Interviewer: So, um, did you also go to high-school in the area? Speaker: Yes, I went to, um, yeah, M-V-D-A- D-H-S, here, at the high-school, for ah, it went, well, up to grade-thirteen, they had grade-thirteen back then, and I- I planned on, um, going to college, like I was interested in- in nursing, or something medical, I was really interested in- ah, sort-of, I loved biology, in s-- in high-school, and I was very interested in it ...

Well in Barry's-Bay, they only had one high-school. Ah there was an elementary school called Saint-Joseph's and then the high-school was also called Saint-Joseph's. And um the- actually the year that I wanted to go into grade-thirteen, which doesn't exist in Ontario today. Which I think is too bad. I think it's a great year. It gives ah young people who are only seventeen years old another chance to stay at home and not spend big money going to university and perhaps finding out that they were too immature and they waste the money. Interviewer: And you didn't know what you wanted to do and you took the wrong major.

So ah the year I was going into grade-thirteen they ran out of having enough grade-thirteen students. So all the kids in my class had to go to other places. Some went to Renfrew, some went to Eganville and there was a school in- a high-school in Cumbermere, so I went there.

Speaker: It- it was the friends that I was hanging around at the time that caused that problem. Interviewer: Bad influences. Speaker: Yeah. And back in those days, ah we didn't even have kindergarten. Interviewer: Oh wow Speaker: We had grade thirteen at the extreme end but no kindergarten, so I was six years old when I started school.

It was grades one to eight and then they had a high-school, Saint-Joseph's-High-School, which was also taught by the Sisters-of-Saint-Joseph, and that was from grade-nine to grade-twelve, and there was no grade-thirteen in Barry's-Bay at the time so I went to Renfrew.

Speaker: Then I went to teachers-college. Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Speaker: In Ottawa. Interviewer: Was it everything you thought it would be? Speaker: It was diff-- ah- Interviewer: (laughs) Speaker: It was different in the sense I had had nuns teach me all the way from grade-one to grade-thirteen and when I went to teachers-college there were men teachers, male teachers and women teachers, it was different.

Speaker: 'Cause teachers-college was just one year. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: You went after grade-thirteen. And then after as I was teaching, ah, Barry's-Bay had an off-campus centre through Ottawa-University and that's how I got my degree and then finally got my Bachelor-of-Ed.

Speaker: So you would feed that into the thrashing mill, with forks, you-know and my job was on the bagger, and it was a burlap bags, you would set that would catch the grain coming out, and then you would carry that from your barn, where you doing it, to the granary and put it in the- in big bins.

Well it was- it was put on a wagon and the horses pull the wagon, and ah in the um barns itself, it had what they called hay-fork.

Speaker: And he didn't dot a "i". And she saw that it wasn't dotted. And he went and told her, "Well you must be blind." (laughs) So she took this ruler then hitting him, and I thought, "Oh my God, now what do I do? She's going to hit me yet!" Interviewer: Oh my gosh. Speaker: Well though she didn't hit me but oh that- he never did it again.

And pick the- regarding music, it has to be Liturgical, it can't be just, ah- off the hit-parade, you-know. I can remember one couple in Renfrew, ah- the, ah- they were getting married, an older couple, and they came along and she presented the music she wanted for music, eh?

... my dad was the first one to build out of nine of us and he was very excited 'cause he cut the lumber 'cause we have property across the lake, hunt camp and a maple syrup camp, type- we have that there and my dad in the bush he cut lumber and cut the lumber for the house and he was very excited when I first built and I was excited too.

... on a Saturday afternoon, and he'd go out driving the old t-- logging roads, and- and go partridge hunting. So ah I'd go with him. But then when my brothers got older they went, and I never did go like to hunt-camp or-anything. 'Cause my dad went hunting every year, he was gone to the hunt-camp for ah a week maybe two- for the two weeks, yeah. 'Cause he loved the outdoors. That was one of the reasons he wanted to move back to Barry's-Bay.

... we each contribute so much money a year for upkeep and maintenance and building and the whole bit. Yeah, and it's there ah, anybody can go out and use it whenever they want. If I want to get out of Dodge, I go out to the ah hunt camp and I can be there all by myself alone and- and build a little fire and a wood stove, and feel comfy and cozy.

I am a hunter and, ah, there's ten of us that have a hunt-camp together. Um, one is my cousin, um, that, ah- his father was also a partner at the door plant with, ah- with my dad. And then, um, there's three or four other guys that are my age, ah, late-forties, mid-forties.

... you would hear about it all the time, well before the hunt actually started, months and months before people would be talking about it, and months and months after people would still be talking about, ah, their hunting experiences. So I was offered an opportunity to join this hunt-camp with ten members back in ninety- ninety-two or ninety-three and I bought in a share and we built a camp and, um, ever since then, ah, I've been (inc) so I was about early twenties when I started. Very late, um, for this area ...

And I know, like- my buddy across the street, his dad has two fish mounted on the wall, um, two big fish that he caught and mounted on the wall, and a lot of people around here, in their hunt camps, have like, deer horns, ah, stuff-like-that, on their walls.

Speaker: Um, I went just like- rabbit hunting, and-stuff-like-that, but I-don't-know, I don't- I don't find it that fun. ... Yeah, it's not something I'm really into. Interviewer: Yeah. Well, I think part of it's the social for them, too, right? Speaker: Yeah, yeah, w-- like- I went, ah, um, one of my buddies' hunt camps, and that was fun, just like, sitting around hearing some of the stories his dad and their buddies had to- had to tell us, but I fe-- I actually fell asleep while we were in the bush, 'cause you get up really early, and- and you just kind of sit there, so I fell asleep.

Speaker: Everything stops, comes to a stop during deer and moose hunting. Nobody works, nobody- Interviewer: Really? Speaker: Oh no, everything's shut down, totally. Interviewer: So everyone can go deer hunting. Speaker: Yup and-and we have- we have a hunting camp ah in the bush, you-know, we go out there, I guess we can probably sleep abut twenty-five people out there. We do our own cooking and ah it's pretty well organized.

Interviewer: What's a- what's a hunting camp? I've never heard of that? Speaker: It's a hunting camp, it's a place for guys go to, to stay in the bush, in the hunting area, so that you're right where the deer and- and moose are, and it's like a home, cottage, whatever you want to call it. But a camp that, you-know, everybody- there's ten of us, in a group, and we each contribute so much money a year for upkeep and maintenance and building and the whole bit. Yeah, and it's there ah, anybody can go out and use it whenever they want. If I want to get out of Dodge, I go out to the ah hunt camp and I can be there all by myself alone and- and build a little fire and a wood stove, and feel comfy and cozy. ... It's fun.