The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
When he gets home from a long day at work, sometimes all Bob Mote wants to do is relax. He's not as active in his off-hours as he used to be, but he's willing to cut himself some slack. He is, after all, 83 years old. 'I guess I've got a right to be tired, a little bit,' says Mote with a grandfatherly laugh. At an age when many people are in a care home (if they are still around at all), Mote works as a fulltime locksmith and carpenter for Jim's Custom Doors and Windows. Started business He started the business as Custom Cabinet Shop in 1964. Years later, after selling the shop to his son, there was never any question as to whether he would remain on staff. But for this long? For the still-sharp Mote, working _ remaining busy and productive _ is part of what makes life meaningful. He doesn't think he's anything special. In fact, until he was asked for this article why he continues to work well into his ninth decade, he hadn't given the matter much thought. 'My mind says, 'Why not?' I enjoy my work,' says Mote, a fit, bespectacled man who wears his white hair slicked back. See 'Works' on pg. 7 Continued from pg. 1 'And just because I'm old doesn't mean I don't have to eat,' he adds, laughing some more. Mote spends most of his working hours as a locksmith, cutting keys and opening cars and buildings whose keys have been locked inside. He has many other random duties, from cutting glass to setting vault combinations for businesses. He even builds staircases and does other carpentry work, which fits in well with his background. Back in 1947, when he was 17, Mote began his carpentry apprenticeship at Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, now part of Hudbay. He became a subforeman at the company's carpentry shop, specializing in cabinetmaking. Working with rough lumber, he also fashioned windows for company- built houses. Mote did a lot more, of course. Unlike today, when tradespeople tend to focus on one narrow task, he was remarkably multi-skilled. 'In my era, you did everything _ the same guys that pours the concrete builds the cupboards,' he says. After 17 years at HBM&S, Mote was still a young man _ and craving something different. So in 1964 he left the company to launch Custom Cabinet Shop. At first the business was based out of the double garage at his Channing home. It would relocate twice before finding its ideal locale at the industrial area of Callinan Street, where it remains today. Mote knows the place inside and out. When people stop in and meet him, they are quick to credit his job for keeping him young. He disagrees. 'It doesn't keep me young, it keeps me active _ you pile up the years no matter what,' says Mote through more laughter. Also keeping him young _ sorry, active _ is his ever-growing family. He and wife Irene, married since 1950, still share a sacred bond. As Mote locked up the shop Tuesday, a bit past the usual closing time, he said it was unusual that Irene hadn't called him yet. Together the couple had four children in sons Jim, who now owns the shop, and Wes and daughters Heather (French) and Arlene (Milton). They also had two adopted s o n s o f a b o r i g i n a l descent, Joe Morin and Roger Powderhorn. Then there are the 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, not to mention the friends they have known so long that they feel like family. Not easy Mote's energy and infectious positivity make it seem like he has had an easy, carefree life. He hasn't. When one of his sons was a baby, Mote was comatose for about 10 days due to illness. H e remembers making out his will i n t h e hospital. Other h e a l t h s c a r e s have seen him twice flown to Winnipeg by air ambulance. Both times his family was told to expect the worst. Just a few years ago Mote fell off a deck and broke his neck and both wrists. A year after that, he had a quadruple bypass. 'It doesn't keeps theYet here he is, not only still standing, but flourishing. 'I'm personally convinced that the Lord has something to do with this,' he says humbly. For Mote, religious connections are vital. Then again, what would you expect from someone who has attended the First Baptist Church for the past 72 years? ' doesn't keep me active years no matterMote is such a familiar Flin Flon face that it is often thought he was born and raised here. He is actually from Souris, a sma l l t own n e a r Brandon. His family moved ' keep me young, _ you pile matter what.'here when he was in Grade 4 so his father could work at HBM&S. As a boy, M o t e d e v e l - o p e d a love for Flin Flon that has n e v e r withered. H i s p a r e n t s sought to instill in their son a strong work ethic, and if they were still around today, they wo u l d b e mi g h t i l y young, it pile up what.'impressed. Mote has now held a full-time job continuously for the past 66 years. And while he is technically 83, he likes to tell people that he's 'only 53 with 30 years' experience.' Age may just be a number. Nevertheless, the big question now is this: When will Bob Mote finally retire? 'Until I can't come to work anymore, I guess,' he says. 'I have no intentions of not coming to work.'
