Leaving the Oasis
by Steve Andrusiak
12/02/09

The windows are tinted. You can’t see into the light gray minivan. But you notice the chrome hubcaps and the premium tires. Most days the van is parked behind the TD Canada Trust at Lyle and Dundas Streets for hours at a time. A large “SECURITY” sign looms from behind the windshield. And behind the sign sits security guard Lawrie Huth.

“I started way back in May. Got my eyes opened real quick when I came on here. The site was just like the ‘Red Zone’ in Victoria (BC), where I used to work for the Victoria Police. Drugs, prostitution, violence- just very rude and ignorant people mixed up with all the great people of London,” he says.

Mr. Huth says his method has been to discourage trouble before it started. It’s “common sense- treating people the same, no matter who they are- exactly the same. Firm, fair, and never familiar.” That’s exactly what I’ve done since I’ve been here. That’s exactly how I run my life too. (He laughs.) Exactly”.

A younger man is also on patrol. Lawrie’s son is wearing a bright yellow short-sleeved shirt and a black turtleneck this February morning. Brandon Huth strolls around the front of the bank. Then he goes inside. He has worked in security for a few years and hopes to join the City Police or the OPP. He will continue working here but no longer under the supervision of his father. This Saturday will be Lawrie Huth’s final shift.

“Back to Victoria. (I’m) ecstatic. (He breaks into a wide grin and laughs.) No more hot, hot summers and cold, cold winters- back to paradise.” Mr. Huth is going back to work as a prison guard. He says, he will remember this corner of East London and many of the people he has met at this bank- the bank he calls “an oasis”.

***

Lawrie Huth is 6 feet 4 inches tall and once played defensive tackle for the BC Lions. When he says “once”, he means “once”. “I made the team but I played one game. They called it the Fog Bowl- BC Lions against Saskatchewan. And you couldn’t see two feet in front of your face. They had to call the game. That was my only game I played. (Bad knees.) That was it,” he laughs.

Mr. Huth worked for the BC Corrections Branch and later joined the Victoria Police Department- work that he says he loved. But his mother fell seriously ill and Mr. Huth found himself moving to London to give her support.

***

Esther Jamieson is 75 now. Her husband was “a military man” and after retiring, they settled in London. He died in 2001. “Just as soon as he passed away, I (found out) I had cancer- then the aneurism,” she says sitting in her home near Wonderland and Fanshawe Park Roads.

“I talked to Lawrence and he says he has to give everything up to come look after me. … He gave up his job, his friends, his apartment. He came to look after me. I thought I was going to die. But I survived, cause I’m a survivor,” she says.

Mr. Huth encouraged and monitored his mother when she had to give up cigarettes after smoking for 62 years. “I was sitting here like a lump. Smoking constantly. He got me out walking. He’s a great person … but you don’t lie to him. You don’t pretend to stop smoking when you are,” she says.

Ms. Jamieson did quit smoking. She survived cancer. “She’s healthy. Now she’s a hundred and fifty five pounds. She’s good to go,” says her son. “She just had a brand new baby granddaughter from my stepsister. That’s why she’s staying here. Mom’s got a heart big as all outdoors. And she knows I can take care of myself,” he says.

“He has been a great inspiration. I’m very proud of him. He wants me to go with him, but I don’t want to leave here,” says his mother. And then she adds that her son has a special insight into people living against the odds and wanting them to win. He too is a cancer survivor.

“Nervous? I always felt he could look after himself. He doesn’t’ look for trouble but he’ll talk people out of getting into trouble. And because he’s big, people think he’s mean. And he’s not. He is the most sensitive person but he hides it. … He raised his two kids by himself cause his wife left him when he had cancer. You don’t leave a person when he’s sick. … He’s cancer free like I’m cancer free. … I’m feeling good. Otherwise Lawrence wouldn’t go,” she says.

***

“Firm, Fair- Never Familiar”- Mr. Huth says he feels a sense of satisfaction about bringing that motto to a single L-shaped parking lot in East London. He feels that he has helped to establish some peace. “This bank is an oasis. … What I’m going to miss the most is working with Kevin Bertoia. He’s the manager here. He’s the best supervisor I’ve ever had,” he says.

Mr. Bertoia holds the rank of Major in the 31st Company Engineers Regiment (The Elgins). So he knows about the need to build all kinds of bridges in challenging communities. In 2006 he served in Afghanistan.

Bank managers don’t usually comment about their security, Mr. Bertoia says. His sentences are sparse. But he knows Lawrie Huth is leaving, having built a bridge or two of his own in a challenging spot. “For the most part, the customers are happy that the presence is there,” he says of the tall man in the minivan with the impressive hubcaps.