Windsor man carries passion into old age

By Aaron Lombardi

Even in old age two Windsorites continue to pursue their passion in woodworking.

The inside of Adam Anger’s modest Tecumseh home is filled with paintings of ducks flying over marshes

in the sun. Walls and shelves hold wooden duck decoy decorations hand-carved and painted by Anger.

Anger, 83, grew up outside of Puce, Ont. As a young boy living on a popular flyway for migratory birds he

was exposed to the thrill of duck hunting.

“When the (Great) Depression hit, it hit my family hard. That’s all we could do,” said Anger. “It was cheaper

for my family to buy a gun and hunt ducks than buy meat.”

The family had to ration and save during the depression in order to survive.

It was then Anger discovered a fallen tree which influenced a creative change in his life.

“All we had was an axe and my brother and I began to use it to carve decoys to help us in our duck

hunting,” said Anger. “I think we made about 15 together the first time.”

By the 1960s Anger was working at a full time job with Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, but now he is

becoming an underground celebrity. Anger’s homemade decoys are being popularized by hunters and

decorators.

While other manufacturers were producing smooth blocks of wood that had been painted, Anger’s were

far more realistic. Some would be cut in half and carved hollow, making them lighter when they float in

the water.

“I would use white cedar for the bodies and pine for the heads. That’s best for the details,” said Anger.

“The white cedar I would have to take from telephone poles that had fallen.”

Anger is not the only man who followed woodworking into old age. Ildo Bonato, 78, is the owner of Bonato

Custom in Windsor. Bonato was born in Italy and began woodworking at seven years of age. After

immigrating to Windsor he found that carving religious designs for churches was his personal specialty.

 

 

“I’ve done work for 32 churches so far. I’ve carved the pews, the beams, anything with a design in it,” said

Bonato. “I am an old man now but I am still very proud of my work and how I do it.”

Bonato prefers to use hand tools over machines and enjoys working alone rather than in a large crew.

According to Statistics Canada one in every six Canadians is an older worker like Bonato and workers over

the retirement age carry an intellectual capacity in their field that assists with training new workers. Not

all of these people continue to work for financial reasons, some continue their careers simply because

they still feel able to.

Even past the retirement age of 65, Bonato continues to operate his job with no real plans of retirement.

“I work because I can. I like to work so I shouldn’t have to stop,” said Bonato. “I still have high energy and

I know that nobody else can do this.”

Employers prefer to take older workers solely for seniority purposes. Older workers have the organization

and problem solving skills that come with long term experience in a working environment, according to

statistics Canada.

Anger also makes a profit off of his carvings but he said he chooses to enjoy the comfortable life he

made for himself working at Hiram Walkers. Although his decoys sell for hundreds of dollars online, Anger

said he is glad people are enjoying his work.

“They sometimes sell in the thousands. It doesn’t mean that much to me,” said Anger. “It’s just the joy I

get from doing it. It brings me peace.”

While Angers carving production has slowed over the years due to carpal tunnel syndrome, he said he still

enjoys looking at the decoys he made over the years that sit on his homemade shelves.

Anger estimates he has carved over 2,000 birds in his lifetime.

 

Adam Anger displays one of his award-winning goose decoys. Anger carved each decoy himself using hand tools. Photo by Aaron Lombardi