Left to right:  E. F. Porter, chief, maintenance and operations; Miss A. M. Larock, secretary to C.M.O.; Mr. and Mrs. Wells; F. G. Nixon, director of telecommunications and electronics.

 

GEORGE WELLS, superintendent of radio aids, retired early in December 1965. He had spent 30 years with the telecommunications branch, starting out as a radio operator on a lightship.

 

Born in London, England, George Wells first became interested in radio at school. In 1917 he obtained a British certificate of proficiency in radio. He spent the next 10 years with the Marconi Company, serving at sea. In 1924 he gave up the sea and took a position with a London firm.

 

After four years he came to Canada, to Saint John, N.B. He married and spent two or three years managing a family printing business in Saint John. In 1935 he qualified for a Canadian certificate and joined D.O.T. as a radio operator on the Lightship Lurcher, followed by service as officer-in-charge at Cape Hopes Advance.

 

At the end of the Second War he went to Beaconsfield, Quebec as a technician and in 1948 transferred to headquarters as an assistant to the head of the marine radio section. Subsequently he moved over to the maintenance and operations division of the branch and later became superintendent of radio aids.

 

On the occasion of Mr. Wells' retirement friends and coworkers gathered to honor him. E. F. Porter, chief, maintenance and operations, presented him with a 90 watt CW transmitter as a farewell gift. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have bought a new home in Salt Spring Islands near Victoria and left Ottawa early in the new year to take up residence there.