I actually had two bosses at Cowan and Cowan Wholesale Lumber in the Marsh Place Building in Waterloo: Bill Cowan and Harold (Stump) Shultz. Mr. Cowan was the owner. He was a young man with a family and rather quiet. On the other hand, Stump, called this because he was truly short, was a fun loving and kind person. I was always uncomfortable around Mr. Cowan. He always told me to not sit on the edge of my chair and to sit up straighter. I had a beautiful pair of navy blue and red heels and he told me one day that street walkers wore red shoes. He was usually the one who dictated to me and even though my shorthand was pretty good I sometimes had trouble trying to figure something out. I never asked him for help but went to Stump and he would kindly help me. Stump put my name in an office sports pool shortly after I started working there. I won with no idea how a sports pool worked. Mr. Cowan was never upset about mistakes if you admitted them. Once I sent a small bundle of lumber on a train to the wrong town. He just said that it would be taken by truck to the correct yard. “Whew!” That one had me worried. Another time I used our postage machine to send six cent air mail out at sixty cents. Told him about it the next morning and he just said, “Thanks for telling me because I already knew it.” Third floor, front side, fourth window from the right was my desk. I made a whole $62 a week clear. That was $2 more than your Bob was making at the time. We saved mine and spent his and got by just fine. .
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