le ener,

Who is. ..

Nelson McGinlay? :

A family man — and a
printer.

by Betty Barton

Nelson McGinlay is one of the
founding owners of Totem Press
on Keith Avenue in Terrace.
June 1989 marked the 20th an-
hiversary of the company.

©. Nelsoin, his wife Pat and baby

daughter Lori moved to Terrace

from Vancouver in 1969. The

-couver.

move was prompted by a pro-

posal from Mark Twyford (the

go into a print shop partnership

with him.’ Nelson and Mark had
worked together in a print shop |

in Vancouver. Nelson and Pat
sold their house, their truck and
camper and moved north.

They sometimes joke about

where they would be today if |

they still had their home in Van-
Sold in” 1969 for

- $10,500, it would probably be

worth over $200,000 today. De-
spite the adjustments of moving
so far away from family and

friends, and the many journeys
_ to ~Vancouver’s

medical

mci ee

specialists for Lori, the
McGinlays have never regretted
their decision.

Nelson says the business
comes first, but he prides
himself in his family. ‘‘And
other than work and family,
fishing is my life, I live, sleep

_ and breathe it.”? He can’t think

of a better place anywhere in the
world. for. fishing, family or
business than Terrace.

Nelson McGinlay is a journey-
man printer. He did his four-
year printer's apprenticeship at
B.C. Hydro’s in-house print
shop in Vancouver, He was two
and one half years through a
camera, plate making and strip-
ping apprenticeship when the
opportunity to come to Terrace

presented itself. Nelson was

making a good wage, being’ a
journeyman printer and getting
a night-shift differential, but he
felt it was no way to live, with a
young family.

Nelson and his current part-
ner, Mike Rossiter, graduated
together from Vancouver Tech-
nical (a high school in Van-
couver with 2,700 students).
Their wives had also gone to
school together and they all lived
in the same neighborhood. They
often gathered at someone’s
house to play Scrabble or
Rumoli, and the parents even
joined them. One night at a par-
ty, Pat and Nelson were paired
up for a ‘‘Pass the apple’’ game
because they were of similar
size. They were married when

Pat was 19; Nelson, 20. Nelson |

had begun his apprenticeship by
then,

Nelson’s mother had encour-
aged him to become a printer
because, at the time, it was the
premiere trade to bein, and the
best paying. Nelson laughs when
he remembers the $1.88 per hour
starting wage. From Grade 10,
he concentrated on graphic arts
and printing subjects. He was
one of the few kids who actually
knew what he wanted to do after
graduation. He enjoyed it and
did well, On the wall of his print
room hangs a certificate of ex-

cellence from Vancouver Tech-
nical, This was presented at
graduation, along with a $50
award. His first job out of high.
school was at a small print shop
at UBC. ce
Totem Press has evolved over —
the years. A couple of years
after the business opened,

-Nelson bought-out his partner,.
_Mark, so Mark could branch |
‘out. Pat and Nelson. ran the
‘business alone for awhile.
‘Nelson knows the seven or eight

Terrace Review's: publisher) to. trades that make up the print

business, but he felt they were
lacking a design and creative in-

fluence in the business.

That was when Mike Rossiter
entered the scene about 13 years
ago. The business has had its
good times and bad. Nelson says
it’s a hard business to be in
because the need for up-to-date
equipment and on-going infor-
mation and technique-gathering
is imperative and expensive.
Totem Press acquired a few new
partners to make growth and im-
provements possible. ‘Today,
they are state of the art in the
north. They get orders from as
far away as Whitehorse, Alberta
and even have a few customers
in Vancouver.

Nelson explains, ‘‘People
come to us for specialty items
because we do high quality work
and we care about our
customers.’’ He has some
favorite projects including
Nadine Asante’s History of Ter-
race, Evva Weber’s The Way
We Were and a cookbook writ-
ten by local home economics
teacher Katherine Rempel. in
1973. Up to 10 years after the
original publication, Totem
Press got requests from Armed
Forces bases (Ms. Rempel had
Armed Forces connections)

‘around the world for Pizzas,

Pies and Mousetraps. They’ve
also had award-winning menus
submitted by their customers.

Nelson feels a real affinity
with Tetrace. He’s been through
changes and improvements. The
Child Development Centre has
come into existence since the.
McGinlay’s arrival in Terrace.
That service greatly shortened
Lori’s stays in Vancouver for
physiotherapy. Totem Press
tries to return the favor when-
ever possible.

Nelson is surprised at people’s
complaints about flight service
into Terrace. He remembers
DC-6’s and many long, bumpy
bus trips to Prince Rupert.

Nelson is a member of the
Terrace and District Chamber of
Commerce. He was a Kinsman
for many years. But, as business
increased and his family grew
(the McGinlays have Lori 21,
Debbie 19 and Scott 17), he
found he couldn’t be the active
member he wanted to be. “If
i’m going to do something, I
have to do it right.’’ Nelson
coached boys’ and girls’ soccer
for many years, and two of his
children played.

Totem Press now employs
three McGinlays — . Nelson
(printer),, Pat (typesetter) and
Debbie (apprentice pressman).
Daughter Lori works at
Hemlock House, a group home

.. Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 10, 1990. BS.

tan

ar

Cr ry

Nelson McGinlay, co-owner of Totem Press in Terrace, recently saw the business’s 20th an-
niversary come and go. One of his faithful companions in the print shop is this Heidelberg

GTO press.

for mentally and physically
handicapped adults. Son Scott is
just finishing Grade 12 at
Caledonia. Nelson jokingly
says, ‘‘Life begins when the dog
dies.and the kids leave home.”’
On a more serious note, ‘‘We’ve
raised a good family and we still
support each other.’

Nelson has always started
work at 4.a.m. so that he can be
at home in the evenings with the
family. When Lori was a baby,
he’d take her in the stroller to
work with him and let Pat sleep
in on Sunday mornings. Nelson
is a firm believer in the par-
ticipation of family. Even on the
river in his 14-foot aluminum
boat Fast Eddy, Nelson can be
found talking about his family
and telling jokes, ‘‘Hear the one

_about the printer....””

Big Brothers,
Big Sisters
‘Start organizing

Contributed by
Sharlene Butler

Big Brothers and Big Sisters
of Terrace are now underway.

The first annual general
meeting proved.to be a success
with enough people present to
fill all executive and directors’
chairs. The next few months will
be busy in trying to get totally
functional by spring.
- But, we still can’t do it with-

out you. Anyone interested in
becoming a Big Brother or Sister
— or, if you are willing just to
help — please feel free to join us
in this worthwhile project.

Meetings are held every third
Tuesday of the month at 4707
Loen Ave. For further informa-
tion contact Elaine Johnson at

635-2965 or Theresa Brinkac at.
635-6181. i oe

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