Sunday, October 6, 2013
Neil and I spent many good years running up and down the highways of Northern Ontario as employees of C.H. Heist Corp. Often we could be found in Terrace Bay on shut downs, working for Kimberly Clark Pulp and Paper.
Usually shut downs lasted one or two weeks so our home bacame the RED DOG INN.
Normally Neil would supervise the night shift and I would look after the day shift, working 12 hour shifts..
I was awakened one morning by a loud knock on my door, "AS ONLY NEIL COULD KNOCK" When my feet hit the floor, i realized the urgency of his
rude awakening. My feet hit the floor to the slosh of a foot of water. We had had a terential doenpour during the night and being early spring, the storm drains in the parking lot had not opended yet. The bottom floor of the motel, mostly occupied by our fellow crew members, was floating. Upon sloshing my way to the door to my room, there stood Neil, smiling ear to ear,
"WELCOME TO THE RUBBER DUCKY INN" as only Neil's dry humor could put it.
We spent most of the next few days in our off hours recovering our work cloths and belonging to dry them out.
From that day forward for many years after the RED DOG became known as THE RUBBER DUCKY INN.
Many of the people who worked at Heist are still living in the SOO and will remember Neil's dry humor and whit that got us through many long hours and days and weeks on the road, away from our families. His work ethic and attitude toward his fellow workers was an inspiration to many of our employees that were much younger than him. They often struggled to keep up to him on the job. He was a grest friend and an a wonderful asset to the operations of Heist Corp.
