Comox resident Armand Aden has published a book about his time building the electric infrastructure for the province of Saskatchewan.

Aden began working at SaskPower at the age of 17 and maintained employment with the crown corporation right up to his retirement, in 2000.

It was only after retirement that the thought of chronicling his career entered his mind - with the encouragement from friends. And so came to be the book, Powerneer.

鈥淚 went through that whole 40-plus-year career with SaskPower without really knowing what significance my career had, until I retired and started telling these stories,鈥� said Aden. 鈥淎bout 10 of these stories were life-changing events鈥� So I would tell these stories and friends and relatives said 鈥榞ee, why don鈥檛 you write about those?鈥� So I started writing about them鈥� I call them the longest days of my life at SaskPower.鈥�

One such event was the rescue of his partner from a pole-top electrocution, without climbing gear, and no ladder, ultimately saving his partner鈥檚 life.

Another chapter surrounds the story of his wife, Marlene, being involved in a head-on collision as she was coming to pick him up from work.

鈥淚 was walking down the road with my gear, and this guy comes driving up, my wife was in the back compartment, severely wounded. We got her to medical aid in Flin Flon鈥� that鈥檚 just one of those life-changing things that occurred to me during this whole course of bringing power to the entire province.鈥�

Aden says the book surrounds his involvement and witnessing 鈥渢he change of Saskatchewan鈥� from a 鈥榟ave not鈥� province to a 鈥榟ave鈥� province during the latter part of the 20th century, as told by a lineman who lived it, survived it.鈥�

He said the book is intended for anybody who is interested in learning how infrastructure was developed across the country.

鈥淚n the early days, it was rough and tough - we didn鈥檛 have the kind of equipment that they have today, man lifts and digger trucks and all that stuff,鈥� he said. 鈥淣owadays when you go to set a pole, you just send a crew out there, put a pole in. In the old days, a pole came down, one guy had to get that pole back up somehow, hire people (on the spot) get help, whatever. It was a totally different world

鈥淚t was very, very hazardous work. You鈥檙e working with lethal energy - electricity - at perilous heights, and in terrible conditions usually. So I started thinking and decided, that story needs to be told.鈥�

The book is available online on and .

The ebook is also available at

There will be a book launch and book signing at the Comox Golf Club on Monday, Aug. 23, 3-7 p.m.

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terry.farrell@blackpress.ca
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