Davey Tree Flipbooks

67 66 Growth Rings Canadian offices have also cared for 24 Sussex Drive, the residence of the Canadian Prime Minister; Rideau Hall, residence of the Governor General, the Queen's repre- sentative in Canada; Stornoway, residence of the Leader of the Opposition; and 7 Rideau Gate, the government's official guest house. Gradually, Canadian operations grew, and the company moved into a combined facility housing the corporate office, warehouse, and shop at 10 Jethro Street in Toronto. Not long after, district managers were assigned in London, Toronto, and Oshawa, Ontario. In the 1970s, support functions such as payroll, accounts payable, and invoicing were moved to Toronto from Kent, giving the Canadian company greater autonomy. About the same time, John S. Miller was named vice president and general manager of the Canada company. Murray Linton, who started with Canadian operations in 1953 on line clearing in Ontario, quickly became a foreman in 1956 and followed that up by attending D.I.T.S. in 1957. In 1963 Linton was promoted to assistant district manager at the Eastern Ontario residential office and the following year transferred as an assistant district manager to the Toronto residential office. In 1971, he became the district manager of the Toronto office, the position he held until he retired in 1998. Linton was instrumental in hiring and developing many employees who rose to positions of responsibility over the course of the Canadian company's history. "I was, I think, a pretty good foreman," Linton recalled in a June 2000 interview. "I remem- ber a quote that somebody gave in D.I.T.S., 'What can you do for Davey Tree as a foreman?' And I think the answer came back, 'You can train and develop as many new foremen as you possibly can.'" Linton, who earned the Davey Outstanding Manager Award in 1992 and the John Davey Award of Excellence, said that four of the territories in Ontario had managers who had worked under him at one point during their career. Blaire Sayers, like Linton, had started with Davey Canada dragging brush as a groundperson for a utility crew. And, like Linton, Sayers himself had been both a beneficiary and cultivator of Canada's homegrown talent ranks. Sayers retired in 2011 after having risen to the position of vice president and general manager of the Canadian company, for which he'd been named a director in 1987. Sayers pointed to the development of Davey employees as his proudest career accomplishment. "ere are so many for whom maybe you made a small difference in their lives," he said. e 50-year anniversary celebration of Davey Canada culminated on June 10, 1980, with the company's annual meeting held at the Board of Trade in Woodbridge, Ontario. It included the presentation of a plaque by Davey Company President Jack Joy to John Miller, vice president and general manager of the Canadian company, and Canada's district managers. By its golden anniversary, Canadian operations provided an important contri- bution to overall company sales. In 1979, the Canadian subsidiary achieved a 24 percent growth in sales over the prior year. By 1983, Canadian operations accounted for $2 million of the company's total annual revenue. By early the next decade, several key Eastern Canada territories would meet or exceed $1 million in sales, including the Toronto, Ottawa, and London territories. In 1985 utility services was established as its own entity, separate from the other service lines, and by 1990 the "in-house" utility services reached $1 million in sales for the first time. New Contracts, New Acquisitions, and Newcomers anks to the burgeoning success of the company, new contracts and improved sales necessitated the growth of shop facilities. In California, Davey Tree Surgery obtained two new contracts in 1981. e first involved a massive installation of weather guard, a 10-feet overlapping plastic, angle-iron like cover, on 124,000 feet of telephone cables for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. at two-day undertaking involved more than 130 employees and 62 bucket trucks. Also in California, 15 crews participated in a two-day effort in April to trim trees for new utility facilities construction by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) – a project that represented a growing relationship with one of the nation's largest electric utility companies. At the time, PG&E was the Davey Company's largest client. e inves- tor-owned utility provided electric and natural gas power to millions with more than 100,000 miles of electric distribution lines and more than 40,000 miles of natural gas pipelines – all of which needed vegetation management programs. Davey Tree was also successful in signing a contract to plant 26 trees at Kent State University's Dix Stadium in 1981, a few miles east of Davey's corporate offices. Davey Tree's connection to Kent State goes back to its origins. In 1910, shortly after the Ohio legislature voted to locate a new state college in Kent, Davey crews cleared the trees to make way for construction of the college's first buildings. Later on, Davey maintained a strong connection with its hometown university throughout the years via numerous contracts and informal partnerships. e Davey Company also leased classroom space from the university for the D.I.T.S., and employees who attended lived in dorms on campus during the 1970s. Acquisitions picked up again, following a hiatus during the employee acquisi- tion process. In October of 1981 the surgery company acquired the utility service contracts of the Wilson Construction Company in Portland, Oregon, to more firmly establish utility operations in the pacific northwest. Davey Tree Surgery added another large client in 1982 by signing with San Diego Gas & Electric Company for utility line clearance work. Lawrence S. Abernathy, who started with Davey in 1968, served as the account manager. e company spent $7.6 million on new equipment to ramp up for San Diego Gas & Electric which, combined with Davey Tree Surgery's existing contracts with PG&E, comprised a considerable amount of the Davey Company's revenue and profits. At the end of 1982, the company's annual report credited Davey Tree Surgery Chapter 4 A Davey employee performs pole test and treat services for PG&E in California. Students attending the 1981 class of D.I.T.S. practice drilling holes for installing a cable and brace system. John Miller served as vice president and general manager of the Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited. Blaire Sayers served as district manager of the Ottawa office prior to 1984. Murray Linton started on a utility crew in Ontario in 1953. He made significant contri- butions to Canadian operations.

• Cover