“I’ve occasionally been asked, ‘If you’re going to work for, and spend years with, The Salvation Army, why didn’t you become an officer?’ ” says Shelley Toner, who recently retired from the finance department at territorial headquarters. “It wasn’t my calling. I believe it was God’s calling for me to be an employee, not a Salvation Army officer. 

“You can minister to people in different ways, and I just hope over my 42 years, I’ve done that.” 

“Only One Year” 

Shelley Toner was born and raised in a Salvation Army family. When Shelley’s mother was five years old, her grandparents immigrated to Toronto from Newfoundland before it became a province of Canada. 

“My family grew up in the Rowntree Corps,” Shelley says. “I was born, worshipped there until it amalgamated with West Toronto and attended until our family relocated to Milton, Ont. Then our family attended the corps in Oakville, Ont. So, The Salvation Army’s been very close to our family throughout the years.” 

When she graduated from school, 18-year-old Shelley was interested in going into the early childhood education field, so she applied to colleges and universities and was on the waiting list at one institution. 

Shelley’s cousin was working in the youth department at territorial headquarters when it was situated in downtown Toronto on Albert Street, and mentioned that there was a one-year contract position open. 

Perfect, Shelley thought. That’s all I want. Only one year. And then I’ll go back to school. 

Forty-two years later, Shelley was still with the Army. 

A Life in Finance 

After her contract was up, Shelley moved to the finance department as secretary to the controller. 

“Back in the day, everything was pen and paper,” she recalls. “You did your debits in black, your credits in red. Financial statements were done on a typewriter with one original and seven carbon copies. If you made a mistake, you whited out all seven carbon copies and retyped them. There was no such thing as computers; everything was typewriters.” 

From the controller’s secretary, Shelley moved to the computer service section of the finance department and became their data-entry clerk. 

“That was when people had to use a sign-in sheet to get access to the computer,” Shelley smiles. 

From there, she stayed in the accounting section of the finance department until about 15 years ago, when she moved into the payroll side and worked her way up to assistant director of payroll, the position she held until her retirement in June. 

Faith on the Job 

How did Shelley acquire a love for numbers? 

“Math was always my best subject in school,” she replies. “So, when my contract ended and I was told that there was an opening in the finance department and they were willing to take me, I went over and just developed a liking for it.” 

Shelley had been encouraged to take continuing education courses and move into other areas of the department, but it wasn’t for her. 

“I never went into finance to have a career,” she explains. “It was a job to me. I didn’t care whether I had designations or any of that after my name. But numbers seemed to be my thing.” 

A devout Salvationist, Shelley has always carried her Christianity to the workplace. 

“Any position I’ve had, I’ve always put God first and asked, What would God do in this situation?” she says. “If a colleague was hurting or suffering, I assured them that I was keeping them in my prayers.” 

No Alarms 

Now retired, Shelley joins her husband, John, who retired 2½ years ago. 

“We talked about it for quite a while and decided that it was time,” she says. “Life is short; nobody’s promised tomorrow.” 

Shelley is looking forward to doing some travelling and spending time with her mother, stepfather and grandchildren. 

“Just being able to do what I want to do. Oh, and not have my alarm set early to get up in the morning!”