Jim Wilton
I am encouraged to write the following by the enjoyment I have had reading the bios. of other classmates.
Many of you probably don't realize that as a child I attended three of the four MRHS feeder schools, Dunrae (1 Year), Carlyle (3 years), and Russell (4 years). Consequently when I arrived at MRHS there were many familiar faces but few longtime friends. Perhaps I should add that the reason for these life-altering moves was due to the fact that the school boundaries kept changing as the Town expanded.
I look back on my years at Mount Royal with much fondness and a little anguish caused by my inability to satisfy some of the staff. Upon reflection, this imposed self doubt has benefitted me in the way I treat others.
I left MRHS to take my grade twelve at the High School of Montreal. When I arrived I noticed my Dad's name on a plaque remembering those who had left the school as volunteers to serve in WWII. (He was a Liberator pilot on convoy patrol in the North Atlantic during those terrible years of the U-boat attacks) .....Had Doc. Hardy known this he might have had a question or two of me, but alas not so...his class was like being in the "silent service".....is that judgmental?
Following grade twelve, I attended the University of Western Ontario where I was enrolled in engineering for two years before realizing it was not deductive enough for me. I then switched into physics and graduated with a BSc in Physics in 69. This was followed by a year at Althouse College of Education.
My summers during these years were spent as an employee of Canadian Aviation Electronics in the plant situated near Dorval Airport. At the conclusion of my formal schooling I was offered a job with CAE but declined as I had met my bride-to-be at Western in London. Since her family lived near London, we made that our home.
I worked for the next 32 years as a high school math and science teacher in three different schools with the London Board of Education (now known as the Thames Valley Board).
This was the greatest job in the world. I met so many great students and teachers. I feel truly blessed. I seldom leave the house but I don't run into a former student, now how nice is that?
In fact I have taught many of my former student's children, kinda makes a guy feel his age. I can only imagine their dinner conversations. .... "We used to call him Wilts son, has he told you about the tap dancer that fell into the sink; or about the time he lived on the side of a cliff and students used to drop in for extra help." Forgive me, ........
I have a beautiful caring wife named Nancy and two children, Mandy and Josh, both adopted as infants. Josh is 34 with two girls, a one year old, and a six year old. Mandy is 30 and has a nine year old step daughter.
My wife, Nancy, and our granddaughter, Ella (Josh's daughter)
Both of our children have had major identity problems at different stages in their lives, an occurrence not unusual for adopted children. Mandy has survived her crisis relatively unscathed but Josh's birth mother's rejection hurt him deeply. He has managed to track down his birth parents who now both have families of their own. This means he has step brothers and sisters from two different families he is getting to know. This has given him some solace and relegated Nancy and me to the back burner. Seldom do we hear from him, years have been known to pass with no contact. We try to continue to be non-judgmental as we gain a full understanding of the term "unconditional love". We are consoled by the fact that both Mandy and Josh are very caring and dedicated parents.
For those of you who have met my parents, you might be interested in knowing that Dad passed away in his eightieth year with Alzheimer's, just three years after receiving his PhD in French History and Literature from the University of Western Ontario. The doctors seem to think his mental activity delayed the start of this hideous disease, so keep your minds active. Mom is ninety now and currently enjoying a form of vascular dementia, confined to a wheel chair in a lock down ward at a nursing home just around the corner from where we live. Yes, I said enjoying, she is happy in her silence, has no idea who I am, and greets everybody with a big smile. I've contemplated stealing some of her medicine! I've been the primary care giver for both mom and dad as my sisters Ann and Donna have their own lives in Montreal and Vancouver 'respectively', (a word I first learned the correct meaning of in grade eleven geometry). I could not have coped with Joshua's melancholy and mom and dad's problems without the amazing support of Nancy. Talk about the sandwich generation.
If you are still reading I only have a few more items to convey.
Many of you might remember that I was always interested in flying. Well I did get my pilots license but let it lapse shortly thereafter as it was an expensive hobby for a young teacher with a young family.
For the past thirty years I have occupied my summers by building a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Huron. Now that's not really true, it really isn't on the shore but is located on what is referred to as the second line. But, it is a lighthouse, which allows us to look over all the front line properties without the worries of erosion. After all it's only a matter of time and we will be front line. Talk about planning ahead. When I look back on this project, it seems like a lot of work for one man and a hammer, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The joy is truly in the journey.
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Recently I have developed an interest in watercolours and am also currently building a garden railway in the back yard. I will model the station after Mount Royal's—complete with a pretty little figurine of Margot McDougall so she'll never have to rush again.
It would mean a lot to me to hear from any of you who might feel the need to converse as I have always felt isolated from my childhood friends and I do wonder what paths life has taken them.
Please take the time to write a few lines in this bio. opt. that John Hoffman has so kindly provided.
Bless you all............
Jim