tGE 8. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1976, WHITBY FREE PRESS George Anderson Erhployees pay tribute to retiring company president These were only a few of the people who took part in the retirement party for George Anderson, who recently sold his company in Whitby after operating it in this town for 29 years. From left to right in the front row are Mayor Jim Gartshore, Mr. Anderson's sister Mrs. Jean Williamson, George Anderson, Mrs. Anderson, John Frost, and office manager-Mrs. Sophie Javorski. In the back row are Rev. W. J. S. McClure, of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; and Vice-President and Secretary-treasurer, Archie Stewart. Free Press Photo It was a night of nostalgia and memories last Thursday for the employees of the William J. Anderson Company as they held a dinner to mark the sale of the company and pay tribute to its retiring president, George Anderson. The William J. Anderson Company, which has manu- factured folding gift boxes and jewellery boxes in Whitby for 29 years, is a family business, and a number of members of the Anderson family were at the dinner, held at St. Andrew's Presby- terian Church. The guest of honor for the night was George Anderson who is going into what one of his employees referred to as "semi-retire- ment", following the sale of the company two weeks ago. Mr. Anderson's sister, Mrs. Jean Williamson, outlined the history of the Anderson family, pointing out that the Women now have equal credit opportun"ty. This is what Ontario has dom to ensure t. Here in Ontario, any woman, married or not, should be granted credit in her own name if her credit qualifications, property or earnings are such that a man with the same qualifications would receive credit. That is the essence of Ontario's new Equal Credit Opportunity Guidelines. All major credit grantors in the Province have endorsed these guidelines, on the basis that equality of access to credit is a right, even though credit itself is a privilege. In practice, the Guidelines outline .the following principles: • hold men and women to the same standards of credit worthiness • refrain from refusing to extend credit to a woman because of a change in hermarital status • refrain from requesting or using information about family planning in evaluating credit applications " consider a spouse's income, if necessary, when a couple applies for credit • consider alimony and child support as a source of income " not alter a person's credit rating solely on the basis of the credit rating of the spouse " allow husband and wife to have separate files with credit reporting agencies. For a free booklet giving the Guidelines in detail, and covering the entire subject of women's access to credit, write: Ontario Consumer Queen's Park Toronto, Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations Sidney Handleman, Minister Province of Ontario William Davis, Premier 4 family participated in the decisions of the company, and that Mr. Anderson and his wife always maintained "an open house and an open heart for all of us". Mrs. Williamson, on behalf of the Anderson family, thanked the employees for work and loyalty through the years. The next speaker was John Frost, who as town clerk in 1946, was instrumental in the negotiations which brought the William J. Anderson Company toWhitby. "Your company has always been well regarded by the people of Whitby", said Mr. Frost. It has always operated on humanitarian principles with its first priority being the welfare of the workers." Mr. Frost has been a regular guest at the dinners held by the company since it came to Whitby. Archie Stewart, the former vice-president and secretary- treasurer, referred to the ,change of ownership as the building of a bridge. "Bridges are so important in life because they ,unite separate entities", he said. "Tonight we're building such a bridge. We want it to be a good bridge as two groups bridge for mutual advantage and mutual understanding". Mr. Stewart said it would be different without Mr. Anderson walking the bridge and issuing orders, but he wished the new owners "a prosperous voyage as they take over the bridge". Don Marquis, the new president of the company told the employees that as a group, the new ow:,crs were "extremely excited about the future of the Ander- son Company. The base is there from which we expect growth to come and additional productivity to arrive". Mr. Marquis pre- dicted there will be more employees and new additions to the product line in the future. "This is obviously the end of one era and the beginning of another", said Mayor Jim Gartshore, who was a special guest at the dinner. "I've known of Mr. Anderson as a very integral part of Whitby", he added. "He is one of the pioneers of industry in this town. On behalf of the town we wish you well in what we expect will be a semi-retirement". Mayor Gartshore also thanked Mr. Anderson for selling the company to a group of men who will con- tinue to operate it in Whitby, and wished Mr. Marquis an ever-progressive growth for the company. Following some reminisces by Merv Dale, one of the employees, everyone sang "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow", for Mr. Anderson. In a brief speech, Mr. Anderson acknowledged with well wishes of his employees, and outlined the history of the company and the philosophy upon which it is built. "The company was set up on several almost violently 'Canadian' principles", he said, "--that we would design and make all the goods we would sell; that the materials would be Canadian; that we would 'owe no man anything,' and finally that we would put more into the community than we took out". Mr. Anderson paid tribute to a number of his ex«ectmrives and presented each with a special coin in an Anderson jewellery box. In return, the employees, through the master of ceremonies, Bert Foote, announced that they were giving Mr. -Anderson a tape recorder as -a retirement present, and had taped his address to them that evening. The William J. Anderson Company, which employs about 50 people, has been purchased by a group of six men from Toronto. 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