Interviewer: So was he the first one from the family? Speaker: Ah no. No. The first one is Pappa's father's big-brother. Grandpa who came to the-States through Ellis-Island. Harry-Lorne's family.

And people- like people don't understand what an agnostic is, to start with. And if- you-know, they think that- I don't know what they think. But like one guy in the States, "Oh how can you not believe in anything?" It doesn't mean you don't believe in anything. It's just that you believe that our creator is beyond understanding of the human-mind.

And she was sixteen. She was the first person to swim Lake-Ontario. And it was ah- it was some sort-of a competition. And they were going to award it to a girl from the States and she dropped out. And they didn't want to give Marilyn the prize because she wasn't officially entered in the contest.

Interviewer: Um, did most of the people from there end up going to U-of-T or- Speaker: I'd say about twenty-five. Ah, well, about another twenty-five went to the-States like the Ivy-Leagues ah- Interviewer: Oh okay. Twenty-five people or twenty-five percent? Speaker: Well, it was a hundred-person class so like- both. Ah yeah, the rest went to like Western or Cambridge or-whatever-else.

Interviewer: ... I was living in New-York-State when it- when it happened, so it's a bit different. Speaker: Oh wow yeah. Yeah, it was a bit dour, but ah, it- just like kind-of like sympathy for the-States that is so rare here, just sort-of came out in full force. Interviewer: Was in genuine? Speaker: I-think-so. Interviewer: Wow, weird. Speaker: Yeah, but then afterwards we got a bit scary by the- scared by the-States and their kind-of like- just taking their- that nationalism to a whole 'nother level, like the flag on every house and- it was a bit scary.

Um, I've basically toured the-States dancing. That isn't really that exciting 'cause I was working. Um, I've been in New-York a few times, for dance.

Interviewer: You can climb on the statue and sit on Lester-Pearson's lap if you want to. I had- like tons of kids who did that, like they loved sitting on Lester-B-Pearson's lap. But you can't- you can't do that in The-States, that's like- Speaker: The-States is so weird someti-- it's so- yeah. Interviewer 1: (inc), it really is. Speaker: To be fair, I think that like The-States has- has had a bit more security issues than Canada. ... I'm pretty sure we haven't had like a leader of our- of the country assassinated in such a weird way as Kennedy was.

Interviewer: You should find out where he- where he roams and sort (inc) yourself. Speaker: But he does everything, he'll show up into like- I don't know of- about Canada but all different places all over the-States. Interviewer: Oh so he goes to different cities and-stuff, I-see.

Interviewer: Do you have like things that you want to do before you die? ... Speaker: Mm I would say road-trip somewhere, like somewhere in the States. I don't know where- Oh I have to go to the Grand-Canyon. Shoot. That's another thing. But I do want to go to Las-Vegas again so that can be combined.

Speaker: Sorry, I'm going to get a stuffy nose, I need, um, pants. Interviewer: I know. Speaker: Because they fit better in the States because they have bigger waistlines (laughs).

Speaker: But he didn't bring his wife which I thought was interesting because when I saw him and Dill last summer when Dill came back from the States. Um, I told him to bring her. And then when- when he showed up without her, I was like, "Oh, where's Lin?"

And then he said, "Well, I don't understand, this health care system is like, why don't they pay for you to go to rehab da-da-da-da-da" and then he's like, "Well I could of easily gotten the- my surgery done in the States and they could send me to rehab." So then we're like "Oh, so if you don't mind me asking-

Why don't you go to the States and have the surgery done?" "Well I can't afford it." And we're like "Oh my gosh."

Speaker: So you're getting your surgery for free, you get your nursing care and like you stay in the hospital for free and you'd rather- Interviewer: Complain? Speaker: Complain and not spring a of couple hundred bucks when you could be paying thirty thousand dollars for your surgery in the States. Interviewer: Yeah, exactly.

...and I started meeting a lot of people from um- what I call the sticks, I 'm so- I was- yeah you-know, I- I must admit I think I was...

Speaker: I was- I was supposed to go last year but I just couldn't go with my son and daughter-in-law and leave the other kids behind. I mean I have to- if I'm going I gotta go the works. Interviewer: Yeah, you gotta go all the way.

No. And I- this is another thing I can remember one of the, it was one of the boys was acting up and the teacher sent me to the principal's office to get the strap, 'cause he was going to be strapped and I thought, "I 'm not going to get that strap." And so I went and I waited around and waited around outside the office and just sort-of walked back and forth and came back and said, "The principal wasn 't there, I couldn't get the strap." Interviewer: And what did the teacher say? Speaker: She said, "Well, we’ll get it later." So I don 't know if I ever got it later, but I was bound I wasn't going to get him that strap.

Interviewer: Was there punishment if you stepped out of line, kind-of-thing? Speaker: No. Nobody stepped out of line. Interviewer: No, they knew better. Speaker: Um, yeah. I did get the strap twice. Interviewer: Did you? Speaker: Once unjustifiably. Only from Mr-H too. Oh no, there 's a man- a vice-principal named Mr-B. He administered the strap. Forgotten that.

Speaker: Well there were few guys with l-- th-- at that time the strap still existed and you-know p-- I didn't get the strap. I got spanked once by a teacher, which would be entirely inappropriate today, but um you- know some of them had anger-management-problems, let 's just put it that way.

Speaker: So none of the kids would ever climb down 'cause they 'd be afraid, but I was pretty daring- and I could like jump from like the third level down to the first and that would like be pretty good to escape anyone that was trying to tag you.