Looking Back: Memories of the Mortgage Department

Richard Holmes, member of the board of directors, great-great-grandson of founder J.D. Pemberton, and elder brother of President Mike Holmes, joined Pemberton Holmes in 1975 as Mortgage Officer.

The Pemberton Holmes Mortgage Department in 1975

Housed in the basement of 1002 Government Street, the department was one of the central hubs of the company. Richard worked alongside Fred Maurice, Irene Spencer, Vincent Holmes, and Brian Carter, with longtime staff Judy Ball and Muriel Evans keeping the office running smoothly from the secretarial pool.

From Hand-Operated Calculators to Modern Computers

Richard remembers a vast, noisy, hand-operated electric-mechanical computing device occupying the remainder of the basement. During his career, this “vast cumbersome calculator” was replaced by a large main frame computer, then a small IBM computer, desktop computers, and eventually laptops and cellphones.

How Communication Has Changed Since 1975

Our methods of communication also underwent major transformations. When Richard started in 1975, he, Fred, and Irene needed around six letters typed on a daily basis, with a single letter taking three to four days to be written, dictated, reviewed, edited, retyped, signed, and carbon copied before mail out.

Allowing another week or more to receive a response, a single exchange could take 12 to 14 days – if there were no delays. Today, this process is almost instantaneous.

Reflecting on Decades of Technological Change

It is incredible, Richard reflected, to have witnessed the transition from large, hand-operated calculators and handwritten letters to laptops and cell phones in the span of half a working lifetime.

Pemberton Holmes office at 1002 Government Street, 1974. City of Victoria Archives.