Interviewer: And what about you, what made you want to become a teacher first? Speaker: Actually I didn't. M-- after I finished ah grade thirteen, I went to work- this was in Brockville. Went to work for a company called Levi-McNeil-and-Levi- they made condensed milk because it was a farming area all around the city of Brockville. So they- I got a job there from the- after I finished grade thirteen. And they paid me fifty cents an hour. Was- not bad wage at that time.

Speaker: No they only have junior so it's grade-nine-ten split. But back then, grade-nine's played midget, grade-ten's play junior. And then eleven, twelve, thirteen 'cause it went to grade-thirteen when I was there ah played senior. So now um- so she asked me to p-- go with her so I went and I made- I made the ba-- the grade-ten basketball team which was really good.

Speaker: Yeah, we were high-school sweethearts. Interviewer 2: (inc) how'd you guys meet. Speaker: We were in the same homeroom. Interviewer 2: (Laughs). Interviewer 1: Aw. Speaker: When he was in grade-thirteen, I was in grade-twelve. Interviewer 1: Mm. Interviewer 2: Oh. Speaker: So that's- yeah, so we started going out in grade- when I was in grade-twelve and he was in grade-thirteen. Interviewer 2: Who made the move? Speaker: He did.

Interviewer: That's great. Now what happened after that, did you guys go away to school somewhere? Speaker: No. Interviewer: What did you do? Speaker: No um, I started as an apprentice in a chartered-accountant's office so I went right from grade-thirteen right into a chartered-accountant's office as an apprenticing student.

Speaker: Bachelor-of-arts or bachelor-of-math degree and all those other things before you even start. Although nowadays they do it on a modular system. Back then, it was all or nothing, you got them all or you got nothing. Same with grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: Ah we took ah nine subjects in grade-thirteen, you got them all or you got nothing. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: That's what it was, and I got all mine and my wife got all- oh no, my wife didn't go to grade thirteen 'cause she took special commercial ...

Interviewer: So then ah- when you got to- to high-school were things more lenient? Can you describe- were you allowed to go out- Speaker: Oh no, typical Italian, no I was not allowed to go out. No. And dances I was never allowed to go until grade-thirteen, I was allowed to go to that- that year. I was allowed to go to the dances. I was allowed to bring the car to school when I was in grade-thirteen. Um, other than that, no, I was kept in the background because I was a girl.

Speaker: And then it became ah N-L- New-Liskeard-High-School, and then it was Temiskaming-District-High-School- Interviewer: Yes. Speaker: And then Temiskaming-District-Secondary-School (laughs). Interviewer: Okay (laughs). Speaker: Ah yeah, and- and I remember in grade-thirteen sitting here thinking- no this school ah ah at the time that I was here, the school was totally different.

Speaker: That I remember and I really, I loved school and-that but I just- I think by grade-thirteen, I- I was just sort-of ready for change, I wanted to sort-of fly the cage and- and I remember sitting here thinking I can't wait to get out of this two-horse town, I'll never be back and- and I all this stuff ...

the courses to offer and not because the- your- your school (inc) brothers and sisters. Speaker: No because that was- that was the education I wanted. I wasn't intere-- I wasn't interested in commercial courses or business. I was going through f-- to get my grade twelve, my diploma or grade thirteen, whichever I had- like you just took grade twelve and then if you wanted to take another year, you took grade thirteen. So that's what I had intended to do. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And I didn't- I wasn't concerned about the business programs, the business side of it.

I wasn't interested in commercial courses or business. I was going through f-- to get my grade twelve, my diploma or grade thirteen, whichever I had- like you just took grade twelve and then if you wanted to take another year, you took grade thirteen. So that's what I had intended to do.

Interviewer: Wow, tell me- tell- tell me about the kid who got left behind. Speaker: Well it was her own doing. She was in grade thirteen and she had family out there and she just decided that she was going to stay.

Interviewer: Yeah. So ah what happened when you finished high-school? Speaker: Ah- high-school. Oh we- high-school, actually we had a team in high-school ah for couple of years and then it kind of faded away in grade thirteen. I guess I-don't-know if anybody didn't want to coach it or I-don't-know.

Well I told you we were going to ah the high-school here in town which is huge now but in those days it wasn't so big. There were only ah four grade-nines and only one grade-thirteen or maybe two grade-thirteens. Maybe only one so you-know a number of kids would drop out over the year or there was also um the four year course which was considered finished high-school.

Unless you were going to go to university, you really didn't take the grade-thirteen so it was kind-of normal to start out with about a hundred kids in grade-nine and end up with maybe only twenty or twenty-five actually graduating so I went through um the five year course. Took my grade-thirteen and I- I always- I liked high-school. Took my grade-thirteen and I- I always- I liked high-school. I did fairly well in it and I- I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. So I went to North-Bay-Teacher's-College after high-school and it was a one year course, you could become a teacher.

Speaker: Ah tech mostly the boys went and that was sort-of leading you to be m-- an electrician or-something. Commercial, the girls were going to be secretaries. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: They were only going to go to a-- go to grade-twelve. They weren't- that w-- matriculation went to grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: We called it matriculation then and those- those people were boys and girls were mostly destined for university.

Speaker: So we moved and I spent one year in York-Mills-Institute ah, in the north end of Toronto and- and then I just hated it. So I came back to- Interviewer 1: (Laughs) Interviewer 2: (Laughs) Speaker: Kirkland-Lake and went to K-L-C-B-I did grade thirteen and lived with my brother, who was living in Kirkland-Lake and working for, actually, an engineering firm in Kirkland-Lake. And then in nineteen-seventy-two I left and went to University-of-Guelph and spent the l-- the next five years there.

Interviewer 1: And then you went to college after that? Speaker: I went to university- well actually what I did a-- a-- I went to gra-- I graduated at grade-thirteen and I worked for a year- Interviewer 2: Mm-hm. Speaker: At the Sherman-Mine in Temogami.

Interviewer: So for how many years were you in a band? Speaker: Ah, f-- grade-ten right 'til I graduated. Grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Mm. Speaker: Yeah, so grade-nine, we- we- grade nine we- were kind-of fooling around with it, you-know? Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And then gr-- by the time we got to grade-ten, we- we figured we were good enough to play in front of people ...

I met my wife um, in- well I guess in Cobalt I met her but she was- I was going into grade-thirteen- ... And she was going into nursing school which was at the Haileybury hospital.

Speaker: Yeah, so that's how they did it then. Interviewer 2: (inc) Speaker: Yeah and so I met her like that summer. So between grade-twelve and grade-thirteen summer, she had just come here- Interviewer 1: Mm. Speaker: She was going to start school in September and then-