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Even after 50 years, Ken still enjoys getting into the workshop at his business each and every day. Continued from page 13 ing the least work for the most money,” Ken says. “You want that, you’re talking to the wrong guy.” Dollars and cents, he insists, are a secondary consider- ation in the big picture. “T told my kids: ‘If you’re going to do something for 30 or 40 years of your life, don’t think about money. You won't enjoy life if you hate what you do,’”” While 50 years in business certainly represents an enviable milestone, Ken’s working history stretches back even further. “My older brother, Ross, was a rebel who hated school and dropped out when he was 15,” Ken explains. “Hi became an electrician, and at 11, I started helping on weekends and during the summers.” Unthinkable by today’s standards, neither served an His older brother Ross became an electrician when he was |5,so Ken started helping at || years of age. apprenticeship to qualify as a certified electrician. jack then, you didn’t have to have a trade ticket. aly you needed was the nerve to go out and try it. But remember, things were simpler.” A growing demand and a fortuitous area of expertise ensured the brothers’ prosperit “Many farms were just installing electricity at the time 14 FOCUS - JULY 2013 we were starting. Ontario Hydro just didn’t have the manpower to put up that many poles, and since that was our specialty, we had lots of work.” His experiences erecting and stringing electrical poles in the early 1940s, Ken laughs, tell a story light years removed from the modern process. “We paid a dollar a piece for 25’ to 30’ cedars from Leaskdale, which we cut down and limbed manually during the winter. A horse would drag the fallen trees out of the bush, and we'd stack them until spring to dry. There’d be a window where you could bark them (skin the bark off) quite easily, and that was also part of our preparation. “We dug the holes — five and a half feet deep — using a shovel turned with a 35-pound bar, and a ‘spoon’ to lift the dirt out as we went. Three men worked with pikes and straps to raise the pole and ultimately drop it “We got paid five bucks a hole, 80 if things went well, you could make good mi Ken’s tenure with his brother ‘Tasted almost nine years. Perhaps logically, the story would continue with his breaking off to run his own company. But life is rarely a straight line. “] got into the new Oakville Ford plant in 1953, but found I couldn’t hack doing the same thing day after day in spite of the good pay. “For about a year, | installed and strung electrical poles for a construction company. But when they said they were headed for Sudbury in the fall, that was : i i