Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

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The students were Judy Kedy, student council president, Nancy Lee Wood, yearbook
Editor and May Queen [and future Mahone Bay teacher after Normal College], and
Peggy Joy Ernst, student council member and bound for the armed forces.
“The Big Three” The Last Grade 12 Grads of the 1950s Nancy Lee
remembers Mr. Mason “as just about as laid back and good-natured as any teacher or
principal I can remember….He used to pick at girls who came to class with their hair
up in curlers….I used to baby sit for him.”
He went on to pursue his career in Ontario and kept a summer house in
Mahone Bay for a while. She said the elite trio of three were left to do much study
independently. They were set assignments and would go for help as needed. The
yearbook was dedicated to Brigadier Roy and his Industrial Shipping Company for
their contribution to the town and the school.
A good historical survey and analysis was included, written by Judith Kedy:
• “Paceships” had gained an international reputation: selling well in the U.S.A. and
Europe, as well as Canada.
• Free water skiing was established: a Maritime Champions Trophy won
• 200 men were employed.
• Grants were made to Home and School for book prizes, and Grade 11 Trophies
for Valor, Truth and Duty, including a copper plate and cash, were awarded.
Industrial Shipping turned out to be the last wooden boat building yard in the town.
They started in 1946, building leisure boats, with moulded hulls made out of laminated
veneer. Arthur Roy was the plant manager. By the mid ‘50s they were up to 15000
shells per year shipped out for finishing, and they were completing over 1000
themselves. A disastrous fire wiped them out later in 1956. They rebuilt the plant after
the fire, as in the above photo, but the business never recovered and stopped production
in 1962. Fibreglass yachts were built for a while. Then ABCO Plastics switched to
industrial plastics.
The Drop Out Who Did Well: George Silver: “Very fortunate to have a man of
his type.”
In Industrial Shipping’s heyday, George Silver [pictured below] was foreman. Later,
when he resigned from the company, Superintendent and designer M. L. Robar [who
went on to experiment with outboats with a wooden plastic impregnated hull] paid
George a tribute in an interview with the Bridgewater Bulletin of May 10th, 1961.
‘During the [Industrial Shipping] peak days of moulding outboard boats and hulls…
quota set by the company directors was 75 units daily of which Mr. Silver played a
very important part as foreman. Mr. Robar states he is very lucky to have had a man
of this type working in the plant.’
Photo: Courtesy, Silver Family
George, along with Lawrence Holman, Bobby Mader, Ronald
Crossland and others, were the boys principal Hankinson
complained about in his 1942-3 Principal’s Report to the Board.
They had lost interest in school and left to work. He and Lawrence
were chased for non-attendance, and he reported George as lazy.
George wanted to work and left. He remembers Mr. Hankinson
with a wry smile and comments, “ If Mr. Hankinson wanted