John Falconer
John and Kitty Falconer in Lisbon, August 2022
Not much drama here [in New Brunswick]. Rainfall has been good, reservoirs are full. No forest fires of note. Lobster rolls are worth their weight in gold, but the fishermen are getting a good price.
Barring a flare-up, COVID is under control.
We keep rubbing along. I had a minor skin operation in the spring.Kitty is waiting for word on a knee operation.
We will be going to Ottawa for a regimental reunion and ball in late November. And my barbershop chorus had its first rehearsal in 30 months this Tuesday.
John and Kitty Falconer, 2009
I finally left MRHS in 1965—took the 5-year plan. This was supposed to raise my grades and prepare me better for University. Well, as of 2011 I still don't have a BA but I am a qualified Cabinetmaker (Algonquin College 1993).
If I had Trevor Ferguson's talent, I could have a longer back-page blurb than he does. In sequence: clerk, CPR Montreal 1966–69, Dishwasher, AV and Theatre tech, Carleton U, 1969–73, Civil Service, construction labourer, security guard, Brink's courier, cable trapper, cabinetmaker, all in Ottawa 1974–1996.
Since moving to the Moncton NB area, I have spent 10 years in the courier business as an owner-operator. I actually retired from that last spring.
Jim Wilton's comment about Doc Hardy took me back in time. He and John Messenger stood out in my memory for very opposite reasons; Doc Hardy as a tinpot terrorist, John Messenger for basic goodness.
While I was in Ottawa, I signed up for the summer of 1971 with the Changing of the Guard— basically for 3 square meals and a warm place to sleep. Fifteen years later I retired as RSM.
Sergeant John Falconer, GGFG, July 1973
In October 1980 I married Kitty, an Ottawa girl who had studied at the Royal Vic for her RN. We have 2 children: Doug, 29, who works in Moncton, and Elizabeth 28 who graduated from Queen's, got her MA at Waterloo and lives and works in London England. We moved here after my mother died in 1997. We got involved in our local United Church a few years ago, and find ourselves doing minor volunteer things. We visited Elizabeth in London last May and we both want to go back when finances permit. Despite the best efforts of the PSBGM, I left school with a firm regard for Charles Dickens and Shakespeare. The Dickens Museum and the Globe Theatre were major high points of the trip.
In 2002 I ran for the NDP in the provincial election, finished dead last with 391 votes, about 20 more than one pro predicted.
From here on out, the plan is to work on my model railroad, enjoy single malt and good red wine now and again, and give something back for a pretty lucky life.
By the way, does Christine Shatilla have a picture hidden in her attic that she can't take a look at?