Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa
Working there from 1977 – l987
Great job…Great place…
After working at the Royal Ottawa Hospital a short while, about 2 months, and the lay-off due to having to have an operation for cancer of the colon, I suppose I was fortunate enough to say ‘the operation was successful’ and the doctors didn’t have to add some sort of chemotherapy or radiation, as it was an early detection case. Just recuperation time.
So all this took place, after having left Comstock, then the Royal Ottawa, that I applied for a job at the experimental farm (Animal Research Centre), and was successful in passing a written test to qualify as their maintenance plumber, and was hired to work there. My supervisor was BillEmond. He was in charge of all maintenance of all of the buildings, which numbered 21 in all. My immediate foreman was Roger Filiatreau…two good people to work with.
I had a Dodge or Fargo l/2 ton delivery truck to use out there ( employee’s truck). It used propane for fuel, while refueling the vehicle, it was a dangerous job, it took some practice before I felt safe driving it.
It was a very interesting place to work, as there were aryshire and Holstein bulls…some 60 more or less. There were pigs, sheep, dairy cattle, poultry, roosters, geese. The pigs were houses in a disease-free building. When the keepers called and asked for the plumbers, I had to spray or fumigate all the tools, and I had to remove all my clothes beforehand and take a shower, then dress in white clothes that had been washed in sanitized water. I forget the number of pigs that this building housed. We couldn’t even bring in food if it contained ham: the sandwiches were brought in a plastic bag, the bag had to be sprayed, and then set in a place where I would be picking it up after I had a shower.
I’ll mention one of the people who worked in the bull barn, his name was Les Robinson. He was a very nice man, and he was over 6 ft. tall, and he often mentioned how well he was treated by Larry…(the Larry Robinson I’m talking about was the famous Canadian Hockey player with the Montreal Canadiens).
Another person who was very interesting to work with was Cliff Firobin, he was in charge of the people who delivered the hay and the food for the animals. It was a great place for pigeons and ground hogs. One day I drove by one of the many buildings there that housed the cattle and sitting on one of the feed boxes was a white tailed hawk; it was so engrossed in looking for something under the box, I backed up closer to see what it was doing. It was a pigeon that was hidden under the box: just ten the pigeon flew out, and that was when this got interesting. The hawk attacked the pigeon, and the feathers flew, then it got away, but not for long. The hawk attacked it again, and this time it didn’t get away….the hawk took it out in the open field and the last I saw was feathers flying from the pigeon…left and right….I think the hawk had a good feed.
I retired from there after ten years works…I was 63 years old then, and wasn’t in the best of health at that time, so decided to retire..(Norma had already retired when she was 57 ) I was eligible for a pension, but not a full pension: eligibility for a full pension you were required to be 65. I can say, it was the best job I ever had and was really a life saver for me.
A couple of other great people there were : Roberta (Bobby) Neufeld, she was the lady who was like a ‘purchasing agent’ filling all requirements for parts for the cars, etc. and she and her husband Al are still friends with us and phone and visit. Another person, a very tall Dutch younger fellow, lived around the Russell area, was a very good artistic person who did woodwork and turnings, and he was responsible for doing the gift they game me when I left there..it’s up above our fireplace…it’s a hand-made plaque, featuring an elbow, a wrench, (a golf-ball set in the middle), and it’s says “fix it yourself, I’m going golfing’….Jerry was his name…
Cliff Firobin and I have been friends a long time, and I’ve been on trip after trip in the LaVerendyre Park area, and he and others were on the trip to the Arctic, so there will be more stories along this line later.
