Don Henry and the Whole Apple Pie
Posted by Vi Hughes on Oct 26, 2016
On Tuesday, we were again treated to a talk by one of our long time members on his guiding philosophy in life, and the journey he took to get to where he is today.
Don Henry grew up in a small town in Ontario where his family had a large apple tree harvest with several different varieties of apples every fall. His mother would then turn them into large luscious pies, most of which were off limits to the growing teenager, as they were intended for one of the many social functions she attended. But somehow Don always managed to get a small slice or two of one of them. This later became a guiding principle in his working life, where finding a way to get the whole pie, instead of just a slice of pie, became his goal.
Don Henry
He joined the RCAF straight out of school, at the age of seventeen, and served five years as a police officer. He enjoyed his time in the air force as it taught him discipline, thought process and structure, but some how it did not deliver the whole pie, so after five years he decided to move on. He left the force while serving in BC, and decided to return to school and take Structural Design and Drafting at BCIT. He quickly became a typical 60’s hippie student, with long hair and a lifestyle to match. Upon graduating, he found that jobs in BC were few and far between, so he left BC and came to the greener pastures of Alberta. He worked for several engineering firms, including Associate Engineering, and even spent some time working on projects in Africa. He also met his future wife, Marlene, at an A and W in Edmonton, around this time.
After a few years, the engineering business died and he moved on to a new field of endeavor as a sales rep for City Page, selling pagers, new fangled cell phones, and communications equipment. He loved the freedom that being in sales gave him, and began to think that maybe he had found the whole pie, but after several years he was promoted to management and that turned out to not be his cup of tea. After ten years with City Page, he was again considering changing occupations. He contacted a head hunter that he had come to know and they soon contacted him to go for and interview with Jim Peplinski Leasing. He was reluctant at first, as he did not feel that this job would give him what he was looking for- the whole pie, but eventually he did accept the job and has never looked back. After sixteen years with them he still enjoys going to work, has made a good life for himself and his family, and has time to enjoy his grandchildren. Finally, he has found a way to get the whole pie!