IATSE Local 118 President Mike Phelan's remarks upon Brother Maurice Woods 50 years of faithful service to IATSE Local 118.

March 21, 2006

Maurice Phineas Woods was born in Saskatchewan on May 11, 1923. He came to Vancouver as a young man and was fated to become a stagehand. He has served Local 118 faithfully for a half century. During that time it has been my pleasure to have worked with and learned from him, mostly at the Orpheum where he was the Stage Carpenter for many years.

Brother Woods has had the foresight to have kept every one of his 50 yearly union membership cards and as a presentation gift to the local has graciously had them mounted and beautifully framed along with some other interesting memorabilia including a picture from 1963 of him sitting in a familiar place to all of us, namely downstage right in the Queen Elizabeth. Although higher technology has replaced the old style telephone and lighting controls, the original clock still resides there, to be looked at often in the hope that coffee break will soon be called.

Maurice has announced that he will be retiring after his more than 50 years in the entertainment industry. I will be applying to the International for a Gold Card signifying his achievement and hope to be able to present it to him at a future meeting.

In honour of this occasion I am presenting Brother Woods with his original membership application, suitably framed, that he filled out on November 9, 1954. at the age of 31. The back of the endorsed application indicates that he was found to be 100% qualified to become a member of the Alliance and Local 118 by a group of his peers. There can be no argument that they were 100% correct.