SPECIAL FEATURE - another Halifax Annuitant Club Member

Mary Williston grew up in Cape Breton. She graduated from St. Joseph's Business College, North Sydney. Her first job was as a ledger keeper with the Royal Bank and later with a finance company, Industrial Acceptance. Mary also spent three years as a secretary with a Sydney radio station, CJCB.

In 1955 Mary came to Halifax and started in the steno pool with Imperial Oil. In those days, copies of letters and forms were made using up to 10 pages of carbon paper. At the commencement of her employment, Mary was engaged to be married to her late husband Arthur. She was told at the time by Imperial Oil Management that if she got married, she would not be permitted to work for Imperial Oil. Females had to be single. Within the year Mary was a happily married unemployed secretary. She later got rehired by Doctor Kemper in the Imperial Oil Health Department. The justification for hiring Mary again was that the Health Department came under the jurisdiction of the Toronto office and not Atlantic. Mary subsequently continued to work with Imperial for a total of 32 years.

Mary had many bosses including Tim Hearn, Peter Boland, Rick Henry, Tony Bomben, Graham Hollihan, Peter Craig, Charlie Martyn, John Plummer and Don O'Driscoll. When asked what she enjoyed the most about her role, Mary says she enjoyed all of it. It was a great job.

One of her most memorable occasions relates to a time when the Automotive Group was attempting to get self serve gasoline sales approved in Nova Scotia. Mary and Tony Bomben and a team of automotive folks worked one long weekend before the commencement of the legislative session on Monday. Tony was unavailable to go to the legislature and asked Mary to put a copy of the Imperial Oil proposal on each member's desk. Mary did as asked and quietly sat in the gallery to measure the reaction. Each member gave it a cursory glance and set it aside. Mary had to pass the sad news on to Tony. Self service was eventually approved and Mary remembers well the early days of trying.

Mary has a long history with the Halifax Annuitants Club having served both as Vice President and Secretary and still retains a keen interest in the company and the people who worked for it.