Gerry Brahm
Life is journey and there are many pathways to be followed. Reading my fellow classmates’ bios I find it fascinating and intriguing as to how their journey through life has progressed. Town of Mount Royal High School is the common starting point for the class of ’64. We all graduated approximately 16-18 years of age and had our hopes and aspirations and dreams to follow. It is exciting to look back and see how our dreams have panned out and how difficult and short life can be. Unfortunately, some of our fellow classmates have passed on and with each year, fewer of us remain. I feel it is important to stay in contact with our base. What makes our story and this website so distinctive is that we knew each other when we were young and quite innocent and before life became complex. We share this common origin, which makes our life journey unique among the TMR class of ’64.
“My Story” starts at TMR High with me following the dust cloud of David Caplan and my older brother Evan. I was determined to seek new paths to avoid the cloud. Upon graduation, unlike most of my fellow classmates, who went to McGill, I decided to enter engineering at Rensselaer (RPI) in Troy, NY. On arrival I now felt I had a chance to shine, only to find out that Rensselaer is one of the top engineering schools in the United States and I noticed an even more enormous dust cloud being thrown up by half a dozen David Caplans, brothers from another mother. To out run the dust, I bought a 1968 fire red 350 horsepower Pontiac GTO. I don’t know if it helped outrun the cloud but it sure got a lot of attention. “My GTO Stories” will have to wait until the 2nd installment.
At RPI I decided to rediscover my Jewish roots, which had fallen grievously by the wayside. In public school, I had joined Life Boys with friends of mine. Rising through the ranks to the top position, I was told, to my great surprise, that it was a Christian organization and they felt that I didn’t belong. So, at RPI I joined Hillel and became president in my 3rd year. When the rabbi found out that I couldn’t read Hebrew, didn’t know any Jewish prayers, wasn’t kosher, and hadn’t attended services since I was 13, he asked me to step down. Instead I ran again for president and was re-elected for a second year. Needless to say the rabbi and I had a major communication problem and we didn’t speak to each other at all during my second term. These experiences have only strengthened my agnostic approach to life (jilted out of an organization for being of the incorrect religion and outted from another for not being religious enough).
By the time I got to my 4th year at Rensselaer, I noticed that the dust clouds had vanished and that the six brothers of another mother had either disappeared over the horizon or I had passed them by in the haze. Whatever the reason, I decided to venture on for my masters in engineering at Rensselaer. I soon discovered that you could do a concurrent MBA with NO ADDITIONAL COST! Being the ever consummate student or fearful of going out and getting a job, however you look at it, I jumped at the opportunity and finished both my MBA and masters in engineering in the following two years. I was fortunate to hang around Troy these two years while completing my dual masters because during this time I met Terry, who was working on her MLS (Master of library Science) at SUNY Albany.
Upon graduation in 1970, I had the privilege of either serving with the US army in Vietnam or returning to Canada. So I flipped a coin and it came up Queen so I thought that meant go back to Canada. I got a job in Montreal at Canadian Vickers and worked there for 3 years. At the same time, Terry followed me up to the American side of the border and got a job as a librarian in Plattsburg, NY. This worked out fine with each nationality staying on their appropriate side of the border. While working at Vickers I was told by the powers to be that I was on the fast track to becoming vice president. I thought I was on the fast track to an insane asylum!
I started dreaming of being a student again so I applied to dental school and got into dentistry at the University of Western Ontario in 1973. I packed my bags, said farewell to Vickers, and crossed the border into Ontario and I haven’t spoken French since. The problem with London, Ontario is it is not exactly close to an American border and I had stranded Terry in Plattsburg, NY. So we reached an agreement, got married and Terry came to London. Since an agreement is an agreement that can’t be broken, we are still married 36 years later, celebrating our anniversary each year, New Years Eve.
When I graduated dentistry in 1977, the dean noted my many years as a perennial student and was wondering if I was next going into law. I told him my wife forbade me to be a student anymore and I had to go out and make a living, but I would remember him and made sure that one of my kids would fulfill his dream of a Brahm becoming a lawyer. I have practiced dentistry in London for 32 years, dabbled in real estate, founded White Shield Dental Centres, and generally been involved in business using my financial skills acquired during my MBA program.
Julie, Gary, Hayley, Amanda, David, Terry, and Gerry
I feel my greatest achievements are my four children, whom have kept out of trouble and like me wanted to be life long students for as long as they could remain on the family payroll. My oldest daughter, Julie, born in 1980 is a 4th year resident in Emergency Medicine at McGill (she kept up her French). She works in the same hospital as my brother, Evan (graduated TMR High 1962), who stayed in Montreal (his French was good) and is a practicing Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst. My second oldest, Gary, born in 1982 is a 3rd year resident in Radiology in London Health Science. David, my 3rd child, born in 1984, has a law and MBA degree from the University of Buffalo. He flipped a coin in life and it came up eagle so he stayed in the United States. He presently lives in Syracuse with his wife, Amanda, who is studying medicine at Syracuse. My 4th and last child, Hayley, born in 1987 couldn’t decide where to go to school so she too flipped a coin and it landed in a pint of Guinness so she took this as an omen to go to Ireland, where she is currently in 3rd year dentistry at the University College Cork. Hopefully she will hurry up, get off the family payroll and take over the family business (dentistry) and let me retire to pasture.
Life is good, I am happily married to my first wife, who is telling me the story is long enough and save something for the 2nd installment. I would like to say thanks for the memories to my fellow classmates and I hope to see you at a future reunion.