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S-teph Ltd- BENZIE SANCMA Intelligencer His love for a woman kept him from leaving Canada and following his two brothers to the country south of the border in search of better prospects. Instead, he opted to get married to this same woman and attempted to make a go of it in his own hometown, the city of Toronto. In 1918, however, he decided to move to Belleville along with his wife and their two-year-old daughter looking for a fresh start. That two-year-old was Audrey McMurray, now a Belleville resident in her late 80s, who recalled herself working, beginning at the tender age of five, at the downtown bicycle store that "He had to give her father, Stephen Licence, opened that up though in 1918. Licence had bought the because he wasn't a store from Christopher Lewis who terribly strong perwas moving on to the automobile son. He was a rather repair service business. delicate person with "I remember mother kept going a bad heart from back to Toronto because she childhood." missed her family there. She'd take Her seventh the new baby and go. So, I'd be birthday was espedown at the store with my father cially memorable, all the time. I learned to stamp she said, because of scribblers with my dad's name and the gift that she had he would give out those scribblers received from her to students who came in to the father. store for them to use at school. It "It was a bike was his way of advertising," painted all gold recalled McMurray. with my name on it. With time, she moved on to I was very proud of other jobs in the store including it and rode it in Stephen Licence is shown in sweeping the store's floor and runparades. I really had an undated photo. He died ning errands for her father. a lovely time with in 1952 at the age of 64. *» The store, when owned by Lewis, it," said McMurray, carried only motorbikes, she said. her easy laughter Her father replaced the inventory with breaking out as she tells her tale. That gift bicycles. was her prized possession until she "At the time, most people went everyturned 16 when she returned home from a where on bicycles. They couldn't afford guide camp and found out that her mothcars and when my dad's store opened, it er had given it away. She never saw it · became popular both for its stock and the again. on-site bike servicing that he offered." Belleville's downtown area was very A competitive bike racer in Toronto, her busy those days, she said. Especially on father had always been fascinated with Saturdays when out-of-town farmers came bikes, recalled McMurray.