Early School Years in Northern Ontario,Canada.

My early school years growing up in Canada were spent living on an isolated gold mining townsite in Northern Ontario, close to the town of Timmins. My father was a geologist and privileged to have a home close to the mine. The section where we lived had only seven houses and was surrounded by rock, sparse trees and lots of blueberries which I loved to pick. My sister who was four years younger was my best friend and has been for over 65 years. Our fun was with each other.
Our parents spent time with us as well as with their friends. I spent hours with a blackboard and chalk playing school with my sister teaching her as well as an assortment of dolls and teddy bears. As she got older we would reverse that role.

My father read to us nightly until I was 9 or 10 and then it was expected that we spend half an hour or so reading in bed prior to going to sleep. My mother had played the piano, and music appreciation for classical music was always part of my life. She taught me how to bake at an early age as well, making cookies on Saturday for school lunches the next week. Proper nutrition was equally important.

The school I attended was close to 2 miles away-a cold bus trip in the winter and a long walk or bicycle ride in the summer. My parents close friends were the teachers so I was frequently taunted on the long walk home being called “Teacher’s Pet” I learned at a fairly early age that “names can’t really hurt you” which helped to teach me tolerance. I also had to be mindful of the fact that there were black bears around and one needed to be wary on that trek home.

There were only 4 rooms in the school with the grades from kindergarten to Grade 8 being doubled up. One learned as the other grade was being taught. We had spelling bees regularly on Friday afternoons where we were lined up in teams on either side of the classroom and encouraged to compete. After that it was arithmetic. I was expected to do well in that subject - my grandfather was a math scholar and in the summers when we visited him in Kingston, Ontario, he quizzed my sister and me regularly. Along with this was again the expectation that education be pursued to the university level. Ideally I would become a 3rd generation Queen’s woman. I am pleased to say that I eventually made that goal, although not without a few character building struggles along the way.

There was good clean fun stuff at school as well. We played baseball, competitive marbles and jacks, and took long walks at lunchtime on paths leading towards the woods. In spring we were taken on nature walks by our teachers and taught to identify wildflowers in season. I can still vividly feel the sunlight on me as we did those walks. What happy memories!

I have for many years valued the isolated early start I had in life. I am not afraid to be alone, and I get along just fine with myself as well as most other people. At the same time my friends are very precious to me.
Brendan Munnelly