In 1929 the stock market crashed. North America was pushed in chaos.  People jumped from tall buildings.  Virtually everyone was affected.  Weather patterns contributed to this economic storm.  The “dirty thirties” was a time of poor crops and people losing their livelihoods.  My Dad as a young preacher was given a part time government job.  One of his jobs was to probe the ground with a long rod to determine where bodies were buried in a graveyard.  It was in the middle of this decade that I was born.  I had been conceived just before my Dad was elected to the House of Commons of Canada and I was born just after.  World War II was declared in 1939 – four years after I was born.  Uh Oh.  I just let the cat out of the bag.  For many years I have told my kids my age was 189.

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Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.

– Kierkegaard

In my twilight years I remember very little of my childhood.  I’m sure there are many impressions in my brain that came out of my childhood but very few vivid memories.  Perhaps “making memories” for kids up to age eight or ten is a waste!  (And if this is done in Disneyland or on an ocean cruise then it’s also a waste of money!)  I could be wrong; perhaps some people do have vivid memories of their formative years.

One strong memory I have is playing with my sister Liz at about eight years old.  the picture is that of the two of us on the floor playing Monopoly.

Liz and I were born in Vulcan, Alberta about one year apart.  We grew up in this small town up until our late teens.  We lived in four different houses.  The first was the parsonage because our father was the minister of the Vulcan Church of Christ.  He was elected to the House of Commons in 1935 – the year I was born.  A few years later we moved to a house (about 3 or 4 blocks away) to a two-story house which I remember as being cream-coloured.

It seemed that the winters were very cold with lots of snow.  It was on such a day we found ourselves on the floor playing games.  The house had “central heating” in that the coal burning furnace in the basement had a large grate in the floor on the main level.  This iron grate would be quite warm.  Sitting on this grate would be the warmest place in the house.  (Any place else would seem to be cold by comparison.)

The game of Monopoly usually took hours – and could extend into more than one day.  Possibly we were home becase of sickness or even the school being closed.As we rolled the dice and moved from square to square we learned a lot of lessons.  We learned that buying certain properties were better than other properties.  We learned to save our money so that it could be used to invest wisely.  Both liz and I used these principles in our lives.  When I see kids and young people playing their games these days I can’t help but wonder what they are learning.  It seems like what they’re learning is how to shoot people!

My Dad was the most prominent person in my family.  He was good at public speaking and became a preacher at quite a young age.  Later he became a politician and was elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario.  (He was elected the year I was born.) From that time on he was away from our family six months of the year.  Despite this absence he was still by far the most influential person in my life.  In his absence he wrote letter to me.  I would write letters to him although when I was first learning to write in Grade 3 I’m sure the letters would have been very simple.

He made the best of his time at home in terms of caring for family member.  I remember when my sister and I were about 12 or 13 he bought a pony for us and proceeded to build a barn and a coral.  He took us on summer vacations going by car to Vancouver and visiting his brother and family (more than once).  One time he built a “surf board” using my buncle’s basement.  This was about five feet long and two or three inches thick and was hollow.  I’m sure I didn’t use it very much but I did appreciate that he took the time and effort to build it.

The fact that my Dad was absent from the family fifty percent of the time forced my sister and me to develop independence.  I know my sister left the home right out of high school and a could of years later went to England to further her education.  I know when I left home to go to the University of Alberta in Edmonton – that became my home.  It was nice to go back to Vulcan – but as two and three years went by I was feeling more and more at home at the university.

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“Die to be heard.” – Dagmar

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After my fourth year of university I went back to Vulcan but my parents had moved to Calgary!  This was because my Dad was defeated in the election.  Since his town (and constituency) had cast him out there was no need for him to continue to live there.  When he sold his house he subdivided the property and I bought a strip of the property with a cabin on it.  That summer I lived in the cabin and did a lot of construction on my own.  All this shows that I learned quite early to be independent of my parents.

In my teen years my Dad always encouraged me to become a professional: a doctor or a layer.  When I went to university I decided to try to become a medical doctor.  At the University of Alberta it was required that a student take two years of “pre-med”.  At the end of this time students with the highest marks were admitted into the Faculty of Medicine.

I came from a small town and had not developed good study habits.  I really struggled to get good marks.  At the end of my two years my marks were not high enough.  (However, after two years I felt my study habits were starting to improve considerably*.  I decided to switch my goal and go into education.

*I have to admit – maybe I was not bright enough to go into medicine.  Those who made it were brighter than me.

This was an easy switch.  I was well established at university.  Also, scholarship money was available to go into the Faculty of Education.  (The provided needed more teachers.)  Thus, my third year finished up my science degree and my fourth year pursued education courses.  At the end of that fourth year I was qualified to become a teacher and to make a salary*.

After my third year at university I spent the summer at home in Vulcan.  My Dad had purchased a beautiful house but the kitchen was small.  We decided to enlarge it by extending the walls out about 7 or 8 feet.  I did most of the work.  It wasn’t a case of my helping my Dad; it was a case of my Dad helping me.

My first year of teaching was in the town of High River at the high school.  I taught Biology and Chemistry.  That first year I worked very hard.  I prepared lessons as well as developed assignments quizzes and tests.  I felt I did a thorough job because later years the notes (lessons) were already prepared.  I just had to refine them.  So in my second year I actually started building a house directly across from the high school.

+[Explain why you have been drawn to construction]

I taught school in High River for 5 years.  Some of the interviewing summers I took education courses in Edmonton.  One summer I built 12 student desks.  These were “double-desks” with a bank of drawers in the middle.

Almost every summer (summer holidays for school teachers) I got involved in construction.  In 1979 I headed up 3 other teachers doing a lot of construction.  In 1979 and 1980 I was the “building superintendent” and we built a new church.

When we moved to Canada in 1981 the family spent almost every summer at the Kootenay Lake and I was always busy with building projects.  The point is that up to the time I retired from teaching in 1997 I had two parallel careers.

When I retired I felt exhilarated as I could now pursue my true passion of construction.+  Between 1997 and 2000 I took on all kinds of jobs (including tile work) in Calgary.  In 2000 we moved and we started construction on our Dream Home on the Kootenay Lake.  I’ve been building on it and around it ever since.  I don’t think I with ever be done.

Money is a very important aspect in my life.  It has been woven into the fabric of my being.  It influences me every day – indeed, every hour.

When I went to university my Dad paid my tuition.  But I paid for everything else.  That meant that my well-being depended on my own working and saving during the five months off from university.  This meant that I would secure work for the summer and diligently fo at it!  (No, I didn’t go off on exotic travelling for periods of time to “find myself”.)

Money is a balancing act.  Every time money is spent on something is means it won’t be there for something else.  It means that some object that is purchased represents another object that now is not affordable.

I worked during high school.  One of my first jobs was a salesman in a clothing store.  A clothing store in a small town is not busy.  Most of the time I was bored.  It was difficult to look busy for long periods of time.  I learned how to fold shirts very well (still know how).  When I had a job cleaning I really did a good job and was proud of it.

Later in high school I got a job on the Jack Deans Farm.  Jack was a skinflint; Never threw anything away.  Sometimes I had to walk out to the farm which was a 3 ½ mile distance.  This was on Saturdays only so I would have to leave about 6:00 in the morning.

One Saturday I had to walk and I really didn’t feel like it.  I had been out late the night before and I was tired.  But I started out.  It was cold and there was a few inches of snow on the ground.  I could see my breath.  When I got to the farm I had to water the cattle.  The ice had to be broken on the water trough before I could fill the buckets with water. The pails (one on each side,) were heavy.  O wondered if this would stunt my growth.  After watering came the feeding with the bales of hay.  After feeding came the cleaning.  This was done with a pitchfork.  Manure mixed with straw was put in a wheel barrow and transported outside to what became a huge pile.  Later in the year this pile would be loaded on a “stone boat” and taken by tractor to be spread over the fields, (again using the pitchfork).  I actually enjoyed a lot of this kind of work.  It was invigorating and muscle building.

When we ran out of that kind of work Jack decided to have me help out in the basement of the big farm house.  He was doing some kind of ceiling or wall repair.  As I was using an old wooden hammer the head fell off and hit the lid of the toilet tank which broke.  I felt bad.  I also blamed the crappy old tools Jack gave me to use.  I also felt maybe I was half-asleep because of the late night I had had.  Anyway, I guess Jack felt bad too because he said, “Well Bill.  You had better pick up your cheque and go.”   I was completely devastated — the first time (and perhaps the only time) I had ever been fired.  He drove me into town and home.  Very few words were spoken.  I was making 50 cents an hour so instead of of four dollar I made only three dollars that day.  Everything is relative.

One of the lessons I learned from that is that money is not earned easily so it is not to be wasted.  Fast forward four years when I worked during the summer for Ed Roeback – carpenter and contractor.  Now I was making a dollar an hour which after three years became $1.50 an hour.  A full meal in a restaurant cost $1.25.  Everything is relative.

My worst mistakes with money were the times I took a chance in investing.  One time was after my father passed away and inherited about ten thousand dollars.  I gave half of this to my close friend as he was involved in a group of guys purchasing a large parcel of land on the outskirts of Crossfield, Alberta.  After about 10 years this group of investors was swallowed up ba another and after a few more years, the money was gone.  I never saw even one penny as a return on that.  My sister, who had received the same amount did not give it away.  Instead, she used it to help her build her beautiful house in Maple Ridge, BC.  Later she sold this house for about $650,000.

In contrast one of the best times I took a chance with money was when I purchased 3½ acre property on the Kootenay Lake.  I paid $9,500 for it and today it would be worth at least $150,000 (1578% gain).  Everything is relative.

It has always been ingrained in me to not waste money.  This influences all kinds of actions from turning off unused lights to using cold water instead of hot water unless necessary.

My sister passed away in 2012 and left me with quite a bit of money plus her house.  Some of my kids percieve that I now have lots of money.  I do have more that I ever had.  BUT, I will continue to be a cheapskate and I will not waste.

On the issue of being cheap or generous I believe I am both.  I am generous in giving to the church, to missions and to a few charities.  My wife would have me give a lot more.  (She already does.)  At the same time she is even more cheap than I am.  I am so thatnkful that God gave her to me as a wife.  She has really kept us “fiscally responsible”.  I owe so much to her.

As I am approaching (or am I totally immersed) in my twilight years I realize that I am truly blessed to have excelled health.  This is even more obvious when I see many people 20 years my junior who have trouble walking, seeing, hearing or even thinking or talking.

I was always a healthy active child.  No problems.  I could run and play with the best of them.  I loved sports as a teenager and felt I could do anything.  Well, not quite.  But as I got into my later teen years I found I was falling behind in terms of my height.  This was because of genetics.  My mom was short.  My dad was short.  Their parents were short.  Although I was a good skater I couldn’t quite measure up in hockey.  The bigger guys were better So I switched to curling.  I really worked at it and became quite good.  I was on the Alberta High School Championship team in 1953 (or 54??)

Because I got involved in construction I embraced the skills and strength it took to do the work.  I loved working up a sweat and getting a lot done.  Recently I did a rock project that took about 5 weeks.  This required a certain process which was the same every day.  Screen the sand.  Mix the mortar.  Fit the stones inside plumb lines (string).  Mortar them together.  “Point” the joints to make everything smooth then wash the surfaces.  All of these steps take effort and all kinds of body movements.  But at the end of the day (actually half-day, 4hrs) I felt great.

In the past 35 years I have done many hundreds of tile jobs.  Many of these were done on my knees.  Up until a few years ago I did these without knee-pads.  Because of this I find that my knees are really quite strong.  Many of peers have had their knees replaced.  You know how drastic this surgery is?  it’s incredible what they do, I hope never to have that done.

I am not a perfect specimen.  I do take two prescriptions — one for blood pressure and the other for my esophagus.  But other than these I am quite healthy!