Last December, exactly 50 years after quitting school to work in the bush, Howard Nadrofsky retired.

“The Wood Man,” who has supplied firewood to area customers for the last 27 years, is also known in Huntsville as an umpire, long-time coach of women’s softball teams and active member of the Salvation Army.

Nadrofsky was born in Trout Creek, the second of seven children. Following in his father’s footsteps, he grew to love spending time outdoors, whether it was working, camping, hunting or fishing.

“I could never get in gear at school,” Nadrofsky says. “I always had dreams of the bush.”

And so, just before turning 14, he quit school and began working with his father’s crews from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., five days a week. His starting pay was  $10 per week.

Nadrofsky saved up and bought his first car, a 1956 Pontiac, when he was still 15. “My friend drove it for me until I was of age,” he recalls with a laugh. “The day I turned 16 I got my 365 in the morning and went to Burk’s Falls for my licence in the afternoon.”  

In the winter of 1961, Nadrofsky met his first true love, Linda Knight. Although she was at first more interested in his friend, he persevered and won out in the end. They married in 1965 and had two daughters, Lisa and Lana.

A skilled woodsman, Nadrofsky won chainsaw competitions at winter carnivals with five different categories of saws, and also an all-Ontario trophy.

In 1978 he suggested to his father that they start a saw mill. “I thought we could make more by selling the finished product,” he explains. “My younger brothers were interested and we all went in as a team.”

Nadrofsky ran the bush crew in winter and helped in the mill in the spring. But in 1985, he sold out his share to pursue the firewood business he had beenbuilding.

Three years later, he made a huge decision: to invest in big trucks, a new loader and a wood processor and reduce his number of employees from 12 to two. “It was a lot of money,” he says, “but I told my wife, ‘No matter what happens, people have to stay warm, so we should be all right.’”

By hand, his men had been processing 150 cords of wood a week. With the new setup, Nadrofsky produced one cord every eight minutes.

Nadrofsky says his business approach was always to be fair and honest in dealing with people. He found that if customers left one year thinking they’d do better elsewhere, they usually came back the next.

In 2002 he invited his son-in-law to join him and learn the ropes. The hand-off of the company took place at Christmas, and it is now called The Woodman’s Daughter.

Nadrofsky can tell vivid stories of various brushes he’s had with death, both as a child and while working in the bush, but his life was always spared.

“One time a huge limb came from the top of a maple tree and drove into the ground right in front of me,” he recalls. “I started serving the Lord right there.”

His religion is a central part of Nadrofsky’s life. “If you’re in the word and do the walk and do the talk, you’ll never go wrong,” he says.

His mission in retirement, he says, will be to bring comfort to people in prison and hospital.

Sadly, Nadrofsky’s beloved wife died last March of diabetes. She had been completely blind for five years.   

“We promised each other if one of us passed, the other would go on with their life,” he says. And that’s just what he’s doing.

Nadrofsky is planning several trips and looks forward to spending time on his houseboat in Temagami. Thanks to a new artificial knee in January 2005, he is more active and healthy than ever. And, he has even met a “nice Christian woman” with whom he spends much of his time. They are talking about getting married in the summer.

“I’ve got the rest of my life ahead of me, and I want to enjoy myself,” says Nadrofsky.

Thanks to Mary Karreman for suggesting that Howard Nadrofsky be profiled. If there is someone you’d like to see in this space, please call Paula at 789-5541 or e-mail  pboon@metrolandnorthmedia.com.