Name/Title
Garner, Robert (Bob) EdwinEntry/Object ID
11425Description
It was in 1948 that Bob and his wife Betty emigrated to Canada by ship from Southampton to New York, to begin a new life after six years of war and three years of post war hardship in England. Before coming to Canada, Bob was an indentured apprentice for Vickers Armstrong in England. There he learned Tool and Die, Jig and Fixture making. Upon arriving in Canada, Bob and Betty spent four months in Montreal with family before Bob answered a Montreal newspaper advertisement from Orenda Engines in Toronto seeking new employees with tool and die expertise. Bob was offered a job and moved to Toronto shortly thereafter. He settled in Downsview, a suburb of Toronto, and worked for Orenda Engines for almost 10 years, until the project was canceled in February 1959. During that time Bob bought a house, built a summer cottage near Dagmar, raised two sons and worked all the hours he could. He worked in the drawing office at Orenda, on the mass production set-up for the Iroquois engines to go in the Arrow. He joined the Association of Production Engineers in 1954. In February 1959 Bob and Betty became Canadian citizens, proud to be part of this great country. When the Avro Arrow project was cancelled, Bob was laid off, and he and Betty sold their home and cottage and returned to England, arriving in the summer of 1959. Back in England, Bob worked as a Tool and Die maker with Graviner Manufacturing Co. from 1959-1962. Realizing there were better opportunities in Canada, Bob returned alone in 1962 to work for the Canadian Westinghouse turbine division in Hamilton. Betty joined him shortly after and they bought a house in Burlington where they added a third son and lived out successful and happy lives. Designated a Chartered Engineer 1977. Occupation on a voter's list (found via Ancestry.ca) in York, Ontario stated as an A. V. Roe employee. Worked in the Master Mechanics Dept. - involved with a new Orenda Cutaway Engine, where he worked on the Display Stand and driving mechanism highlighted in The Orenda 29 April 1955. Passed away in 2019.