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Colwell, Sadie

Female 1901 - 1987  (86 years)


 

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Sadie Colwell, Toronto Star Article - May 11, 1973

The Toronto Star, Friday, May 11, 1973

A Life of quiet dedication is fame enough for Sadie.

SADIE COLWELL, 72, has worked for the same Toronto firm for 47 years and the last thing on her mind is retirement. She would rather work than sit at home. She dismisses women's liberation complaints about unequal work opportunities with the comment: "Some people are always complaining."

There's no way Sadie Colwell would ever make the front page of The Star.
She's done nothing that could be considered really spectacular at any stage in her long life; nor is she likely to before she dies.
But when her small accomplishments are looked at in the light of what is considered the norm by today's society, they begin to loom larger and larger.
I look at them, and all I can do is shake my head and come out with the cliche: "They surely don't make 'em like that any more. No sirree!"
For starters, Sadie is 72 years old. Which means sh should be retired, right? No way.
Sadie arrives at work every morning at 8:30 a.m. and is supposed to work until 4:30 p.m.
Never late
But her boss, Louis Bregman, president of Canadian Food Products Ltd., says she seldom leaves on time. He reports that she can be found behind her desk many an evening after the place has closed.
As for arriving on time, that's a different matter.
Sadie has worked for the same company for 47 years and not once has she ever arrived late.
She is also able to report, in a shy and winsome way, that in all those years she has been away only nine days because of illness.
"But don't write that, please" she begs me. Sadie is the kind of person who considers bragging unnvecessary and unladylike and is not about to indulge in it, even in answer to a direct question.
In all, starting off as a young farm girl at the age of 16, Sadie has been working steadily for 56 years and has no intention of giving up now.
She' been through about eight different changes in ownership of the huge food products company where she works and is so much a part of the office that the place might just fall apart is she ever does leave.
Her new boss, Bregman, who took over the company 18 months ago - thus inheriting Sadie - speaks of her with awe. The sum of his comments in praise of her goes something like this:
"Every company should be so lucky to have an employee like Sadie!"
Bregman says it's up to her when she retires and indicates that he's perfectly willing to have her roll in in a wheelchair at 90 if she wishes to.
"She's married to this place," he says. "It's her whole life. She still does a good job and it would kill her to leave."
That good job Sadie still does isn't just any old job.
She's involved in responsibilities of a very sensitive nature, handling much of the confidential financial work of her company, including the executive apyroll.
Considering her impeccable work record and her lengevity at one job, you might feel that Sadie would have the right to criticize the attitude some young people have towards their jobs today.
Not Sadie.
No libber
"You have to go along with the times," she chirps. "The girls in the office today are very nice. They just move around alot more, that's all."
As for current women's lib feelings that women aren't given equal opportunities for advancement in offices, she dismisses the idea with a curt-
"Some people are always complaining, I've always felt that the men in the office treated me with respect. I always liked the people I worked for."
She also managed to liberate herself enough by hard work and loyalty from the position of book-keeper to assistant to the treasurer, and never felt she was held back because she was a woman.
If there's any change in office attitudes over thte years, it's that "when I first started to work, people really enjoyed what they were doing and tried hard for the company.
No one left unless they got married or died. Today, perhaps many young people don't realize how stimulating a job can be and how it can help improve you."
She eats most of her meals out and enjoys going to the movies. And she is not intimidated by the heightened pace of the city or the glare of neon on the Strip.
Nor is she intimidated by the increasing use of computers in the office, which, so far, haven't managed to make valuable employees like Sadie Colwell obsolete.
"I haven't ever considered retirement," she says matter-of-factly. "Not yet, anyway, I can still do my job.
"And I'd much rather be out enjoying everything that sitting at home doing nothing."




DateMay 11, 1973
PlaceToronto Daily Star
File nameSadie Colwell 72 years of work.jpg
File Size264.43k
Dimensions600 x 1160
Linked toColwell, Sadie

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