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52 - DECKS AWASH efforts the students put into their work and a tribute to the dedic ated staff. "I'm blessed with a good staff. a very close staff. Morale is ge ne ra lly very high, It says Hughie . Perhaps it's a circular process . When students do well, teachers feel good. Certainly Hughie Bull feels good about the town. He and his wife Elizabeth made a deliberate decision to adopt Pasadena as their home when they moved there in 1981. It wasn't too difficult. " We saw it as a \\ ell-kept, not too large community with fair recreational enticements. with young families and lot s of children for our kids . The people here have a pride in the appearance of their community," notes Hughie . Liking the community was not enough. Hughie decided he would Keeping the area supplied am Major's building supplies S and hardware business occupies a conspicuous position on the Trans-Canada Highway at P a sadena. The 6.000-sq. flo building also houses a sears mailorde r oullet and a Newfoundland Liquor Corporation outlet, all opera ted by the Major family : Sam' s sons Kirk , 32, Craig , 'J:1 , and his wife Lorna . "We came to Pasadena 10 years ago. I'd worked for 25years with Lundrigans and ended up genera l manager of their Atla ntic Building Material stores," explains Sam Major , 52. "The boys we re growing up and they favored going into the building have to do something for it, too. resulting in his successfully running for the position of councillor at Pa sa dena in a 1982byelect ion " I enjoy planning, working behind th e scenes," admits Hughie . " It's not the same as being principal , it takes you off the hot seat. The mayor is the figureh ead in council. 1can 't imagine what it would be like to be mayor and principal. You'd have no personal life at all. ,. t'1 the building supply and lumber business." At that tim e houses were being built in Pasadena, but since then new housing starts have decreased considerably, thanks to high inter est rates and a plentiful supply of used houses . So Sam finds himself selling to a lot of people who are remodeJling. " We used to have to educate our customers some years ago. but now most of them are pretty familiar with what they want. We sell mostly to people who do their own work ." One problem with building, especially additions to existing homes, is that it is almost impossible to estimate accurately how much material a job needs. Consequently , most building suppliers end up extending credit to their customers to get the job done. " It's not cut and dried, like buying a suit or some furniture .
If you're putting on a porch, you don't know how much it will really cost until the job's finished. When you're building a house your mortgage money may only come from the bank as you complete each stage of the building. High inventory costs and high carrying costs have always been a problem in this business." Incorporating a liquor store into the building appears to have been an astute move. "Yes, it's a nice business because it's a cash business," says Sam. "I suppose 60to 70per cent of our hard liquor sales are rye whiskey, although rum seems to be making a comeback. More people are buying wine, too, especially white wine." Getting into the hardware business is an expensive proposition. Except for a small quantity of local lumber, all supplies must South Brook be brought from the mainland, and because of transport delays, Sam has to keep a fairly large inventory. On the other hand, his market is quite large. He trucks materials as far north as St. Barbe and as far south as Ramea and Burgee. The hours are also long. "We open at 8 o'clock in the morning and close 9 o'clock at night. I don't have much spare time. I'd like to build a few houses and sell them but there's no market for them right now." Sam is not short of ideas, though. He sees the area as ripe for tourism. "With our skiing, Gros Morne Park, and the lake here, we should be able to get a lot more people to stay in the area. We've been a bit slack on it and I think we should try to accommodate tourists better by doing things to keep them here instead of having South Brook's loss, Pasadena's gain outh Brook, population en, S lies immediately west of Pasadena and extends from the hillside above the TCH down to the shores of Deer Lake. Approximately 112homes connected by broad, meandering unpaved roads constitute the community which is served by Holy Rosary church and school (Grade K-9) two stores, two garages, two airtransport companies, a park and a community hall. Local history has it that South Brook was named by its first settler, Ron Fisher, who made his way from Humbermouth with a horse and a load of hay around 1920. He named the community after a brook that emptied into the lake south of the settlement of Deer Lake. But in January 1986, South Brook will be no more. A recent plebiscite voted to amalgamate the community with Pasadena. "Yes, it's sad. Here, take this Melvina Tracey in remembrance," says town clerk Melvina Tracey, 25,as she hands us a pin bearing the com- OEiCKS AWASH - 53 them just drive through. Wehave a strawberry festival now which is one good thing, but there must be other goodthings we can do to keep them entertained: boat rides, tours, things like that. One thing we don't have is any really good restaurant in the valley. No question, there's an opportunity there." "Although it is late, the Major family are all busy helping customers in the hardware section of the store. It is quite a time before we can get sam, Craig, and Kirk together briefly for a photo. We get only a glimpse of sam's wife Lorna who resolutely refuses to be photographed. A pity. "Lorna works in the office and does all the accounting," explains sam. "I think in her own mind she thinks she's the boss-and she probably is." I! munity's name. "The older pea. pIe here are not too happy with the change." "Itwill always be South Brook to me," says municipal employee Ron Bennett, 62."I've lived here 60years and we were OK on our own and we didn't owe any money. A lot of peopledidn't even vote for this." "There were 123 said yes, 90 said no, and another 90 or more who did not vote," adds Melvina. We are sitting in Melvina's office in the community hall. She has a bubbly personality and a ready wit. "This is a good job but it's bad. You get to take a lot of abuse. I take all the complaints then pass them on to the council. Whenpeople won't pay their taxes or water bills, I represent the community in court." She pulls a face. "I've been called a lot worse than town clerk." Melvina has been town clerk
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