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OEE TWIS FAMILY PROSPERS b^ LETTING Tfl NCS Mr, Pineo gave up the search lor an liisih tjwccpsiakes ticket. Less than 24 hours later Leonard Collinee entered his store and said: \I've got one ticket left. Will you buy it?\ The ticket netted Mr. Pin«t> $80,800. The dariv-iiuiicu, lu-year-olcl daughter, Willene, will put the Pineo luck to its severest test soon when she departs for Hollywood and a try at movie fame. By Stan Beck VANCOUVICK. B. C. C LAUDE J. PINEO, a shoe mer- chant of New Westminster, Brit- ish Columbia, is a shrewd and level-headed business man, but he does not need these qualities to achieve success. In fact, they are detri- mental, for he is pursued by a strange fate. Friends in his home town call it \The Luck of the Pineos.\ In important matters, every effort Mr. Pineo exerts ends in failure. But if he expresses a wish, and does nothing about it, Lady Luck promptly dances attendance and the wish is mysteriously and quickly fulfilled. The same uncanny charm seems to hover over the other members of his family—wife, son and daughter. Mr. Pineo discovered this peculiar and invisible influence at school—and it apparently never has left him. When- ever he strove desperately to pass ex- ams, he flunked. Whenever he let things slide, he passed school tests with flying colors. Answers that he thought he did not know'flowed from his pen. When he began his life's work at 16, he encountered the same obstinate dilemma* Desirous of carving out some kind of a career for himself, he faced a blank wall at every turn until he quit trying. Immediately the mysterious in- fluence exerted itself, as if some un seen force were determined to shape b life to its own will. Whenever he tried to get a job, i job was available. As soon as he qi trying, a job would fall into liis lap. The same element persHfted in I later business career. Early in 1937 he decided to buy ticket in the Irish Hospitals sweei stakes. Vainly lie hunted for someoi wlio s(.ki th >m. In a week he gave i tlie searcli. Less than 24 iiours afterward or Leonard C illinge entered his store an said: \I've qot one<|icket left in 111 book; n>'l' idy seems to want it. Wil. you buy ii?\ Mr. Pineo liout^ht it ami. in a few days, forgot about it. In June he re- ceived a cable from Ireland that he had drawn Midday Sun, Jubilant, he forgot the Pineo luck. Instead of sitting back and v/aiting, he accepted a San Francisco syndicate's Toffer of $5800 for half-interest. Had Midday Sun not finished in the money, the ticket would have been worth $2300. But Midday Sun loped in first at the Epsom Downs derby and the ticket was worth $150,000. His defiance of the Pineo luck cost him nearly $70,000. His half-interest plus the syndicate's $5800 netted him $80,800. Mr. Pineo laughed it off good- naturedly. \Half a fortune is better than none,\ he said. In 1906 Mr. Pineo left his birthplace in Derwick, Nova Scotia, for Nelson, British Columbia, to seek a surveying job. He was 16. There was no job available. Frantically he sought any kind of work for six weeks. Every ef- fort failed. Suddenly he remembered his school days—how success always came when he didn't try. Discouraged, not know- ing where the next meal would come from, he sat down in a hotel rotunda and waited. looked around, walked over to young Pineo and said: \I need a hand. Good board but no wages.\ Pineo accepted. Daily he heaved huge rocks off a stone-boat. He wanted a better job but tried for none. In two months the Pineo luck resumed opera- tions, A gas buggy broke down t^ar the farm, Pineo helped the driver, who said: \I'm going to Oregon. Want to come?\ •piNEO went. The motorist let him out on the main street of Hood River in front of a store. In the store win- dow was a sign: \Youth Wanted.\ Five minutes later the sign was re- moved and Pineo was at work. He felt he could do better, for the wages were small, but let things slide. Some weeks later a traveler said to him: \A store in Calgary, Alberta, wants a salesman. I believe you could handle the job. Pretty good salary for a young man, too.\ Figuring that this was his luck work- ing, Pineo went to Calgary and got the job. A year later he began to yearn for promotion but suppressed every de- sire to force the issue. Tiien, without warning, he was transferred to a bet- ter job in the fu-m's branch at Edmon- ton, Alberta. Several months passed and the Ed- monton store burned down. The ashes were scarcely cool when Pineo was of- fered a position as traveling salesman Four vvliule-liearted Lolievcib in tlie Leeter Pineo, Mr. luid l.uck ol tlu I'iiieos: Willeue Piueo, Airs. Claude J. Pineo. In a few weeks he itched to get back into a store and made several attempts to land a job of that sort in the vari- ous towns he visited. Every effort was rebuffed. So he gave up the idea. Three days later a fellow-traveler on the train casually remarked: \How'd you like to live in Vancouver?\ Pineo replied: \Fine.\ His companion named a large Vancouver shoe-house that was expanding and might need extra hands. Confident that his luck was still guid- ing him, Pineo went to Vancouver and immediately got a job with the firm mentioned. By this time Pineo had begun to visualize bigger things. He wanted to manage a store but kept his yearning secret, A month after working in Van- couver his employer said: \We're open- ing a branch in New Westminster. Want to manage.it?\ \C'OR eight years Pineo managed the New Westminster store and desired nothing else. His salary was sufficient, his home life was harmonious, and there seemed nothing else to wish for. But one day he became possessed with the idea to open an establishment of his own. He told Mrs. Pineo and they started figuring the amount of capital required. It was far beyond their means. For more than a month Pineo sought to interest capital, but deaf ears met his pleas. Then he said to Mrs. Pineo: \It's hopeless. We'll stay as we are.\ Less than 48 hours later an old friend '•ailed at the store and, in the course of •onversation, said: \If you ever feel like oening a store of your own, Claude, 11 finance you.\ Pineo said: \I didn't know yoii had 'iiy money.\ \I've just inherited a tidy sum,\ was 'he reply. So Pineo has run his own shoe store )r several years and it is prospering, le will continue to operate it, but set ide part of the sweepstakes money ur enlargements and a new home. And now the willowy, dark-haired daugiiter, Willene Pineo, 15, is going to l)ut the family tradition to its severest test. Slie plans to invade Hollywood soon, financed by part of the sweep- stakes receipts.
