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Coril150 Celebrating Community
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Introducing Pansy Strange
Canadians are known for their incredible generosity and desire to go above and beyond to accommodate. We are polite and welcoming and that spirit is woven throughout the Coril Group of Companies.
Pansy Strange is one of those individuals who was known for doing whatever was needed to support others and get a job done. Strange was a legend in her time for taking on an ever-increasing and extraordinary diverse workload.
Pansy joined Fred Mannix & Company, Ltd.’s Edmonton office in 1947. One of her primary duties was tracking down men who were available for work. And when we say tracking them down — we really mean it.
“My wife and I were sitting in some café in northeast Edmonton eating supper at about 9 pm,” recalls Blondie Garbutt. “And, by gosh, somebody came in and said, ‘You’re to phone Pansy Strange right away,’ I said, ‘you’re full of hogs! Pansy won’t be there at this time of night.’ He was really serious so finally I called and, sure enough, Pansy answered. ‘You’re to go back out and put the batteries in the machine, load it and ship it down to Camrose,’ she said. I thought my wife was going to jump out of her skin.”
When she wasn’t tracking down employees, she took on other tasks, such as pinch-hitting as a hotelier. Pansy tells it best:
“This was when they first discovered oil, near Edmonton, and there were no places to sleep. They’d phone me up and say, ‘Get us a reservation,’ and I’d feel absolutely sunk. I’d phone and phone but you couldn’t get rooms. So I got these two cots and put them up in the spare room we had at the office and got bedding and pillows and things like that. I charged them 50 cents a night for sleeping in there, but that was for the laundry. I told them I was a hot and cold running chamber-maid, because I was running!”