Stamlers retire after 30 years at Rainy River Drugs

Ken Johnston

It was just about thirty years to the day that Robert Stamler came back to his hometown to work at Rainy River Drugs.
Stamler grew up in Rainy River and in a business environment as his father, George, ran a shoe shop which is now KGB Sports. However Robert never imagined that he would be back in Rainy River working after completing his high school and university training as a pharmacist.
“I heard about the situation (in Rainy River) while I was still in school. They (the Calvert family) wanted to sell their business but I was not really interested at the time as there was not a full time doctor (here).”
Ernie Calvert had started the business in the early 1900s and after his passing, his daughter, Irene Warner was a pharmacist and had taken the reins. However her health started to fail and the family began looking for someone to buy the business.
After Robert completed his university education he decided to take the summer off in Rainy River. When his father passed away in August of 1972, Robert decided to stay around Rainy River for a while longer.
The council of the day was busy trying to recruit a full time doctor and were very close to securing one. Then Councillor Bud Hannam approached Robert about staying. “Bud Hannam invited me for a beer at the Rainy River Hotel. He told me council wanted a full time doctor and full time pharmacist,” said Stamler.
Robert began working with Warner that September theoretically as an apprentice, but it was pretty much full time from the get go.
Dr. Dixon came to Rainy River and started running a full time clinic. That really helped the drug store as prior to that most of Rainy River was doctoring in Baudette as Dr. Fraser was only working one day per week in Rainy River.
In 1975 Drs. Cecil and Anne Rytwinski arrived in Rainy River. “They really worked hard at building up their clinic business. That really helped my business,” said Stamler who bought it in 1975.
As the business continued to grow, it became apparent that the building they were in, now Marmus’ Apartments on the top block of Main St. was too small.
Local electrician Jim Jarvis had built a new building where Vennes Motors used to be located and Robert decided to buy it in 1977. The public told him he would never be able to fill such a big store up with stock. Since then they expanded twice, each time people telling them the same thing.
Prior to buying the new building, which is the current location of the business, Robert had also begun to expand his personal life. In April of 1976 he married a school teacher from England named Gill. While she was teaching at Sturgeon Creek Elementary School north of Barwick, she was living in Rainy River. Her first principal was Bill Lowe who recently retired from the job at Rainy River High School.
She left her position at Sturgeon Creek and was replaced by a young teacher named Howard Hampton.
Gill proceeded to teach Confederation College courses, substitute taught at Rainy River High School and taught English to the Vietnamese boat people that had moved to Rainy River. While teaching english she began going and helping Robert at noon hours. Eventually she quit teaching and began helping him full time. That experience eventually lead to her being recognized by the Ontario College of Pharmacists as a licensed Pharmacy Technician.
Robert said that many things changed over the years and perhaps one of the best changes was the addition of computers to the pharmacy. In the early days they had to keep extensive records by hand. “We kept patient records for each patient, what medications they had received and what they were getting that day. Billing for the Ontario Drug Benefit was also paper intensive needing a twelve digit patient number, the doctor’s number and a drug identification number.”
The first computer eliminated almost all the paper work but Gill said there were times where they wanted to throw it right out, but once the bugs were worked out of the system it made life a lot easier. Now it brings up a patient’s record and also handles inventory and billing to the Ontario Drug Benefit electronically.
Another big change over the years was the change in emphasis on making drugs in house to having more of an advisory role as a pharmacist to patients. That is why they redid the pharmacy in 1997 to allow patients to interact with pharmacy staff.
Outside of the store both Robert and Gill were active in several service clubs. Both served as president of the Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs. They also both served as president of the Rainy River and District Chamber of Commerce and Gill served as president of the Curling Club and Robert served on its executive.
“We always believed in supporting the community and still do to this day,” said Robert.
Taking a step beyond the normal call of duty to support their community, the Stamlers stepped in several years ago to help save the local hardware store. MacLeods Canada went into receivership and the store in Rainy River closed. Stamler purchased the shelving in the store to keep it in town and eventually he and four others held the mortgage for Tammy and Dave Armstrong to reopen it as a True Value Store.
“While we did compete with them on some stuff I knew it was a crucial drawing card for customers that come to Rainy River to shop and couldn’t let it go,” said Robert.
Robert also was the person who came up with the idea to hold a spring Merchant Madness in Rainy River. “Building on the business we experienced during the town’s 75th anniversary in 1979 we were looking for a way to have more of that in Rainy River every year,” said Robert. Both Robert and Gill recall the first Merchant Madness having CKRC Radio of Winnipeg come down and dj the activities on Main and the dance at the arena. “The dance was packed and the downtown was busy and fun,” said Gill.
For the past few years the Stamlers have been looking for someone to buy their business. But since so many of the big box stores have opened 24 hour a day pharmacies, finding a pharmacist interested in coming to a rural setting has been tough.
Then at Christmas last year Sarah Berg and Allen Pratt, both of Rainy River, approached the Stamlers indicating an interest in the business. Berg was just about done with her schooling as a pharmacist and agreed to do her placement in Rainy River in May. In the mean time negotiations to purchase the business began.
Robert was really happy that another local person was taking the torch from him and both he and Gill wish both Allen and Sarah the best of luck as they took over the business officially on Oct. 4th, 2002. “I knew a local person would have a better chance to be successful and was glad when they approached us,” said Robert.
While they have no big plans for their retirement, both Robert and Gill plan to remain in Rainy River and Robert has his ambitions set on starting a new perennial garden at the lake next year as he had to give up the big one he had behind the drug store.