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Greg Small's - People From My Past - Moore Brothers

Moore Bros. Machinery Company's head office was at 8455 Decarie Blvd in Montreal, Quebec, CANADA and the Toronto office was in the Etobicoke section of Toronto, Ontario, CANADA. The Montreal phone number was (514) 342-2940 and the Toronto number was (416) 233-6213.
The office was originally on, I believe, St James St (rue St Jacques) in downtown Montreal but had to relocate when the expressway construction was taking place prior to Expo67. The Decarie location was especially troublesome for commuting, so the office was dismissed at 4:50 PM to avoid the 5 PM rush hour. The bank next door was robbed regularly, until a traffic island was installed that forced traffic from the front of the bank to circle round the block to re-join the regular traffic flow. Previous to that it was possible to be on the way north, south, east or west within seconds of leaving the bank.

These are some of the people I worked with at Moore Bros. Machinery in 1966 - 1970
  • Al Davidson - Machine tool supplies order desk clerk
  • Andy Johnson (Andrew Johnstone) - shipping department. Every afternoon, he and Stewart stopped at a local tavern (Snowdon Tavern? Monkland Tavern?) for two quarts of beer, each. I was invited once and as we walked in to a virtually empty establishment (it being about 3:30 PM) was astounded to find Andy and Stewart shooing some patron away from "their table".
  • Arlene Elias (Toronto office)
  • Arlene Perry - Sales secretary
  • Bill - the Machinery Sales Desk manager
  • Bill Mowat - Machinery Sales Desk clerk
  • Charles Moore (Chic, Chick)
  • Constance Harvey (Secretary to the Moore's, accounting and the machinery sales department) - always known as Miss Harvey - lived in Westmount, Quebec. She invited Bill Mowat, John McDonald and myself to dinner at her home one evening and her niece was invited as well, perhaps to try to introduce some culture to the three of us. Miss Harvey was teased relentlessly by us. Bill Mowat, especially, would discuss all manner of things with us, just to see how big a rise he could get out of her. See additional notes at Elmer Parkinson
  • Dan McDonald (MacDonald) (Toronto office)
  • Earl Moore Junior (Earle) - also known as Curly - likely still lives in Rawdon, Quebec
  • Earl Moore Senior (Earle)
  • Elmer Parkinson (Machine Tool Supplies order desk manager) - passed away in 1979 - his son, Brian, found this page in 2004Nov and filled in more details for some of the staff. About Grace, Maude and Miss Harvey, he said, "Sometimes I would go in to the office with dad and was fascinated watching them write shorthand and type on the old manual typewriters." As a relative "kid" I used to have to dictate letters to them and often would suggest they just "write an appropriate letter". This was unacceptable and I had to go through the drill of dictating a full letter. When it came back for signature they would kindly say, "I've changed a few words to make it clearer". I'd look and would not recognize my work at all. From that, I learned how to write a proper business letter.
  • Jack Chanter (accountant, lived on Hingston Ave in NDG, Montreal) - Elmer's son says he retired and lived in Brighton Ontario in his later years and believes he is buried there.
  • John McDonald (MacDonald) (lived near Sherbrooke and Cavendish with parents)
  • Gerry Ottier - Machine Tool Supplies order desk clerk
  • Grace (Secretary) See additional notes at Elmer Parkinson
  • Maude (Secretary) See additional notes at Elmer Parkinson
  • Mel Bodman (Toronto office)
  • Lomer Brisbois (I had this originally as Omer Brisebois) - According to Elmer's son, Lomer and Elmer were good friends and often played golf together. He passed away a few years after Elmer, and Elmer's son thinks he had cancer. The following details may not be 100% correct. I remember a story Lomer used to tell about the day some one was sent out to buy a fresh fish, which was nailed to the bottom of Elmer's chair. After the second day it became apparent "something" wasn't quite right, and it wasn't till the remains of the fish fell to the floor that the picture was clarified.
  • Robin Campbell - lived in Verdun, father was director (or something) for the Verdun Protestant Hospital
  • Shirley Currie (?) - Accounting -- had a daughter attending Royal Victoria Nursing school in 1968 or thereabouts
  • Stewart Campbell (Stuart) - shipping department - Rawdon, Quebec, fiddle player
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