Congratulations to our Retired Union Members!

This month we celebrate nine retired Union Members!

Bien and Samien Son – Healthcare Food Services

Bien and Samien found a new life in Canada after fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s. They worked side by side at Healthcare Food Services for 33 years and made many lasting friendships along the way. Read more about their story below… Bien and Samien are now retired and enjoying the peace and quiet. They do, however, miss their friends that worked with them at Healthcare Food Services. Enjoy your well-earned retirement!

William (Willy) Catinus – Loblaws Merivale

Willy retired on January 13^th of this year. He was a longtime Union Member who worked at Loblaws Merviale in Nepean. Willy started working part-time in 1964 and moved up to full-time just one week later! He worked in many different departments at different locations over the years and his retirement comes after 53 years of dedicated employment. Congratulations Willy, we wish you all the best in your retirement.

Maria Duval – Holiday Inn Windsor

Congratulations to Maria on her retirement this year! Maria worked at the Holiday Inn on Huron Church Road in Windsor. She plans to spend her new free time with her husband and friends. This photos pictures Maria receiving her watch from the Union alongside Union Rep Dave Forbes. All the best in your retirement, Maria.

Silvana Sdao and Rose Fucile – Metro 395

The Members at Metro 395 in Sault Ste. Marie had to wave goodbye to two great employees as they began their retirement. Both Silvana and Rose worked in the cut fruit department at the store. They both say they look forward to their first summer of not working in many years. The photo collage contains pictures of them receiving their Union watches from Union Rep Jim Hames, and posing with their co-workers at the store. It’s clear they will both be missed very much! Congratulations to Silvana and Rose – enjoy your retirement.

John “Curtis” Garrioch – Metro 245

After spending 40 years working for A&P and then Metro, Curtis retired on June 1, 2018. Curtis is pictured here receiving his watch from the Union. We know he made many lifelong friends at work and we wish him a happy and healthy retirement.

Isabel Bento – Cavendish Appetizers

Isabel retired from the Cavendish Appetizers plant in Wheatley. She worked there for an amazing 46 years. Isabel looks forward to retired life but she says she will miss her co-workers and friends very much. She said: “I wish everyone all the best and hugs to everyone.” We wish you all the best too, Isabel. Enjoy your retirement.

Maria Botelho – Cavendish Appetizers

After 46 years, Maria decided to hang her hard hat up in her garage!! She started working in the Wheatley facility back in 1972 and over the years, Maria made many friends. Maria will miss those lifelong friendships she made with her co-workers in the plant. She also added: “I want to wish everyone good luck and good health all around.” Have a fantastic retirement Maria, you deserve it.

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More on Bien & Samien’s story

Bien and Samien Son worked at Healthcare Food Services since 1985. They both fled Cambodia in 1975, during one of Cambodia’s darkest times. They had been married one year, and they had a one-year-old son with another child on the way. They wanted a better life and decided to escape the gruesome political conflict to come to Canada. The civil war and genocide carried out by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s ended up killing millions of people.

They travelled at night through the darkness and it took them four days to cross the Thai-Cambodia border with their son. They took shelter in a Thai refugee camp where Bien gave birth to their second child. They stayed at that camp for four years.

The family arrived in 1979 in Perth, and then they relocated to Ottawa. They worked side by side at Healthcare Food Services for 33 years.

Bien and Samien welcomed a third child, a little girl, once in Canada. Their middle son, born in the Thai refugee camp, ended up working as a House of Commons security officer. He was on duty the day a gunman stormed Parliament, October 22, 2014. The gunman shot him in the leg when he tried to block him from shooting another officer. The RCMP honoured their son for his bravery on that day.

Bien and Samien are now retired and enjoying the peace and quiet. They do, however, miss their friends that worked with them at Healthcare Food Services.