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By BRIAN BAKER ALLISTON For almost half century Wilmot Thompson has owned and operated Thompson Monuments at 51 Victoria Street East in Alliston in the schoolhouse size little brick building complete with square brick false front typical of buildings built at the turn of the century Thompson originally started out as licenced undertaker and embalmer profession which he pursued for some fourteen years He became in terested in monument work which he calls the other end of the undertaking business when in between work in the undertaking business he Used to help out the previous owner of the monument works in this same building WORKED FUR OWNER When this owner decided to sell Thompson and another young fellow who had worked for the owner bought the business it was not long before Thompson bought his partner out This was in the early 1930s Since that time he has handl ed an average of two hundred monument stones year serv ing not only Alliston District cemeteries but also to con siderahle extent cemeteries throughout Central Ontario and beyond His work involves putting in scriptions on gravestones erec ting them in cemeteries and also doing lettering on existing stones on site in cemeteries Sometimes he works through undertakers but much of the time he does the work directly for the customer INTERESTING WORK To anybody who doesnt know this might seem like pretty dull work remarks Thompson Really though it is very interesting work in itself and with it comes sur prising amount of travel though carrying six or eight hundred pound stone you dont exactly travel light Up to 33 for maximum penetration and cutting in hard ground Extremely wellbalanced folds hydraulically for transport Wing units move to follow uneven ground contours Spring cushioned gangs absorb highspeed Front gangs offset to make working area compact HWY 11 NORTH wide over 315 tons in weight shocks Six wheels standard See the White disc barrows at WHITE FARM EQUIPMENT PARTRIDGE the has always used he showed us number of hefty chisels with tops squashed into mushrooms from being pundcd with ham mers left over from the days when lettering had to be laboriously chiselled out by hand lie himself uses sandblast gun operating at 90 pounds pressure to quickly cut out let ters and patterns by abrasion First he coats the polished sur face of the stone with protective rubberplastic compound Over this he sets stencils to mark out the lettering and pat terns Next the compound is removed from beneath the let ters and the parts of the pattern to be cut out leaving it exposed to the bombardment of the sandblast gm which quickly cuts the exposed stone to depth of one eighth to three sixteenths of inch deep as re quired The abrasive car borundum sand bounces harmlessly off the remaining coated area to remain as polish ed background STONE SIIT IN R00 The stone is set up in little room so that he can stand out side and look through glass window as he guides the nozzle of the sandblast gun from out side Goggles and mask give protection from stray dust that might leak out He finds that though very expensive for in side work Iaborundum sand produces little dust Much less expensive is silica which he uses in his portable gasoline powered sandblast outfit which he takes when doing littering on stones already the cemetery To clean out the letters he has two or three hundred chisels which fit into the airhanimer which does in minutes what it would have taken hours to do by hand hisels that cost him cents in the 1930s now cost tip to $1 each IIAINIIUISTISICII Such heavy stones must be he 252253 to 21 Widths All round wheeled discs for every farm Suitable for any soil in any type of field Prepares fine seed beds in all conditions Semifexible frame rides obstructions with minimum lift maintains uniform penetration and pulverizing action MOTOR EtaRBEomm CANADA LtMtYED TRACTOR 7282752 lifted by chainhoist running on gantry track across the building The stones are then laid on massive woodframed trolleys that look substantial enough to have supported cannon gun such as were used on oldtime war sailing ships To the cemetery he carries them in the back of his truck in this job you have to be somewhat of an artist notes Thompson in the first place you must get the lettering perfectly centred and not let ters out of place nc mistake and the stone is ruined Then again not all of the commercial design patterns will fit the stone in question and then must draw out my own patterns to fit Lettering does not stop with English either have had to put lot of French inscriptions on especially on stones have put in the Midland and Penetanguishene area have also done quite few in Jewish and German The most unusual inscriptions have done is in hinese You never know what toexpect IIAVII STONE WILL TRAVEL llave stone will travel could be Thompsons motto Particularly for families who have moved away from the Alliston area he inscribes and crects stones in cemeteries as far away as Toronto lieamsville Trenton ttawa Burkes Falls Wiarton Lucknow Wardsville west of London Ont Parry Sound and Sudbury He has even sent stones out west to such provinces Sis Saskatchewan and Alberta to be erected by the nearest dealers and they in titrti have sent stones down to him to erect in local cemeteries Sometimes he has done business with people in Britain for families of people who haVe died out here sending them photograph of the finished gravesitc and stone when he has completed the job ISI IRIISSIYE ne of the most impressive monuments he has erected was the huge grey granite monu ment in Allislon emetery for Theodore lringle Loblaw founder of the Loblaw lrocertcria chain stores and his wife Although another famous Alliston native Sir Frederick Banting discoverer of insulin is buried in Torontos CHECK THESE FEATURES Doop biting lugs withstand punishing use Long overlapping lugs 3T nylon cord body tripletempered to Mount Pleasant Cemetery beside his recently deceased se cond wife Lady Henrietta Thompson erected in Alliston Cemetery the monument to Sir Fredericks parents also bear ing the name of their world renowned son The tools he uses to erect the stones include pry bars needle bars heave toe jack crow bar and chisel bar with heavy eightinch long chisel for use in little country cemeteries where there is no caretaker and he must dig out the foundations for the stones himself for the concrete foundation In hard clay in mid summer he observes the digging can be very hard Without the chisel bar you could not square out the founda tion Believe me it can be hard According to Thompson originally some of the best red granite Scotland but ries have used to come from all of their quar long since been mined out Today an excellent grade of granite comes from Finland vein of this stone goes cross the country where right aileron lItartin RentAll Centre Over 1500 items for 7280580 Barrie sale or rent ill mutt at zog lug design strengthens lugs the way corrugoion strengthens stool Lug get wider as they wear Other features Protected bead and rim Reinforced sidewall area resists damage from rocks roots and stubble Trlpletempered nylon cord body built tough to last COME IN OR GIVE US CAll 34 ANNE ST BARRIE Harper Tire WE HAVE PLENTY OF GOODYEAR TIRE VAlUES IN YOUR SIZEI 7266443