Page 12 - A Visit with Winston Ruck, Steelworker

ISSUE : Issue 60

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1992/6/1

up with, that $2.50. Now, we weren't the only ones that did it. All the other boys in the community did the same thing. That was their way of assisting their families. Go up to the Marsh Dump. You'd pick the coal from the dump. We car? ried them on our backs. We weren't very big or we weren't very strong. But we man? aged to bring coal down to keep the house going all winter without them having to purchase coal. 'i Now anyone in Nova Scotia can call us and speak freely. TOLL FREE 1-424-5593 In Mainland Nova Scotia TOLL FREE 1-563-2444 in Cape Breton -L he Workers'Compensation Board of Nova Scotia is pleased to announce the introduction of toll-free service to our Halifax and Sydney offices. V'lients and employers wishing to check the status of a claim or receive any information can now do so from anywhere in Nova Scotia, free of charge. Just pick up the phone and dial 1-424-5593, in mainland Nova Scotia, and 1-563-2444, in Cape Breton. We. if e're always at your service. So when you want to call us, feel free. Now more than ever, it pays to belong! 5668 South Street, Post Office Box 1150. Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2Y2 Telephone; (902) 424-8440 Sydney Medical Arts Building. 3 3 6 Kings Road. Suite 117. Sydney. Nova Scotia B1S1A9 Telephone: (902) 563 -2444 And the same with the wood supply, we looked after that. And they had a few chickens and a few ducks there. That was our job, to feed them. They would kill them off, particularly around Christmas time or Easter time. And things of that nature. And that was our way of making a contribu? tion to the house. And Mr. Calender, my aunt's husband, he appreciated that very, very much. He used to always tell us. As a matter of fact, he even built an addition? al shed so we could put more coal in. And so, I was getting older. I used to get an odd job here and there. I used to go around as? sisting people in build? ing homes, basements. Take the wheelbarrow and help pour the concrete. The city was putting through a sewer and a waterline on Maloney Street, back in the late '30s. And I got a job on that. On digging. Pick and shovel. Hard, hard work. I was only about 15, 16 at the time. And that was a tough digging, because there was a lot of rock going up the hill. All rock. They had to dynamite continually to break through the rock. So those were the things that we did at that time. I was going to the Academy, in Grade 10, Grade 11. Then during the summer months, that's what we would do. I also worked on the beer truck. My father was a very prominent man and managed to se? cure the contract for hauling the beer to the Pier. Billy Hill-- another prominent Lib? eral at that time--had the contract for the town liquor store. There were only two at that time. So after (my father) died, his part? ner carried on with that. And occasionally I'd get a job in a truck, hauling beer. And then, when he had no hauling, I'd get a job with Billy Hill. WORKERS' COMPENSATION KlARD OF NOW SCOTIA

Cape Breton's Magazine