CASTOR REVIEW GLASSIFIED Russell Reinsmen BABYSITTING -- Mother of three will babysit in her home. Call 445-5204. BABYSITTING -- Mother will babysit, my home, any age. 445- 5780. FOR SALE -- Baby Carriage, $35; Baby's Car Seat, $15. 445-5784. Eventing was the topic of the January meeting of the Russell Reinsmen 4H Horse Club. Fifteen members were present despite weather conditions. Gail Todd of the Equine Care Division of Algonquin College brought a film from the Olympic Games at Munich. Parents are invited to the meetings to see the films and hear the speakers. The next meeting is scheduled for Tues- day, Feb. 6. Coming Events The Russell Bogie Benders Snowmobile Rally will be held Jan. 20. Rally, supper and dance costs $10.00 (two suppers and dance). Rally only $5.00 (one supper). Dance costs $2.00 per person. Registration at Russell Arena from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. on Jan. 20. Public meetings of the Russell R.A. Association for 1979 will he held the first Tuesday of each month at 8 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 6. Cedarhill Snowmobile Rally, Sat. Jan. 27 in conjunction with the Greely Winter Carnival. Registration time, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Prices: Drivers, $6.00 (including meal); Rider, $2.00; Bean Supper, 3 p.m. to5 p.m. Many, many prizes! also plann- ed: Snowmobile Drag Races. Saturday, Feb. 3, 12 noon. DON Electrical Residential Commercial Farm FREE ESTIMATES VMIAY 445-5332 Automobile Power Brakes, Power Steering, exterior. KLJ 364. ior. Stock 3188A. Rue Notre-Dame St. "IN SHOWROOM" January Used Car Sales 1978 CHEVROLET CAPRICE -- 2-door, 2-tone, V8 Aut., AM-FM Stereo, Power Steering, Vinyl Roof. Licence MEZ 763, maroon with maroon int. 1977 FIREBIRD ESPRIT -- V8 Aut., Radio, Power Brakes, Seats. Sports Car. License NGH 996, Russet 1976 BUICK PARK AVENUE -- 4-door, fully equip., air conditioning. Dark blue car with complimentary blue. Family car. License 1975 CHEVROLET IMPALA -- 2-door, V8 Aut., Radio, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Wire wheel covers. Dark green with white inter- 1974 VENTURA -- 2-door, 6 cyl. Aut., Power Steering, red with white interior. Car for wife. License HSC 992. 443- HOURS: Mon. to Fri. - 9 to 9: 30 Sat.-9to5 Ltée., Ltd. KOA 1WO Like new. Bucket 2885 Friday, January 12,1979 Page 11 Neighbors Pierre C. Bruyere -- A taste of Honey Pierre C. Bruyere, 90, former Embrun postmaster and _ tele- phone operator, is resting in his bare room at LaPalme Nursing Home. He's awakened suddenly by the nurse announcing a_ visitor. Within a few seconds, the father of 10 is fully alert and ready for a conversation. Pierre Bruyere tells the visitor that his life now is often lonely. He misses living in the centre of things, on Embrun's main street with his family. Mr. Bruyere has been one of 109 patients in the three-storey nursing home for the past five years. His wife Victoria passed away in the same institution in 1967 when she was 78. These days, he spends most of his time sleeping and chatting with fellow patients. Failing eyesight prevents reading or even watching television; and his legs don't carry him around the way they used to. "I don't enjoy it very much here," says the slight, former St. Jacques Church choir-master. "The years have to take some- thing, and from me they took sight and legs." But, it wasn't always like this. "I was one of the most important businessmen in Emb- run for half a century," Mr. Bruyere informs his listener. "I don't want to boast, but I was very bright." One of 11 children, Mr. Bruyere came to Embrun from St. Regis, Que., in 1895. His father operated the post office out of his general store, receiving $35 a year from the government. The family income was supplemented by his mother who kept a cow, selling milk for five cents a quart. Mr. Bruyere began operating the village telephone exchange in 1912 and succeeded his father as postmaster in 1922. He retired from postal service in 1956 at age 68, six years after relinquishing the telephone company job. He loved both jobs because they allowed him to know every- body in the village. And, of course, everybody knew him. He was at the switchboard in the days when phones had to be cranked and even local calls went through the operator . . . who was a major news source. 'When there was a fire, the switchboard would be jammed"', Two Donations At the December meeting of the 'Friday Night Euchre Club" playing in the Russell Legion Hall on Monday evenings, a motion was passed to donate $30 to the Legion Children's Christmas Party, and a $100 donation to the Winchester District Memorial Hospital. Other charities are also helped during the year. he recalls. '"'Everybody would ring me to find out about the fire."' There were only 16 local phones when Mr. Bruyere started; when he quit, there were 165. "There were more than that at one time, but a lot of people cancelled their phones during the Depression because they couldn't afford them." Mr. Bruyere remembers the New York Central Railway's Tupper Lake-Ottawa run when four passenger trains and two freights stopped at Embrun every day. Improved road trans- portation killed the service in 1957. And he'll never forget how residents marvelled on that day in 1903 when the first "horseless carriage', purchased in Ottawa by a Casselman man, chugged through the village. One of Mr. Bruyere's greatest loves has been singing. For 50 years, he led the all-male choir at St. Jacques through Latin hymns, not only on Sundays but several times a week. "IT always had a good voice. And I can still sing."' Believed to be the oldest resident of Embrun, the fluently- bilingual Mr. Bruyere has watch- ed the village grow and take ona slightly different character. "At one time, everybody here Pierre C. Bruyere -- Looking back was French. It's not quite the same anymore." His five sons and five daugh- ters have given him 41 grand- children who in turn have pro- duced 'tat least 30' great-grand- children. The house Mr. Bruyere owned on Notre Dame Street is now Kavoukian Jewellers. It was built in 1932 after a fire which destroyed the previous Bruyere home and three other buildings. When Varouj Kavoukian official- ly opened his store, he called on Mr. Bruyere to cut the ribbon. It was a good life, a life that Mr. Bruyere says is almost over. There was even some travelling, including six trips to Florida and four to the Canadian West were five of his brothers once lived. Only one, now 85, is still living and a 78-year-old sister resides in Ottawa. When asked to explain his lon- gevity, Mr. Bruyere notes that he was always "a very quiet fellow" who never indulged in liquor or tobacco. But he thinks the real secret of a long life may be the honey he has eaten every morning "since I canremember". The visitor gets up to leave. Mr. Bruyere thanks him for taking the time, and, with a firm hand- shake, urges him to return some- time. DIANE'S HAIR DESIGN OPEN Tuesday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EVENINGS BY APPOINTMENT 821-3010 Victoria St. Metcalfe (Next to Pharmacy) Top Soil Sand Gravel Cartage & Excavating Ltd. Truck, Loader & Backhoe Rentals Landscaping Septic Tanks Bulldozing 445-5685