24885 - Pethick, Clarence William (Pat)

Event Date : Thursday, September 15, 1977
Event Type : Death
Municipality : Toronto, Ont.
Community : Other - Bradford
Street :
Lot :
Concession : 0
Description : Clarence William (Pat) Pethick, former president of the Gilford Beach Association and prominent trade union leader, died recently in Toronto.He died September 15 at the age of 73.A funeral service was conducted by Reverend Shorten of Runnymede United Church and burial took place at Aurora Cemetery.Pat Pethick had a lengthy career as an officer of The Commercial Telegraphers' Union, now The United Telegraph Workers.He started as a messenger in the City of Peterborough with the Great Northwestern Telegram Company, now Canadian National Telecommunications, in 1919. He later became a clerk and in 1923 worked as a Morse Telegrapher for the Canadian National at Galt, Gravenhurst, and Bracebridge.He joined the staff of the Canadian Pacific Telegraphs in the main office in Toronto in June, 1924, and worked for that company as a Morse Telegrapher in the main office, the Toronto Mining Exchange, the Toronto Star, and the Toronto Telegram. He went on leave of absence in April, 1960, when he became a full-time union officer.He was first elected as chairman for the Ontario District of Division No. 1, in December, 1943.He served in that capacity until April 1960, when he was elected to the full-time position of assistant to the general chairman of Division No. 1, at Toronto.During the period he was district chairman and a year as assistant to the general chairman, he was a delegate to the Toronto and District Labor Council, and served as secretary of the legislative committee as well as chairman of that committee. He was a member of the education committee, and also a member of the executive of the Labor Council.He became district general chairman in 1965.He also served as vice-president for Canada of the International Union, and sat on the Non-Operating Railway Unions' Negotiating Committee, representing Divisions No. 1 and 43. He served in this capacity at the time of his retirement in March, 1970.He was retained by the union as advisor to the general committee until December 31, 1970.He was elected as chairman of the International Executive Board of the United Telegraph Workers at the post-convention meeting of the board at San Francisco in October, 1967.He retired as chairman of the board when his term was completed at the international convention in Denver in 1971.One of the founding members of the Morse Telegraph Club, Inc., Mr. Pethick served as its area vice-president until his death.He ran unsuccessfully as the New Democratic Party candidate for High Park in Toronto in 1949 and 1953.Mr. Pethick bought a cottage in Gilford in 1949 and became president of the Beach Association in 1962, continuing in that capacity until 1970, when he became a member of the Labor Council's legislative committee.He is survived by his wife, Mildred (Kneeshaw); a son, Roderick William; a daughter, Shirley Marie (Anderson); five grandchildren; brothers Frank Edwin and Russell Allen; and a sister, Willa Mauretta Pethick.