Brandonite banks 50 years at Behlen Industries

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This article was published 04/02/2022 (1622 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Known by many as the unsung hero of Behlen Industries, Vince Goldstone has left behind a legacy of 50 years of work at a company he witnessed become one of the largest steel building manufacturers in North America.

Goldstone, a resident of Brandon, is set to retire Monday, after having nearly worked every job in the company since starting there in 1972. Working in production as a brake operator punching steel, managing the manufacturing of grain bins to shipping and loading the trucks, Goldstone quickly became a lead hand in what was a fledgling company.

“We did everything because there weren’t many of us here,” Goldstone, 70, said.

“You learned how to work on all of the machines. There were maybe 30 of us at the start.”

Goldstone transitioned to work in management as an expeditor fulfilling dealer orders that required welding and worked with grain bins and frameless buildings. Goldstone became employee No. 105 in 1972 — the company was founded in 1969 — and had eight of his coworkers start around the same time.

Over half a century, Goldstone saw the company completely grow from the ground up.

“It makes me feel good because I was part of all of the changes,” he said.

“I came up from doing everything by hand and pen and stuff. Now it’s getting much more computerized. It has to because everything is recorded. If something fails, you must have those records back for engineering.”

Over the course of his time in office as a manager and expeditor, Goldstone has overseen steel-building structures made at Behlen Industries shipped across Canada, including an arena sent to South Korea and a soccer complex sent to Russia.

His longest role at the company was supervising the welding process as an expeditor. He explained how a customer will place an order with a dealer with a building design in mind. The dealer will then contact Behlen Industries to go through the estimating and engineering phase of planning. After the drawings and heavy legwork are given to Behlen, the company can then make and manufacture the building or material.

During his time at Behlen Industries, Goldstone found part-time work at The Brandon Sun, back when the newspaper still printed and distributed the Globe and Mail. Goldstone said they were in need of someone to work in the mailroom to help take papers off the press and distribute flyers.

Twenty-six years of work earned Goldstone a gold ring, which he still wears to this day, even after the Sun stopped printing papers in-house in 2009. Goldstone was always up to the task of managing two jobs.

“It was kind of a bad habit, you just did it,” Goldstone said.

“There were times at the Sun where I had to work my shifts to accommodate my shifts working at Behlen. You don’t need that much sleep when you’re younger.”

Goldstone laughed when he heard the company used to give a diamond in the centre of his ring for employees of 25 years or more.

“I was a little late.”

Sean Lepper, vice-president of Behlen Industries, said Goldstone’s 50 years of work is an incredible achievement.

“Just the effort and the whole timeframe seeing the business grow from when we were quite a small agricultural-based manufacturer into Canada’s largest manufacturer of steel building systems. We ship our product globally and Vince has been part of that process across a huge timeframe,” Lepper said.

Goldstone is one of the most humble and hardworking people his wife, Marian, has ever met, she said. Going into retirement, Goldstone laughed when he thought of the uncertain feelings he’ll have in the coming weeks away from the job he knew most.

“I think it’s going to be different, but I have lots to do,” Goldstone said.

“We’re renovating a house in Minnedosa, we’re renovating my own house and trying to finish off the cabin in Clear Lake. This way I’ll have time and no money.”

The Goldstones recently got a new dog as well, which is sure to keep them on their feet during the renovation projects.

“Once you get older [than] 40 … you think ‘where did that time go?’”

Goldstone said he felt it was time to hang up the boots after realizing last year that 2022 would mark 50 years at the company. It’s a chance for Goldstone to catch up on all the things he missed in life and to make new memories with his family.

“When you’re 70, you don’t have a lot of years left to go out and have fun, and that’s what I’m going to go do.”

» jbernacki@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @JosephBernacki