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Amalgamation had been a slow process which start- .in 1963 with the talk of sibly joining the blood donor clinics Mr. A. Young- man was president of the branch at that time and when speaking at the annual meeting in 1964 said "many examples have been shown where' Twin City organiza- tions boards and services operate 'more efficiently than two individual ones, These remarks prompted an editorial m the local paper entitled "Eventually. why not now"" The article pointed out that amalgama- tron of the branches would result In greater efflelent-y and economy Shortly after. Mr, Ronald Sills. president of the Kitchener branch mirrored Mr. Youngman's views by saying that “amalgamation was inevitable but not for some five years at least _ Talks of amalgamation of the Waterloo Branch of the Canadian Red Cross and the Kitchener branch start- ed as far back as 1963 with the final result coming' of- ficially Friday at the open- ing of the new headquarters at 186 King Street South in Waterloo. HISTORIC WA TERLOO The yard surrounding the house at 88 William Street used to know the laughter and games which accompanied a Hilliard family reunion around the be- ginning of the 1900's. - The age of the house is estimated at 90 to 100 years old and was built by Thomas Hilliard, the key man in the founding of Dominion Life Assurance Com- pany. There are three pictures in different publications in this area which illustrate the house in the early 1900's, Mr. Hilliard as he looked at that time and a family portrait of some 30 Hilliard offspring taken during a 1909 family reunion. Around the year 1889, Thomas Hilliard was given the job of procuring the necessary capital stock for the Dominion Life Assurance Company. Simon Sny- der, John Shuh and Christian Kumpf are reported to also have been involved in some way with the start- ing of this business. Mr. Frank Hilliard, son of Thomas who is presently living at 45 Caroline Street said when his father first came to Waterloo there were only four English speaking families in the village, the rest were Ger- man and Pennsylvania Dutch. Thomas Hilliard, a born Irishman came to Canada at the age of six and later moved to Waterloo. The former Hilliard house Branches together after 10 years of talk The Waterloo executive committee met on May 24 to consider the results of a poll taken which expressed the views about amalgama- tion Most were in favour of the move At a meeting of the Water- loo executive on May 9 1972 a letter from the Kitchener Branch was read and rep- resentatives were appointed to attend a meeting on June 1 1972 with Mr. String- er. commissioner of the On- tario division and Kitchen- er Red Cross executive members for the purpose of dicussing a joint facility and possible amalgamation. A jmnt committee was formed and met June I at which time an option was placed on a property at 737 King Street West In Kitchener In August When It was learned later though that the property at 186 was also available the op- tion was placed there and The subject did not get any more serious thought until May of 1966 when K-W officials discussed the pos- sibilities with officials from the Ontario Division. Still nothing definite was decid- edupon. purchase was approved and Mr, L. Stringer (left: former commissioner of the Ontario Division of the Canadian Red Cross discusses the amalgamation of the Kitchener and Waterloo branches last Friday at the of, ficial opening of the new offices at 186 King then closed on December I, 1972. Extensive renovations took place inside and out- The much expanded First United Church which is in the same location today named its hall after the Hilliard family. Thomas' other son, Dr. W.L. Hilliard was also active in its workings. But the house on William Street according to Frank has remained pretty much the same. Although he said the inside had probably changed consider- ably the outside was as he remembered it as a child when the Hilliard family filled its yard for their re- unions. Thomas Hilliard's son Frank who was born one year after the company received its charter temem- bered his father as a great church worker. He said on occasion his father would even preach at the Unit- ed Church on the corner of William and King Street. Mr. Hilliard drew up the plans. prospectus and charter of the company and guided it through the pass- ing of various stages until an Act of Parliament in July of 1889 allowed a charter for it. At that time Dominion Lite had $262,000 of subscribed stock with one quarter paid up in cash. The doors of the business were then opened with Thomas Hilliard as managing director with one clerk as an assistant. The house is presently owned by Ray Stanton. side the building which for- merly housed the Waterloo YMCA and the transfer of offices from the two separ- ate locations in Kitchener . ciii, 1i)trt " LETTER TO THE EDITOR E 3: ., - " Xi .f = 'r' " " i t 7 , , _ ' t' _l {f 1; il':' , I . - S - " " . E',riq t 'ri.va L .5 (fart k " 'rihl,l, u' f LF, Ill4ltiill , i1 j v , <,~ t '* Mr. Robert J. Brown is the first president of the recently amalgamated Kit- chener-Waterloo Red Cross. A few things need to be said about a recent meet- ing of Lexington Road and Colonial Acres residents with representatives of the City of Waterloo which was held in Lincoln Heights School. The meeting was a good opportunity to get informa- tion of vital concern to the residents, a number of whom, in return, made their preferences and concerns very clear and suggested al- ternatives to existing plans. As often happens at such meetings, feelings ran rath- er high at times. Mr. John G. Masters is the first vice-president through 1973 with Mr. Paul Class second vice and Mr. David Graham. treasurer. Other members of the executive are: Miss Rahno In comparison with the discussions about Albert Street. however, where the situation was in fact far more urgent, the Colonial Acres meeting came off a very poor second. No good purpose was served by the kind of gratuitous belliger- ence which was too often shown to the "Bad Guys" from City Hall. Dear Editor, The shouting down of the chairman was an affront not only to the chair (which is a position and not a person) but to all those present. City officials have to accept cri- ticism as part of their job, but not the kind of abuse which cropped up on several occasions during this meet- mg. and Waterloo was undertak- en the end of April. Mr. L. Stringer, former commissioner of the tht- tario division of the Red Part of the problem (but by no means a Justification of the contempt for demo- Street. Mr. Stringer is speaking with Mr. Rob- ert J. Brown. (centre) president of the K-W Red Cross and long time member of the execu- tive Mr. N.(7.schneider. Chronicle Photo. Meeting was unfortunate Brown is first pres. Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, June 6, 1973 5 cratic processes which was shown) was the lack of preparation tor the meeting. Numerous questions came up in heated moments when they could quite easily have been anticipated and answer- ed in a matter-of-fact way as part of the opening state- ment: this would have made the speaker more of a volun- tary participant than a defendant. There should have been a microphone at a meeting this size: this reduces the strain on the chairman and makes for a more relaxed atmosphere. An overhead projector would have been appreciated and would have helped to keep the emphasis on information. In future meetings tif there are to be any) with this group of residents, it may be advisable to find a chairman who is either a resident himself or a total outsider. There is a real opportunity in the Lexington Road C Colonial Acres area for far- sighted and imaginative planning which will protect the interests of the present residents at the same time as it provides for whatever expansion is necessary. I sincerely hope that one unfortunate meeting won't stand in the way of contin- ued discussions. Cross was present to of- ficially open the building during the Open House held last Friday afternoon and evening. Beamish. Mr. J.R. Cog- hill, Mr. Tom Collins. Mr. G. Dunleavy, Mrs. R.M. Jordan, Mr. George Kenney, Mrs. L.J. Klopp, Miss Gene Kuntz, Mrs. Ruth Lew.is, Mrs. Gabrielle Moule, Mr. J.D. Nanson, Mr. John Nicholson, Mr. Kenneth A. Rae, Mrs. NC. Schneid- er and Mr. R.C. Sills, Yours truly RA. Staal Colonial Acres