Memories of Past Times

At the time I left, P.A.M. and Crown Life , I was living in Bramalea . When I decided to change careers to become a real estate salesman , I looked around the area. Johnson Carney at the time seemed to be the area’s premier real estate brokerage, so I applied for a job with them. To make a long story shorter, they liked me and offer me a job. I had to obtain my real estate license, but Jonson Carney had an excellent training program and I passed the tests. Here I was, a real estate salesman, on commission, ( with a little draw ) ready to conquer the world, or, at least, Bramalea and Brampton ! During that period real estate sales were slow, and my commissions were low. I really liked the job. The owners of the company, Art Johnson , was an excellent boss and very generous, but with little money coming in, a family to fee, I became very upset. Again, I needed a change.  

Crown Life Insurance (continued)    Back then, adding machines were elective and very large, too big to carry around. Crown Life used to offer its salespeople special products. This time, they offered “ handheld ” calculators. They were about the same size as today’s larger cell phones, perhaps a litter deeper. We could buy these wonderful “ new fangled ” calculators, that “ Added ”, “ Subtracted ” “ Multiplied : and “ Divided ” ( imagine that! ) for the low price of ( drumroll! ) $275.00 ! I bought one and was so proud to show it off to my friends. Boy, times sure have changed! Mine was black!

Crown Life Insurance My father’s insurance agency was affiliated with Crown Life Insurance . To complete their line of insurance services, they worked with Crown , offering different Life insurance products. During our time with Crown Life , we had a few different life insurance salesmen working with us. When one of them decided to leave the business, I asked if I could fill the spot. That’s when I became a life insurance salesman. Honestly, I wasn’t very good at it and eventually left for something different. Frankly, I was restless. Working for my dad was really great, and I learned a lot, but the friction between my brother and I was great. He was 10 years older them me, and was my father’s second in command. So, the writing was on the wall and becoming a real estate agent seemed to be a good career to enter. Before I leave the Crown Life part of my journey, I’d like to relay a fun story!! (to be continued)  

Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited (continued)   My second clients of note were Klaus and Gerry . They came, too, after the purchase of another small agency. Again, I was assigned to handle the new client’s business. I had been working in the business for a while, so handling business insurance was straight forward. This was important, because Klaus and Gerry owned a successful and growing business. I had a great relationship with Klaus and Gerry , especially Gerry , and had many fun and entertaining “ meetings ” with them. After I left my dad’s business, I kept in touch with them, both as friends and eventually, as an employee for a business they had invested in. I’ll tell you more about that a little later. After 10 years, eventually, my enthusiasm working at Paul A. McWilliams & Son waned and I started to look for something different to do.

Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited (continued)   Later, enter my brother, then my sister and then me! That made us 4 th generation insurance nerds! My daughter, Ainsley, is an insurance broker and is 5 th generation ( go figure! ). Will there be a 6 th generation, who knows?! Now back to the story. Sometime, after I ha joined the firm, my mother’s father’s, Joseph Lamb, ( get that ) health failed and his small agency started to suffer. That’s when my father purchased his father-in-law’s agency. After the purchase, I was assigned to manage my grandfathers’ clients. Enter Max Fruitman and his wife. They were a wonderful couple, very poor, and very unlucky. They had a fire in their home and they lost everything! Fortunately, before their fire, I had convinced them to increase their insurance coverage. This really helped when disaster struck. It also taught me a lesson in my young insurance life, “ help people when you get a chance! ”. (to be continued)

Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited (continued)   Our journey through the insurance world started in England with my grandfather’s family. That was on my mother’s side of the family. When my grandfather immigrated to Canada , he became an insurance agent and started an agency with another man. He eventually took over ownership on his own. On my fathers’ side, his father and his brother worked in insurance. When their father passed away, the agency was left to the family and my dad and his brother ran and eventually purchased the business. ( Family Dynamic! ) At some point, the brothers decided to split the agency in two. Both went their own way after that and Paul A. McWilliams insurance was born. (to be continued)

  Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited (continued) I was thinking about all I could tell you about my time at PAM , but I don’t want to bore you. Most of the time it was about selling insurance or reporting claims. I did enjoy my time, but towards the end of my time at the agency, I became restless and wanted a change. During my time there, there where a couple of clients that I want to include in this memoir. First there were the Fruitman’s and then there was Gerry and Klaus , and the expansion of Paul A. McWilliams & Son . To get started of this part of the story, let me explain the dynamics of insurance in the McWilliams family.

Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited As I have told you in the past posts, my father owned a successful insurance agency. I said agency because back then there were two different types of insurance sales companies, the “ agencies ” and the “ brokerages ”. Basically, “ agents” represented the insurance companies they were contracted to, while brokers represented their clients. Now all independent insurance sales companies are brokers. Anyway, my father owned an insurance agency and at the rip old age of 19, I went there to learn the “ biz ”! It was a slow start! I think that I was earning $50 a week at the time. Big money for me, at the time. My father didn’t think just working at the “ agency ” was good enough. So, like any father with sons entering the business, he made arrangements with his lead insurance company, the Western Assurance Co ., to hire and train me. The idea was, that I would be put into different departments ( auto, home, business, etc. ) and work beside “ seasoned...

My Next “NEW” Life! When writing this section of my life ( Memories ), I had to make a decision of how I was going to handle it? Do I just write all the memories as they happened or, should I lump them into segments ( work, homes, clubs, friends, recreation, hobbies, family ) and then put them into chronological order? I am sure this is boring to you, but I just had to make sense of all my memories SO, here goes! WORK I’ll start with work, because that’s where I left off when I was “ fired ” from high school ! (to be continued)  

School Bits… The Vice Principal ( continued) It went something like this - Mr. Kearns : “ You really don’t like school, do you ?” Me : “ Yes sir, I do .” Mr. Kearns : “ No, you really don’t .” Me : “ Yes, I do! ” Mr. Kearns : “ No, you don’t! ” he repeated, and then went on to say,” I think you should quite school and go and work at your father’s insurance agency .” I thought about it for a moment, and said, “ What about my education? ” Kearns replied, “ You’ll learn more working for your Dad and make more .” That settled, the next day I had quite school and started working at Paul A. McWilliams & Son Limited . By the way, I was NOT the “ SON ”, that honor went to my older brother, “ Chuck ”, who had been working for and with my dad for about 10 years. This was the start of my “ nex t” new life !

School Bits… The Vice Principal My life really changed during my last year at Richview ! I had just started grade 13 ( yes, there was still a grade 13 back then). One day, I was called out of class to report to the vice-principal’s office. I can remember the vice-principal, Ronnie Kearns , meeting me at the door of his office and welcoming me and telling me to take seat. He then sat on the corner of his desk and started THE CONVERSATION ! (to be continued!)  

School Bits… Poor Grades I’ve often thought back on that time period. I was a poor student and I am not sure why. Later on in life, on subjects I was interested in, I did very well, but with high school subjects my grades, for the most part, were awful. I think about the school system back then and how it is now. I believe that with the changes that have been made, my academia life would have been a lot different. Ultimately, I can’t really complain, I have two great children, 7 wonderful grand kids and a fantastic, loving wife and business partner. Along the way, I’ve started 2 successful businesses, co-founded 2 lively events and have been involved with several social and service clubs. However, that’s all in the future for this story.  

School Bits… Florida Trip (continued) After the concert, we would spend hours at the beach. So much so that I got a really bad sunburn. We had driven to Florida, so we had to drive back home after the holiday. I spent most of the time sitting forward in agony. The sunburn got the best of me! I got together with Kathy a few times after that, but it was never the same as it was in Florida.

School Bits… Florida Trip (continued)   Here's the story. My parents mainly vacationed in Clearwater. Close to where they stayed was a great beach. I would go there for a swim and sunbath. It was there that I ran into my friend Kathy from Richview . We decided to hang out together and had a short winter romance. It helped me get over my “ lost ” love! During our vacation we heard about a concert taking place in Clearwater . The concert featured Roy Orbison . He was at his peak at the time. Kathy and I had a great time. (to be continued)

School Bits… Florida Trip As I mentioned, my parents vacationed in Florida every year. On a few occasions, they took me with them. I think that I was in grade 12.1 the last time I went with them. I had broken up with Shirley. I didn’t really want to go, but I thought I needed some time to get over the break up. The trip turned out to be very helpful! First of all, I met another girl, Kathy , ( not the glasses girl ) a friend from Richview, and I got to see Roy Orbison .  (to be continued)  

School Bits… TV Shows and RFK (continued)   TV stations started broadcasting the event, taking advantage of the tragedy. Back then, cable stations, such as CNN , didn’t exist, even in Ted Turner’s mind. All of the regular stations, ABC , NBC and CBS , all started covering the story, full-time. This was amazing, stations normally signed off at midnight. Even CBC had amazing coverage. For at least a week, it was non-stop coverage of the shooting. Every part of the drama was covered, the shooting, the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald ; the swearing in of the new US president, Lydon B. Johnson ; the plane ride home with JFK’s body and his now widow, Jacqueline ; the funeral, with the poignant picture of the Kennedy kids . And finally, the shooting and killing of Oswald by Jack Ruby . It was all there for everyone to see. I stayed away from school for several days, clued to the TV screen. I wasn’t the only one, the whole world was in shock! Over the years, I have seen a lot of major worl...