RBC PENSIONERS’ NETWORK Jarmen and his wife Maureen, who are both RBC Pensioners, seen lunching at the Red Lion in West Vancouver. RESULTS RBC SENIOR’S GOLF TOURNAMENT GUILDFORD

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RBC PENSIONERS’ NETWORK

BRITISH COLUMBIA CELL

Email [email protected] VOLUME 6 ISSUE 3 – JULY, 2011

EDITORIAL

We usually dedicate this space to matters of significant importance like Union and Management issues, philosophical debates, huge lottery wins, etc. But this unbelievable story has been revealed to one of our investigative reporters, which the Editorial Board in Kelowna feel obliged to tell you about. We must advise the story should only be read by mature Pensioners and

may not be suitable for all our readers.

It is difficult to know just how to tell you this, so we will just blurt it out – Charlie Merrick has a tattoo!! Apparently he has been telling his wife, Theresa, that he has been seeing his eye Doctor when in fact he has volunteered at the Emily Carr School of Art for a tattoo. We are told it is very well done, about 6 inches in diameter and placed on his upper right thigh. This is something he always wanted to do and hoped to keep the embellishment a secret. Now Charlie is very sensitive about this and if you ask him he will deny the fact emphatically and will insist the whole story to be the fabrication of a reporter’s fevered mind. Be that as it may, it is very tastefully done-a Dragon.

Who can name this branch location?

This signature will be a little harder to identify.

Les Bonar seen recently at the Al Hogg Residential Care Pavilion which is attached to the Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, B.C.

SUNDRY INFORMATION Harry Benzler was the first to identify the Signature of Roger Hemeon. Sharon Parrot was able to name the mystery branch as Vancouver, Hastings & Carlton.

RBC LOWER MAINLAND PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION

The AGM was held on March 17, 2011 with the entire Executive in attendance. Donald Graham remains as President, Kay Jiles is the VP with Freda D’Souza filling the Secretary’s position and Joan Gemmell continues as Treasurer. The other Directors are Charlie Merrick, Jan Hayes, Doug Bell, Richard Fuller, Gwen Good and Kathy Westmorland. The next Christmas lunch will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, on Tuesday December 6

th, 2011. Tickets will be $20 each. There

are only 300 places, so book early. The notices will be mailed out on Thursday October 27

th..

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THE DART DOES IT AGAIN!!

Barry Jones seen at the Pensioners’ Luncheon in Nanaimo.

Frank Jarmen and his wife Maureen, who are both RBC Pensioners, seen lunching at the Red Lion in West Vancouver.

RESULTS RBC SENIOR’S GOLF TOURNAMENT GUILDFORD GOLF CLUB – SURREY, B.C.WEDNESDAY JUNE 8

TH, 2011.

JACK NICOLSON PERPETUAL TROPHY – MENS’ LOW GROSS Winner – Bryan Bedford- 86 ANNE LIPPERT PERPETUAL TROPHY- LADIES’ LOW GROSS Winner – Liz Waldref – 100 RBC SPRING PERPETUAL TROPHY- MEN’S LOW NET Winner – Bruno Tommasini RBC SPRING PERPETUAL TROPHY – LADIES’ LOW NET Winner – Debra Marshall CLOSEST TO THE PIN Winner Men- Rand McNeill Winner Lady – Ruth Meysen LONGEST DRIVE Winner – Men – Bill Popovich Winner – Lady – Cheryl Cook THE FALL TOURNAMENT IS SCHEDULED FOR THE SAME LOCATION ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2011. *****************************************************

Doug Bell (left) makes the presentation to Bryan Bedford.

Liz Waldref receives

her award from Doug

Bell.

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SASKATCHEWAN AND BEYOND By Merv Kennedy In 1954 when I graduated from the Moosomin, Saskatchewan High School, I was prepared to join the RCMP but it was not to be. The Principal of my School had been communicating with the local Royal Bank Accountant, Herb Morrison and his Assistant, Les Edmonds about a banking career for me. The Manager, R.A. Roberts approved and I became their Junior Clerk. Moosomin is somewhat larger than most small towns in Saskatchewan with a population of about 2500. It is located on the SE edge of the Province, on the mainline of the CPR. The community is named after the local Indian Chief. I was assigned a stand-up desk at the back, up against the Manager’s office. My training began with an introduction to the draft (collection) register. Each morning I was handed the drafts which I entered in the register, then walked around town delivering the drafts to the merchants and picking up any they had signed from previous deliveries. It was interesting for a young fellow - meeting virtually the same people every day and getting up to date on how their day was going. My second day was to learn about the General Ledger. I was challenged to “Post the General Ledger.” This huge book contained all the internal accounts of the branch and the entries were posted using a straight pen and ink. I had to locate all the numbers within the office, adding and subtracting the various figures. The fun was trying to balance the thing. I remember working a few late nights. After about a year in Moosomin, I was transferred to Aneroid, Saskatchewan. This is a very small town of a couple of hundred people. The most popular version of the origin of the name is that the first survey party lost its aneroid barometer on the present town site. Many of the streets in the Village are named after surveyor’s instruments. The community is in SW Saskatchewan, approximately 70 km southeast of Swift Current and about 500 km from Moosomin. It was quite a trip for a 20 year old and the first time away from home. With the help of my father’s signature, I bought an inexpensive car and off I went. I was the only Teller in the branch and worked under Manager, J. Monahan. In 1956 I was transferred to Eyebrow, Saskatchewan (another small branch about 50 km NW of Moose Jaw). It was really nice to be near the city of Moose Jaw. My position this time was

Utility Clerk. The branch Manager was Fred Steele who, with his wife, lived upstairs in the branch. Mr. Steele was a great guy but a firm Manager. Mind you, he had to put- up with three young guys in the office. I remember one academic Teller by the name of Gordon Thiessen. Some readers will remember him as the Governor of the Bank of Canada from 1994-2001. We obviously taught him everything he knew. My next posting in 1957 was to Plenty, Saskatchewan as Utility Clerk under Manager, P.J. Passler. This small village in Western Saskatchewan is approximately 150 Km SW of Saskatoon. The CPR picked the name Plenty because when the railroad was being built, these were the first fields on the line that had good crops. Plenty was over seven hours driving time from Moosomin. Needless to say I didn’t get home very often. In November 1958, at age 23, I was invited by the Bank to undertake a foreign assignment to Kingston, Jamaica, along with

two other Bankers from Saskatchewan. One being Len Huber whose hometown was Morse, Saskatchewan. Len started in the Bank at Ponteix SK. where Al Fallis was the Manager, He moved to Lumsden with Manager R.A.C Whitta, then later to Strasbourg, SK. under Manager M.B. Macdonnell. Glen Norton was the third member of the group. I returned home to Moosomin to visit with family before the three of us, all on the same train, proceeded by CPR to Montreal, through to New York arriving at

Grand Central Station. After a couple of days exploring New York City, Len Huber and I boarded a commercial flight to Kingston, Jamaica and Glen Norton flew to Bridgetown, Barbados to work with Manager, F.H.B. Ince and Ed Bradish, the Assistant Manager. Both Len Huber and I joined the staff at Kingston, later Len went to Montego Bay, Jamaica where the Manager was W.A. Jemmott. The Manager at Kingston was B.T.O Bradbury. I started in the Current Account Department and later moved up to the Foreign Exchange Department. Eventually I became the Assistant Accountant in the new large office. After 4 years in Jamaica, I returned to Canada in 1962. I immediately visited my family, now in Saskatoon, and later reported to the District Headquarters in Regina and was transferred to the District General Manager’s Department in Vancouver as a Relief Officer to become acclimatized to Canadian banking. After re-training by Len Kozar, Accountant at Burnaby Main, I was appointed Senior Assistant Accountant at North Vancouver, Upper Lonsdale under Manager, Harvey Botham.

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I was appointed Accountant at Vancouver, Broadway and Cambie in 1965 when Ed Bowser was the Manager. District training was my next assignment (1966) operating out of the DGM’s Department in Vancouver under District Personnel, with a training centre at Vancouver, 685 West Hastings. Harvey Fisk and I worked together on this project. Then in 1968, came a promotion to Assistant Personnel Officer in the District General Manager’s Department under Glen Elliott. From this position I was appointed (1969) as Personnel Manager in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This included Haiti, (French), Porto Rico, (Spanish), and St. Croix (English). I survived in this environment until 1971 when I begged to come back home for family reasons. I could probably write a book on this assignment alone.

In 1971 I was switched from the administration side of the Bank to the credit side. I was trained as a Credit Officer at Vancouver, Broadway and Granville with Al Perley as Manager and Bob Craig and Carl Lund as Assistant Mangers. It was 1972 when I was appointed Manager at Vancouver, 4

th &

Balsam. I spent about a year there and in 1974 became Manager of North Vancouver, Capilano Mall branch. In 1976 I joined the B.C. Inspection Department and spent about 4 years travelling around B.C. and the Yukon doing branch inspections, first as a Junior and later as a Senior Inspector, under Lloyd Reiner the B.C. Inspector. 1n 1980, I became Manager of North Vancouver, Upper Lonsdale branch where I remained until 1981 when I was transferred as Assistant Manager, Lending Services in the Regional Office. I was disgruntled with the move and looked for and found other employment. I resigned from RBC in 1981 after twenty seven years of service. Later in 1981, I became Manager of the North Shore Credit Union’s Main Office in North Vancouver with a large staff. I held this position for some 7 years. In 1988, I transferred to Whistler Branch as Manager. That office grew over the years and eventually had a staff of over 50. In 1993, I took over as Manager of the Burnaby branch for the Credit Union. I retired from that position and the North Shore Credit Union in 1995 and celebrated my 60

th birthday.

I now live with my wife, Marilynn, in North Vancouver and am enjoying retirement.

******************************************* Q: As people age, do they sleep more soundly? A: Yes, but usually in the afternoon.

RBC FINANCIAL GROUP PENSIONERS’ REUNION LUNCHEON Don Steele, Charlie Merrick and Donald Graham travelled to Nanaimo on Thursday April 21, 2011 to join about 115 other pensioners and their guests, from upper Vancouver Island for their annual luncheon. The event was hosted by RBC, represented by Mark Lovick, Regional Vice-President, Vancouver Island North. Mark was unable to attend but Anne Kuzminski, on his behalf, spoke briefly to the group with great humour and understanding, which we all enjoyed. It was Lorraine Krall and Bev Pederson who organized the event held at the very attractive setting of the Club House at the Nanaimo Golf Club. The lunch was superb following which, about a dozen large cellophane wrapped baskets, filled with goodies were raffled. The event was so well organized that time simply flew by. This was a great opportunity, not only for the Vancouver visitors, but for other pensioners on Vancouver Island to visit and renew friendships established over the years with RBC. The Newsletter staff photographer took lots of pictures which will be featured in future publications.

Lorraine Krall was one of the organizers and Master of Ceremonies for the Pensioners’ Luncheon in Nanaimo.

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SHOOTING IT UP By Ken Westling I joined the Bank in Nelson, B.C in 1960 when Ray Commons was the Manager. This was the same year my father won the Commonwealth’s most coveted shooting event – The Queen’s Prize. By then he had influenced my choice of sports by giving me his father’s 1890’s era 22 calibre rifle when I was 5 years old. After many years of closely supervised “plinking,” it wasn’t much of a step to start competitive target shooting. I left Nelson in 1961 as a seasoned Teller and joined the Vancouver Seaforth Highlanders rifle club competing against other regiments in the Lower Mainland. In winter we shot indoors at 25 yards using 22 calibre rifles and during the warmer months, we shot 303’s at distances of up to 1,000 yards. This took place at Blair Range in North Vancouver, part of which is now the Northlands Golf Course. Over the next two decades the competitions evolved into a civilian based activity, with clubs rather than regiments competing. Equipment became more sophisticated, using specialized high power single shot rifles with finely calibrated metal sights (no scopes on the rifle) and costing up to $5,000 each. Target dimensions gradually reduced and today one has to hit a 10” bull’s-eye to score an “X” at 1,000 yards. You had better score at least 7 or 8 of these out of 10 shots if you want to have a chance of winning a match. However even the best of the new type equipment won’t buy you a win if you can’t read the wind. My first overseas event took place at Bisley, England (the shooting equivalent of the British Open) in 1978 and my father was on the National Team as well, which was quite a rarity. We won the families match and were presented to Prince Charles who is the President of the NRA of Great Britain. (The Queen is the Patron). In subsequent visits I chatted with the Queen at the Royal Garden Party in Buckingham Palace and was part of a small group who met Prince Philip at another Garden Party. (I guess my invitation to the recent Royal Wedding got lost in the mail). Because of the variety of Bank postings throughout the Province, I wasn’t always able to practice or compete but one of my most satisfying wins took place when I worked in Cranbrook. I volunteered at the local boys’ and girls’ clubs and thought it would be fun for them to try target shooting. After scrounging up some equipment and target air rifles, we trained over the winter

and entered the postal competitions for juniors and cadets. We won the national championships the first time out. On the down side, I placed 3

rd three times in the Commonwealth

Games trials when only two are selected for our discipline. In 2000 I was leading in the Queen’s Prize with only 7 shots to go and failed to make it. I was also only 2 points short (out of 300) in 2002. Both of these events attracted over 1,100 competitors. The Bank has been exceptionally good to me, allowing some extra time for my participation in International championship events. (Over 100 “caps” on National Teams). This has allowed me to win two Canadian Opens, placing 2

nd twice and a top 10 in

the World Championships. In 2000 after 132 years of competition, the Canadian Rifle Association created a Hall of Fame and my father and I were honoured to be among the 56

chosen for the inaugural induction. In retirement I have travelled across Canada winning Provincial Championships in PEI and Nova Scotia, 2

nd in New Brunswick and Alberta

to go with several BC Championships over the years. One of the more gratifying wins was the California State Championship in 2007 at age 64, beating several members of the US National team. Shooting has been called a sport for life and after participating for 63 years, I think I may have a few more years left in me. EDITOR’S NOTE: Ken retired in 1999 as Senior Account Manager, Private Banking in Vancouver, B.C. He is Past President of the B.C. Rifle Association, Ex- Comptroller of the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association and a Life Governor of Both.

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Bob Irlam and his Wife Gladys, enjoying the RBC Pensioners’ Luncheon held recently in Nanaimo.