Annie not only worked in the store to online loans help her mother, she took a job uptown at a "fancy confectioners" to learn how to "market" and to decorate store windows.

She went to Boston for a few years and worked to send money back to her mother to help the family. When her father died in 1942, Annie returned to Saint John to work in the business full time. By the 50's Wakim's Grocery was doing very well. My grandmother became ill and Annie took online payday loans the business full time on her own. She expanded online payday loans store's offerings and even had a small meat department. Two women built a small business and made it a viable enterprise that paid for the educations of one sister who became an RN in the 40's, a sister who obtained a BA and had a long career in government, the brother who became a successful lawyer, and myself.

During those years, Wakim's Grocery was one of the focal points for the community. People would come to my mother for help with problems and she'd be calling a lawyer, a doctor, or whomever was needed.

Mom knew everybody and everybody knew Mom. A stranger couldn't walk into the neighbourhood without Mom knowing who they were within ten minutes. Many of Annie's customers couldn't afford to pay for their groceries. They were tradesman, painters, plumbers, and she let them have credit accounts at the store. If they had no money, Annie would get them to work on her properties, and that's how many of them worked off their grocery debts.

Some never could pay them off, but she never saw anyone go hungry. She believed in her responsibility to her community. And she never wanted any publicity. In fact when a writer from the Atlantic Advocate came by to do a story on her Annie threw him out of the store. My mother was my driving influence.