Biography

I have finally called it quits. As of now, I am without a job for the first time in my adult life. Hell, I’ve never even had the pleasure of drawing EI. How did this happen so quickly? It seems like only yesterday I was taking slabs away from the carriage in my father’s sawmill and pouring molasses on a slipping belt to allow it to grip the pulley more firmly. 

I don’t really remember my dad retiring. During my young life when I worked with him he was, in a sense, constantly retiring. One day we would be working in the lumber industry, another we’d be involved in the pulpwood business. Dad always approached each task as if it were a whole new opportunity. From helping build the United Church to fixing a broken axle on a truck, his life was in a constant state of flux, leaving one job and starting another, but never retiring.

Without finishing grade nine, I dropped out of school at age fifteen. It may not have been the greatest move of my life and it took me several years to figure out that hard physical labour was not my strong suit. I always joke that I was so dumb it took nearly five years to figure out I was lazy. I worked in the woods, or whatever job King’s Point had to offer back then. That included sawmill work, pulpwood work, and a stint reading electrical meters; I even spent a little time as a bill collector for my father’s delinquent accounts.

After I’d been in the hard-labour workforce for a few years, a local girl (she knows who she is) persuaded me to return to school. All I wanted to do back then was to get grade ten and take a welding course, which seemed pretty straightforward. However, things don’t always go the way you expect. I had no plan; I just wanted to see if I could do it. I could always fall back on manual labour, and, of course, I had my rock band.

I left King’s Point and my life took a huge detour.  I arrived in St. John’s as a totally “green boy” from Green Bay and rented a room from the lovely Mrs. Osbourn. My saving grace was Merrick Snow, who was also in town studying culinary arts and staying at the same address. I was there hoping to complete my high school education but still didn’t have a plan.

I was torn that first year: my brain was in the city, but my young heart was back in my little town. I wanted to go home every day. Every chance I got I hitchhiked home for a weekend. As the weeks passed, though, things got easier and my yearning to quit was somewhat diminished. I discovered I actually liked school, and it turns out I was pretty good at it. I began to appreciate books, and several of my teachers were quite funny and appeared interested in my future.

It wasn’t long before I changed my mind as to my future vocation. Again with the nudge from an influential friend, I steered toward the medical field and applied to become an x-ray technologist, mostly because it was a fairly “clean” technology. I wouldn’t have to deal with blood, gore, and crap. It wasn’t part of any plan–it just happened. I got accepted into the program at the College of Trades and Technology and proceeded to dissect frogs and tiny pigs, learn all the bones and muscles in the human body, and how to take weird pictures of people’s insides using radiation. I had an amazing experience and my urge to return home slowly faded. 

Before I finished my radiography program, we received a visitor in our department, pitching a new medical field called nuclear medicine. I weighed my options. I figured with radiography, someone would have to die or retire for me to move up the ladder, so I applied to go to Halifax to study the newer technology. I didn’t plan that new adventure–it just fell into my lap. By then, I’d been away from King’s Point long enough and the decision was not too difficult. The thought of being so far from home still scared me a little, but I felt I could withstand the loneliness. The good part of the whole deal was that three of my x-ray buddies also got accepted and accompanied me on my new adventure.

Over the next couple of years, I played with radioactive material and learned to concoct various pharmaceuticals and inject them into the bloodstream of my patients. As my confidence increased, I became more certain that this was what I would do for the rest of my life. When I graduated, several of my sisters traveled from King’s Point all the way to Halifax to see me get my papers. I don’t know if I ever expressed how much I appreciated them making that trip, so I’ll say it now: it made me feel like a million bucks!

It was then time to go back to The Rock and start working. I didn’t have to plan where I would work because the hospital that sponsored me required me to work there for two years. I started the job, got my white jacket, and started doing my best to fit into my new career. However, I wasn’t really enjoying it. After a couple of months, I was ready to run away. My contract required me to work in Newfoundland, so my options were limited. That’s when Dr. Brian Harley from Corner Brook called. He was a physician I’d met in Halifax when I was a student, and his plan was to start a new department on the west coast of Newfoundland. He wanted to know if I’d like to work with him there, so I resigned and headed for Corner Brook immediately. I still hadn’t planned anything. It was like some strange force was propelling me from one situation to the next. For four years, I was immersed in the planning, building, and running of a new nuclear medicine department. Dr. Harley was an amazing man who treated me as an equal, and we remained friends until his death a few years ago.

After four years in Corner Brook, I was totally satisfied with my lot in life, but my new wife was not. Dawn worked in the microbiology lab and was quite unhappy. I reluctantly agreed to leave and together, we looked around for something back in Halifax. It just so happened that the Halifax Infirmary was looking for a clinical instructor in their practical nuclear medicine program. Again without a plan, I applied and was offered the job. For the next few years, I taught nuclear medicine and eventually ended up being in charge of the program. 

All the while I was involved in medical instruction, I would teach some of my hobbies to the general public as evening courses. I had always been interested in the arts but was not that gifted. What I did know, however, was computer software, and became proficient in photo and movie editing, website development, etc.

After seventeen years of instructing in the medical world, my program was transferred to Dalhousie University. Since I’d had so many years at my college, I didn’t want to become a little fish in a big sea again, so I inquired about what else I might be able to teach at my campus. They offered me a teaching position in the applied arts department, essentially teaching my hobbies–and I accepted.

So here I am. After thirty-six years as a faculty member, I am officially done. I could not be further from what I was and did those many years before. I have spent a lifetime as an employee of the government–something I always made fun of when I was in the private workforce back in Newfoundland. There are always a couple of things in the back of my mind, though, even after all these years: I will always be thankful to the girl who persuaded me to go back to school, and I’m thinking I’d still like to study welding.

Now, what do I do? Everyone tells me I should have a plan. However, I’ve had such a fortunate life without one, I think a plan would just screw everything up.
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MY BIO IN POINT FORM

• I grew up in my early years in NL, without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.

• Without finishing grade nine, dropped out of school. 

• I worked in the woods… including logging, sawmill work, pulpwood harvesting, and trucking, and played in a rock band on weekends.

• After being in the hard-labour workforce for a few years, a local girl persuaded me to return to school. All I wanted to do back then was to get grade ten and take a welding course.

• I left King’s Point and my life took a huge detour. Arrived in St. John’s as a totally “green boy” from Green Bay and rented a room. Being homesick, every chance I got I hitchhiked home for a weekend. 

• Again with the nudge from an influential friend, I steered toward the medical field and applied to become an x-ray technologist, mostly because it was a fairly “clean” technology. 

• After my radiography program, we received a visitor in our department, pitching a new field called nuclear medicine. I weighed my options. I figured with radiography, someone would have to die or retire for me to move up the ladder, so I applied to go to Halifax to study the newer technology. 

• Over the next few years, I played with radioactive material and learned to concoct various pharmaceuticals and inject them into the bloodstream of my patients, and took high-tech images of their organs. As my confidence increased, I became more certain that this was what I would do for the rest of my life.

• I returned to ‘The Rock’ and started working in 1975. 

• After a couple of months in St. John’s, I was ready to run away. My contract required me to work in Newfoundland, so my options were limited. That’s when Dr. Brian Harley from Corner Brook called. He was a physician I’d met in Halifax when I was a student, and his plan was to start a new department on the west coast of Newfoundland. He wanted to know if I’d like to work with him there, so I resigned and headed for Corner Brook immediately. 

• I spent four years immersed in the planning, building, and running of a new nuclear medicine department in Corner Brook. 

• For four years, I was totally satisfied with my lot in life, but my new wife was not. 

• I reluctantly agreed to leave and together, we looked around for something back in Halifax. The Halifax Infirmary was looking for a clinical instructor for its nuclear medicine program. I applied and was offered the job. For the next few years, I taught nuclear medicine and eventually ended up being in charge of the program.

Throughout my involvement in medical instruction, I taught some of my hobbies to the general public, as evening courses. I had always been interested in the arts but was not good enough to teach the ‘art’ part. What I did know was computer software, and became proficient in photo and movie editing, website development, etc.

• While working in Halifax, in my early tenure, I Wrote several articles for Downhomer magazine in Ontario, and for “Asia One” online.

• During that time, I also co-wrote and produced a jazz CD, with April Wine alumnus, Jim Henman.

• I wrote 5 Children’s songs when our kids were little.

• I co-wrote a couple of songs with well-known singer, Terry Kelly. “TIES THAT BIND” was written to help raise money for the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEWFOUNDLAND. That song was played at the installation of the 28th Governor General of Canada, the Honourable David Lloyd Johnston, in 2010. It also was performed live, by the Nova Scotia Symphony

• I became involved in Los Primos [a nonprofit Nova Scotia – Cuba] music exchange program in 2001 and volunteered as a cameraman for a Los Primos documentary, in Cuba in 2004.

• I have developed a functioning board game. Hopefully… a project to return to within the next couple of years.

• After seventeen years of instructing in the medical world, my program was transferred to Dalhousie University. I didn’t want to become a little fish in a big sea, so I inquired about what else I might be able to teach at my campus. They offered me a teaching position in the applied arts department—essentially teaching my hobbies. I accepted. After thirty-six years as a faculty member of NSCC, I retired. I could not be further from what I was and did those many years before. I have spent a lifetime as an employee of the government—something I always made fun of when I was in the private workforce back in Newfoundland.

• In 2017, after my retirement, I wrote a book of short stories about my early life in King’s Point, NL. [MY LIFE IN SHORT FORM] has sold well and is available from me directly, and on Amazon in 14 countries.

• In 2019, I published a children’s book, [A DINOSAUR LIVES NEXT DOOR], and in 2022, I published a second, [I WISH I LIVED IN A TREEHOUSE]. These are based on children’s songs I wrote many years ago. I have 3 more kids’ books to finish.

• I have begun a crime novel, based on a murder that happened in my hometown back in 1931.

• I finally released a Christmas song in 2020, after 35 years of it sitting on a hard drive in my desk drawer. My song is available on most streaming platforms and on YouTube.