Small Town - But Land Of Promise

From a newspaper article Written May 14, 1954

By Dorothy Howarth
Telegram Staff Reporter

Blyth, Ontario - Some head for the city, but the smart ones head for the village, especially if they want to start their own business. Many villages are almost the same now as they were in pioneer days. The village is the last frontier and the land of opportunity.

Today the young men keep stores or small factories or filling stations, build homes, join service clubs, pay their taxes, keep the village running and hope to die wealthy. Grant R. Sparling, 31, at the moment is only hoping to get his building paid for, but if his past five years in the village of Blyth are the barometer of his future, he is going to be in a position to pay for a mighty fine tombstone.

Banker to Merchant
Mr. Sparling was born in Forest, Ontario, and was an accountant at the Bank of Commerce in Kitchener. But in the back of his mind he always had the idea of owning a store in Blyth, where he was stationed with the bank before Kitchener. "Hardware, because it appealed to me, but I'd been working in the bank for 10 years and even though I saved, I didn't have $10,000." But he did have a close friend, B.R. Speiran, who had been in the air force. With his gratuities Mr. Speiran bought the Blyth hardware business when the owner retired. "One day Vern Speiran walked into the Kitchener bank and said 'Do you want my business? I've got the urge to go back in the air force.' So I said 'I sure do' and I got it," explains Mr. Sparling. "I didn't have the money. I had to borrow to get the business, but the village and my friend trusted me," said Mr. Sparling.

Four years later Mr. Sparling has paid for the business, has a completely stocked, large hardware store, and is now buying the big building itself.