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page 16 tribune anniversary wednesday june 29 1988 29 years on staff by kate gilderdale two things spring to mind at the mention of betty actons name one is speed skating and the other is her famous son keith perhaps less wellknown is the fact that betty worked as a linotype operator for 29 years most of them with the stouffvil- le tribune i started in 1941 and worked fulltime until 1953 when kevin was born recalls betty she returned to work parttime until 1957 when she moved to the economist and sun office in markham she re turned to the tribune in 1963 i learned the job at the tri bune betty explains their fulltime operator had to leave suddenly to go into the ser vices and they asked me to take over i went in perfectly- green i didnt like it at first it was hard to learn and tiring to sit and work for such long hours but as i became more efficient i started to enjoy it after three or four months of fooling around with the machine betty began to feel comfortable with it the linotype machine was huge and required regular maintenance to avoid prob lems things got jammed up easily i used to go in on satur day afternoons and clean ev erything out with gasoline to make sure nothing got stuck without the sophisticated stor age capacability of a compu ter deadlines were even more of a headache when betty started work her hours were 8 am to 6 pm wednesday was press day and it would usually be at least 7 pm before i left sometimes it was as late as 11 pm if some thing drastic happened for three or four years she was the only linotype operator at the paper and she would try to come in even when she was sick there was an elderly man who could operate the machine and he would help out she says on tuesdays he would arrive at noon and take over until 6 pm and then i would come back and work at night in those days the staff con sisted of mr nolan and his son with a man at the back doing job work and one other woman betty had been at the paper for about four years when a keen young reporter named jim thomas arrived on the scene i was here when he came she remembers he always worked very long hours and he really enjoyed it holidays consisted of a week in the summer the paper shut down for one week and you took that week whether it fitted in with your plans or not she laughs although betty en joyed her years at the econom ist she disliked the driving and wanted to be closer to home so that she could give more time to sons kevin and keith parttime work could be a problem betty remembers you never knew when you were going to be called to come in the last four months i was back to four days a week and i wasnt working on the linotype anymore i was doing advertis ing paste ups says betty i really enjoy that and i like the challenge she considered going on with the job when the plant moved to newmarket but the drive and the fact that she would have to work at night made her decide against it if the plant had stayed here i might have car ried on she states they even suggested i could learn to put the page together and i was really looking forward to that throughout her years at the tribune betty always used the same machine they bought two new ones over the years but i always worked on the ori ginal one iff y j m ms mi fcl i j betty acton worked the linotype machine at the tribune for 29 years both full and part time the mother of professional hockey player keith acton was working at the paper when a keen young reporter named jim thomas started his career jim is now editor of the tribune when hathaways interior design opened in 1972 they specialized in paint and wall paper only since then david and brian hathaway along with their wives susan and irene have ex panded the business besides the over 400 wall paper books and pratt and lambert paint they carry samples of fabrics custom blinds carpeting and floor and wall tile while the hathaway brothers install the blinds and drapes and do custom painting and wallpapering wives susan and irene man the store customers are able to draw on their over 16 years of expertise as well as talk to any of their three interior de corators who make home consultations hathaways interior de sign is a division of hath away decorators which was opened in 1951 by harry hathaway as a service com pany david and brian were the two sons who took an interest in the decorating trade and eventually took over from their father in the early seventies when times were slack the two companies com plemented each other now however both operations are very busy susan hathaway attri butes this to the fact that they provide service you can count on as well as top quality products our painters dont just slap paint on she said it is custom work hathaways interior design in stouffville has expanded from having paint and wallpaper now they carry fabric sam ples carpeting custom blinds as well as floor and wall tiles at left susan and irene hath away wives of owners david and brian check a wallpaper sample book