Ross Auckland

Ross was born in Newmarket hospital in 1937 the first son of Frederick and Clara Auckland. In 1937 the year I was born, my father sold his barbershop and partnership in one of the first school bus services in Ontario and purchased the Lowville General Store, returning to his hometown which he left to become a barber in King City, Ontario.

During my early years I was probably one of the luckiest boys in the country having the opportunity to grow up in one of the most beautiful villages in the Niagara Escarpment, Lowville.

At sixteen years of age, I convinced my parents to let me leave school and work at home helping with the many chores that were required while operating a grocery store, a feed business, and an egg grading station. I was fortunate enough to get my chauffers’ license to drive a truck at age 15, the only requirement at the time was that I would have the chief of police sign the application and that I could show that I could back the vehicle into a driveway.

Filling pop coolers, filling grocery orders and driving a truck to the Hamilton Market to see chickens and eggs was a whole lot more fun than riding the school bus for 2 to 3 hours a day, I have some educational regrets, but not many.

I was fortunate to get a nighttime job at the Halliday Lumber Company in Burlington in 1954 thanks to my cousin who vouched for me. Jobs were scarce at the time. Wages were 65 cents an hour and we worked until the delivery trucks were loaded regardless of the hours of work. We went home when the trucks were loaded and not before. There were many 10 to 12 plus hour shifts. Thanks to the long hours, I was I was able to buy my first brand new car, a 1955 Chevrolet for the sum of $2,000.00 thanks to my dad for backing my loan. The back manager made me very nervous while laying out 20 $100.oo bills on his desk. I had never dreamed of seeing a $1000.00 bill never mind the thought of paying them all back. I purchased the car from a catalogue through the Coulson and Robertson’s repair garage in Lowville.

I had various jobs with the Halliday Lumber Company, night shift billing clerk, retail store salesman, outside salesman selling recreation rooms, additions, garages and new prefab homes.

In 1961 I joined the Cashway Building Centre in Brampton as a salesclerk. In 1964, I was transferred to Ottawa as store manager of a new location, the most eastern store the company owned at that time.

I was married to Joy in 1965 and we lived in Ottawa until 1967 when I was transferred to Cambridge, Ontario as store manager. In 1980, I was transferred back to Brampton to manage the Central Distribution Centre.

In 1985 I was promoted to Vice-President of Retail Operations overseeing 52 retail locations in Ontario. Following 37 years in the retail lumber business, I purchased a Placement Agency in Hamilton in 1991 with a partner and operated the business until retiring in 2013. I currently reside in Georgetown.

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