Page 60 - With Wilfred Poirier, Lobster Buyer

ISSUE : Issue 33

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1983/6/1

You can go somewhere, there might be a couple--two or three--would run me down. They didn't like me. They thought I was making too much money. I never got rich. I made a good living, and that was all. The company didn't throw their money away, be? cause I was a buyer. I was getting a sal? ary and a commission. That was a good liv? ing. I didn't have to work very hard. Didn't have to make a paper at night. The company trusted me. If I wanted $20,000-- I had money in every bank--every bank man? ager knew me from Yarmouth to Cape St. George in Newfoundland. I had the bishop, his brother, as a purser in Newfoundland in the spring, because I couldn't cover it all. And if I wanted money--$20,000 or $30,000--we had money in every bank, you know. But supposing I ran short. I was short one night buying swordfish. And I had called the company for $10,000 for that day. And the bank manager came down at 2 o'clock in the morning with $10,000. I paid it. They wouldn't take a cheque. This would have to be the real money--cash, I remember that night. I don't know if it was 70 or 100 swordfish I bought. (Would you say that what you did improved the lives of the fishermen here?) Very much, I can brag and say that. There was poverty, and more than poverty, I well re? member when people were getting 3 to 7 cents a pound. When I came, it started at 14c up--it was a big difference. And in American money, there was a small premium on the American dollar. Now, in the spring of the year--I am tel? ling you the truth--I remember a place, an old woman had come and grabbed me--she was old--she kissed me • She said, "You brought us bread." This is the truth. I was bring? ing the money in. During the Great Depres? sion, they had nothing to eat. I helped them. Sometimes--do you know how I feel sometimes?--! don't know if you do, but, see on the wall there--I believe in Him. And I believe in helping, if you're poor. I send money to a monastery in New Jersey every second m.onth. And in my mind, when I sleep at night, or I lay down--that He puts me to live, at the age of 98. 929-2523 A GARDEN CENTRE FOR ALL OF CAPE BRETON Edgehill Landscaping Ltd. 929-2971 Plan to visit us this spring for all your garden needs. Landscape Design Service Available on Request Fruit Trees, Shrubs Fertilizer, Lime, Peat Moss Seeds, Bedding Plants Strawberry & Rhubarb Plants Bluegrass Nursery Sod Concrete Planters & Fountains -Beside the Englishtown Ferry- CAPE BRETON SHOPPING PLAZA SYDNEY RIVER ?? ??lllllliHBBIIIIIIiBBaiililiin'V stores To Serve You mH' FeaturingAWr<7 ,, , , ,, , , , '' oEfAHTMENTSTORES The Crosspoacls of Cape Breton' Sobeys & Shopper's Drug Mart "'9''"''=' '"'' Open Daily ' 'Til 10 p.m. Plenty Of Free Parking

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