Garren Wellington
(1880-1951)

For all of Garrens iconic triumphs his greatest achievements may have come during the depression years of the 1930's.
Garrens business instincts served him well yet again as he borrowed the concept used by the federal government during the 30's, while many businesses closed their operations, shut down and/or sold out their business, Garren continued timber production. Garren utilized capital to buy land lease options in other states, pulling the timber and paying rent to utilize the land which allowed him to keep timber reserves on his own land. Garren was able to stockpile timber anticipating that at some point the economy demand would turn favorable; however this would take some time to occur, Wellington Timber posted losses in 32,33 and 34 yet Garren believed it would be better to operate at a marginal loss rather than to shut down business altogether and he eventually turned out to be right. Keeping production online gave Wellington Timber some breaks along the way as they were able to move some large timber quantities for govt works projects along the lines of the Hoover Dam and after years of marginal losses Garrens fortune started to turn by late 1939 with large contracts secured for the Canadian and US governments.
Garren would secure an increasing number of timber demands from 1940 on, and by 1943 Garren had all divisions of Wellington Timber running full production in round the clock shifts. Similar to the events of World WarI, the country was now in World WarII and lumber demands for shelters, housing, deck carriers etc, were enormous in both the US and Canada. Wellington Timber would see sales increases from 25 to 45 percent per year from 1943-46 and once again Garren was building even more on to the mighty timber empire.

Garrens real achievement during the depression years was his vision and committment to keep the business operation going, which kept people employed; although operations were scaled back, and many of the men took on/off shifts, in other words one crew worked one week, and another crew worked the following which allowed a number of people to have at least a subsistence wage to try to get by on.
Garrens efforts went beyond the timber company, during the 30's along with his wife Norrine and son, the three would volunteer nearly every weekend at the local church donating money and food and helping with food lines. A ten room shelter was built in a nearby town with lumber that had come from Wellington Timber free of charge, and was helped in construction by Garren and his son Liam, also with donated time. By the time of the war, Norrine was working full time in a small parts factory and Garren became a production foreman for his own timber company because the demand was so intense.
Garren and his family were well revered during the depression years for all they did to try and help people in their small community, in fact there was even an effort by many to get Garren to run for governor but Garren wanted no part of politics. Garren and his family lived with humility and grace toward others who werent so fortunate and it was recognized and appreciated by most everyone associated with the Wellingtons.

The hard times of the 30's also meant simpler times, and it was during these times Garren was able to rekindle the romance and relationship with his wife Norrine as the two were able to rediscover each other.
Norrine had a close friend from college who had moved nearby a number of years after their college days. Vinson and Clara Tabockney had hoped to prosper in the northwest but the depression crushed those dreams and the couple was having difficulty paying their bills.
Garren and Norrine, mostly by the insisting of Norrine, asked the Tabockneys to come live at the estate since afterall it was a 3 story home with multiple rooms and there was plenty of space available, the Tabockneys agreed to do so and also then decided to utilize their home as a boarding place for those who didnt have shelter especially during the winter months.
Garren and Norrine also took in another couple, Larry and Rachel Murray. Larry Murray struggled for work picking up odd and end jobs and worked a couple stints on the railroad, but the depression hit them hard as well and they had a young child to care for as well. Garren and Norrine took them in at the estate and the three couples fostered a little community of their own during the depression years.
The in house arrangement did fuel some speculation and gossip about what went on between the couples during those years, particularly concerning Norrine and Clara who were said to have been "very" close.
The three couples spent a good handful or more of years together in the estate and some of the ongoings may have influenced the future lifestyles of the children who lived there, namely Norrines son Liam, and the Murrays daughter Anna Reisa.
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Garren also managed to build a good relationship with his son Liam during the 1930's. The significance of Garren building the shelter in a volunteer effort was that he did it along with his son, they volunteered and worked together.
Some time around 1938 Garren established a construction company and Garrens first customer was...himself. Garren had a 3 story home built along the shoreline of Wellington Lake, the home was built by Liam and of course they brought on locals to help with the effort thereby again creating work for men in the local community, the house was soon completed and named Trestian manor, inspired for Liam Wellingtons middle name "Trestan."
The next two construction projects for the newfound construction company were barnes, and so in 1940 Garren decided it would be nice to have a guesthouse on the estate for visitors to stay and thus again hiring locals to help with the job, the Wellington guesthouse was completed somewhere between late 1940 and early 1941. Garren was no fool in taking up these projects, during such hard times, men would take work any way possible, Garren paid the men fairly and tried to take on as big a crew as possible, yet still the cost of labor to get these projects done was extremely cheap however Garren was seen as a bit of a savior by many since he did help alot of people get by and at least try to earn some money where so many well to do people would have simply looked out only for themselves and hoarded their money.
Most important for Garren was the quality time and relationship built with his son during this time along with the hopes that Liam would take interest in the construction business and hopefully moreso of the timber business as well.

In 1940 Garren attended a governors and business leaders meeting in California where he meet a 29 year old wiz kid named Richard Cottington(1911-1981) Cottington was traveling with an MIT road scholar "think tank" group from Washington DC discussing Keynsian theory and government monetary policy planning etc. Garren was instantly impressed by Cottingtons confidence and innovative thinking and the two kept in touch beyond the conference; in fact, Garren made arrangements on a few occasions to meet up with Cottington during different events between 1941 and 42. Cottington took a job with a chemical company as a fincancial director in 1943 and then a government job with an economic advisory group in 1944-45.
After the end of the war in 1945 the advisory group was dissolved and Cottington was back in the private sector but still kept in touch with Garren who by this time was trying to persuade Cottington to take a position with Wellington Timber.
In 1947 Garren got what he wanted and Cottington accepted the position of chief financial officer of Wellington Timber Corporation.

A classic photo from Liams wedding to Anna Reisa Murray, this of Garren and Norrine Wellington(to the back) with Liam Wellington escorting his soon to be mother in law Rachel Murray to the front.
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Garren Wellington was 67 years old by 1947 and his health was failing, nobody else really knew it, but he did. Garren was convinced that Liam was not capable of running the timber business and he was hoping to groom someone in the position that could run it. Garren and Cottington had only met 5 or 6 times prior to 1947 but corresponded by letter quite often and the two had very common ideas and interests with business and law. From 47 on, Garren and Cottington went on fishing trips regularly and some say Cottington was like a "second son" prodigy for Garren that he never had in Liam.

Garrens timing and instincts proved right once again when his health took a noticeable turn for the worse in 1949. Garren would battle what was believed to be emphazyma/lung disease for the next 2 years until he passed away in 1951.
Garren Wellington had turned a small family owned timber mill into a multi million dollar corporation, he had established a multi million dollar trust fund for the estate and sealed his legacy as a business icon.
The future of the estate and Wellington Timber would now be directed and influenced by two individuals in very distinctly separate ways.
We now move forward to lives of Liam Wellington and Richard Cottington.

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