S. L. Squire's birth was
celebrated in Strathroy in the County of Middlesex, not in Norfolk
County. He was just six months old when his mother died. At this time,
in company with brothers and sisters he came to live in Waterford with
an aunt, Mrs. Henrietta Parney, and really knew no other mother, nor did
he have knowledge of ever having lived in any other town.
He attended public school in
company with W. H. Moore and Chester Walters and passed his entrance
examination at Simcoe High School before Waterford boasted of such an
institution.
Shortly after this Sam Squire
entered the Star office with dreams perhaps of being a successful
printer, but after serving a little over a year, he went back to school,
leaving school to join the staff of W. C. Lundy & Co. as junior
clerk and parcel boy. An apprenticeship of seven years was sufficient
business training and at the end of that time he purchased the general
store from A. M. Little, who had for more than a quarter century been
Waterford's leading merchant.
Mr. Squire carried on business
in Waterford for twenty-one years, during which period he served as
county councillor under the old district system, served as a councillor
and reeve of Waterford, was a member of the High School Board, president
of the Board of Trade, and a member of the Waterford Volunteer Fire
Department. He passed through the chairs of several lodges and was
associated with Waterford's business activities, having been president
of the Norfolk County Telephone Company.
Then years ago Mr. Squire sold
his general store business to H. A. Sanderson and became municipal advisor with the Highways Department of the Ontario Government. Mr.
Squire has been interested in road improvement for more then 20 years
and one the first resolutions which he introduced at member of the
Norfolk County Council more than 20 years ago urged the county to adopt
a county road system.
Mr. Squire has been president of
the Ontario Good Roads Association and during the term of his office
visited many counties throughout the province assisting them in
organizing their county systems.
He is also a past president of
the Canadian Good Roads Association and is now chairman of the executive
committee of this national body. He is known throughout Canada as an
ardent advocate of improved roads, believing this means of
transportation is basic and has a definite relationship to all other
means of transportation and cannot be separated from the interests of
other means of transportation.
Mr. Squire was made Deputy
Minister of Highways for Ontario in October, 1923, and was Acting Deputy
Minister of Public Works, Ontario, for the year 1925. He has served on a
number of international committees having to do with phases of highway
financing or administration.
Since the above was written Sam
has resigned his post as Deputy Minister of Highways and will now be
associated with the directorate of the Imperial Varnish and Color Co.,
in charge of sales promotion.
In a statement issued to the
press, the Hon. George S. Henry, Minister of Highways, embodied a fine
tribute to the retiring deputy minister and his services to the
Government:
"We have worked together
harmoniously for three and a half years and any success we have had in
improving the administration of the department is due in great measure
to Mr. Squire as an important part of our organization," says Mr.
Henry. "Frequently, during the last three years he has asked me to
relieve him of his responsibilities, as he has had from time to time
attractive offers from large financial concerns. I felt that I could not
afford to lose him until our organization had proved itself. Now he is
leaving the service, intending to take up other activities in the
business world which will be more profitable to him. In addition to his
work as deputy minister of highways he served me as deputy minister of
public works for one year when we were making certain changes in the
department and improving its administration."
He never forgets Norfolk County
or the town of Waterford where he spent so many years and his many
friends are pleased to know of his successful career and realize that
each change of occupation has been a step higher.
