee plus s i tip." Attendance is important to this group that started years ago - no one knows for sure how long this `coffee club' has been in exis tence and they haven't always met at the White Oak - before Fish retired and joined more than 30 years ago. ``He's been retired almost as long as he's worked." said Ross Rawlings, a retired businessman and fellow coffee drinker. Fish, a retired teacher, had to know a little bit about everything. He `cut his teeth' teaching in one-room schools up north. " M y first school was in Kipling, half way between North Bay and Sudbury," he remem bered. " I was the only person in that community who wasn't a Norwegian or Swede. I 'm of English extraction. I was at a tworoom school, and the other teacher had Norwegian parents. I always found that interesting. The Scandinavians were wonderful people." He got his start in teaching when a university education was n't a prerequisite. His university degrees would come later in life. " I supplied for a teacher who was on sick leave. I had hitch hiked ail through the north to get to the school. It was very difficult (finding work). 1 went to the school inspector in North Bay and got a call to supply teach in Kipling from October 1933 to Easter 1934. Fish was bom in `tobacco Ron Kuzyk · Oakville Beaver Allan Fish, who celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday Ja n . 31, blows out the candles of a cake he received on Friday at the W hite Oak Restaurant. Fish is part of a coffee club that has met there Monday to Frid ay at 10 a.m. for more than 30 years. The cake is courtesy of his O akville Transit Care-A-Van drivers who take him to the restaurant every morning. country.' in Otterville, near Delhi south of Woodstock, on Jan. 31, 1904. He went to public school in Otterville and high school in Norwich. He graduated from the University of Toronto with two degrees, a Bachelor of Arts in 1948 and Bachelor of Education (then known as Pedagogy) three years later. " I was one course short of getting my Masters, but I had taken another course twice because I liked it so much. 1went to summer school and graduated extramurally," he added. With the Kipling teaching experience under his belt. Fish was ready for a more permanent placement, and landed in Hunta, a railroad stop 13 miles west of Cochrane in 1934. " I started at the South School that used to be only open in the summer. I arrived the year it opened year round. The government had supplied the lumber and the local residents built that school." He taught there from Easter to June. "That fall 1 moved to the North School in Hunta which was very modem. It had indoor toilets and single seats for the students. I had 45 pupils and 35 seats in my classroom. " It was during the deep Depression and there were always 10 pupils absent. The pupils came from a large area." He stayed in Hunta for 14 years. His salary was about $800 a year. While in Hunta, Fish lived in a "tar paper shack" and traveled by rail or hitched rides. He bought his first car, a 1923 Model T Ford, " an 11-year-old car that needed two new tires and four spark plugs," in 1934. He needed it to drive from Hunta to Timmins to visit his girlfriend. " At around the same time, I was registering for another uni versity course, and I had my letter ready, but not the $25 I needed. buy presents for every pupil in that school. It was a personal shopping trip he made every year." That school had 16 classrooms and accommodated about 560 pupils. " All of the teachers got books." Fish stayed in Schumacher for 1 1 years, and his salary had increased to about $2,000 annual lyThen it was on to accept a pro motion in Fort Frances as super vising principal. " It was quite a promotion. My salary went up to $2,900 a year. `There were two schools when I arrived, a 25-room senior school for all grades and six-room junior school that went up to Grade 6. After Grade 6, the stu dents went to the senior school." After about 1 1 years in Fort Frances, Fish drove to Oakville in his brand new 1952 Ford in 1953, having landed a job as supervis ing principal for four schools Old Central, Westwood, Oakwood and Brantwood - of which only Oakwood and Brantwood remain in operation. (See 'M eal' p a g e B2) BRIDAL SHOWCASE 6:30 p.m. - Le Dome Banquet Hall 1173 North Service Rd. E. F EA T U RES: · Door Prizes ·Free Wedding Planners · Fashion Show · Special Displays ·Gift Bags For Every Bride ·Enter to win a Honeymoon trip to Bermuda from Today's Bride " He's been retired almost as long as he's worked." ·Ross Rawlings, coffee club friend " So I decided to sell my car, and a guy came along and asked me how much I wanted for the car and I said $45 and offered me $25 down. I now had the $25 for my university course, but he never paid me the rest. I heard he wrecked the car about a week later." Then "came the opportunity of my life," continued Fish. " I got a job in Schumacher, now part of Timmins. It was named after the founder of the Schumacher Mine who lived in Ohio, and every year he used to come to Toronto and W ED N ESD A Y M ARCH 31st FREE A D M I S S I O N FOR YOUR FREE INVITATION o n c Q 7 o n n / PLEASE CALL LAURIE AT W 'O / O - U U O W W e lc o m e a g o n ""S ix e s1 9 3 0 * or visit w w w .b rid aish o w case.ca N E W E S MAYTAG Stainless Steel T a ll D is h w a s h e r · Stainless Steel interior · Industries tallest tub. · Self cleaning filter. Tub SAVE up to HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION OF ONTARIO 'J59 2 3 MAYTAG Dishwasher · Deluxe Upper Rack with shelves · Quiet Pack Sound Package · 1-To 6-Hour Delay Option Finding answers. For life. The Foundation relies heavily on public donations to ensure vital heart and stroke research continues. 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