Paul Lewis
From the left: Liam, Holly, Darryl, Chris and Paul Lewis
John has been after me for over a year to provide an update. I read those already on the site and was too intimidated to add mine. I figured that I should at least take a creative writing course. Well, I did not get around to that either but, after much prodding, here it goes:
After graduating from MRHS, I took grade twelve at High School of Montreal. I then went to Laurentian University in Sudbury, a bilingual university where I could supposedly learn French! While there, I accomplished 2 great feats; I graduated and found my wife of 40+ years! Some may remember me as a jock. Football, skiing, track, squash, handball, wrestling, ….. Unfortunately, my great football career was finished by a late hit at a football camp and so I could do nothing else but study once in university. Amazing what one can do if focused!
We went back to Montreal where I started to work for Peat Marwick Mitchell and then moved to Royal Trust. We then moved to Toronto and then to Halifax where our first daughter, Jennifer, was born. A transfer back to Toronto after 18 months resulted in our second daughter, Holly.
I worked primarily in the trust and pension fields at Royal Trust, National Trust, a four year break in consulting and then Scotiabank where I ended my career as Vice President, International Trust and Private Banking. I took early retirement from the bank in 2004 and started to enjoy life.
My retirement goal was to achieve life balance; that is 1/3 of my time working, 1/3 volunteering, 1/3 golf/tennis etc. I do consulting in pension and investment governance, I volunteer as a crew leader for Habitat for Humanity, and on the pension committee for the March of Dimes. Old age is gradually eliminating my sports. Squash went with the knees; running went with the arthritis and back; tennis went with the hip replacement, but thank goodness for bicycling, golf and walking. (I have dabbled in photography and cooking recently but they do not involve hitting or running!)
I spent the better part of 2008 and 2009 flying to Montreal every week for work. The nostalgia was palpable, with side trips to the MAA, TMR, MRHS, TMR Atwater Club …… The Mansfield Tavern is gone and I was there watching Ben’s being demolished.
We now live in the Beach area of Toronto. I have been working on a renovation of the house for the better part of 3 years which has been fun thanks to a very, very understanding wife. She is a contemporary artist (www.clarissalewis.com) working, teaching and jurying in the Toronto area. Our eldest daughter is director of sales for Marriott Hotels, and has given us 2 granddaughters. Our youngest, Holly, is an actor working in TV, stage, film and radio in Toronto and has a son. We are fortunate that they both live in the Toronto area so we get to see them and do some spoiling! Unfortunately, my parents passed away a few years ago but they lived until they were 86 and had a great life. My sister, Janet, divides her time between Montreal and Florida.
See, boring! I will take that writing course and update this later. I enjoy reading all of your updates. Keep them coming and encourage others to contribute.
Always happy to hear from any former friends and class mates, who may wish to phone or write or get together.
Paul