Graham Tipple was born March 1, 1924 in Burin, Newfoundland. His father was a fish merchant in that small town, but his mother longed to get away from the area, having lost multiple male relatives to the sea. The family – with their young son Graham – resettled in Toronto in 1925, and Graham grew […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Bihl, Clayton
Clayton Bihl was born September 9, 1923 in Buffalo, New York. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending Bennett High School and Canisius College. He and some friends enlisted in the army in 1938, and Clayton went through all the regular training. He decided though that the army life was […]
Drake, Emily
Emily Drake was born July 4, 1925 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. Her parents had emigrated from Vilna in the period before the First World War, and Emily remembers growing up speaking Polish at home. Her childhood took place during the Great Depression, but – too young to be aware of pressing economic and political matters- she […]
Doherty, Pat
Pat Doherty (nee Brannigan) was born June 25, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She recalls living a charmed early life; hers was a theater family, so she was able to live a backstage life, and the family was able to travel and see a bit of America until wartime restrictions crept in. During that time her […]
Dyson, Jack
Jack Dyson was born March 23, 1926 in Lancashire, England, and he came to Canada with his family when he was 3 years old. Nick’s father had been a coal miner near Liverpool, and he vowed that his young son would never find himself in “the pits”, so he went to Canada and made a […]
Howells, Ray
Ray Howells was born February 26, 1941 in Trenton, Ontario. He grew up near the air base there, and as his uncle was in the RCAF Ray too was motivated to join, which he did right out of high school. He spent most of his time at RCAF stations in Quebec, where he was connected […]
Borisko, Nick
Nick Borisko was born December 10, 1925 in the little village of Hubbard, Saskatchewan. He grew up in that very small community, the third of eight children of immigrants from the Ukraine who had left the Austro-Hungarian Empire looking for a better life. His father was a farmer, and although the family grew up in […]
Cole, Ila
Ila Cole was born March 5, 1925 in Nora Springs, Iowa. She grew up in town there in a large family with eight siblings; Ila worked a number of jobs and she graduated from high school with algebra and shorthand as her favorite subjects. She went on to business college, and worked for a time […]
Pouder, George
George Pouder was born February 18, 1923 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx during the difficult times of the Great Depression, a period that impacted his family and the neighborhood. George recalls that the quality of his schooling varied, but that he took full advantage of the city, exploring it with […]
Willard, Garry
Garry Willard was born June 24, 1939 in Cornwall, Ontario. He grew up largely in the town of Winchester, not too far from Ottawa. As a young boy, Garry remembers the soldiers coming home after the Second World War; he also remembers the cadets and drum and bugle corps from the time, and summers spent […]
Forster, Wolfram
Wolfram Forster was born October 22, 1925, in Berlin, Germany. He grew up in that city during the interwar years, witnessing the political changes that were taking place around him as he attended school. Wolfram’s father was a Great War veteran who became a police officer, and who later fired when he refused to join […]
Bell, Wayne
Wayne Bell was born June 6, 1947, in Montreal. He grew up on Montreal’s south shore, with a strong affinity to the United States, where Plattsburgh offered luxuries such as drive-in theatres. Wayne and his friends would go there often, visiting the beach and escaping the 1960s political tensions that were emerging in Quebec. While […]
McIntyre, Katherine
Katherine McIntyre was born May 20, 1923 in Toronto. She grew up in the Forest Hill neighbourhood, where she was lucky to grow up in an affluent family. Her father was a well-known lawyer, and the family was able to avoid the worst aspects of the Great Depression. Katherine attended Bishop Strachan School, and after […]
Snider, Chris
Chris Snider was born March 19, 1932 in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. His parents were Canadian but were living in the U.S. at the time, and as the 1930s unfolded they moved a few more times, eventually landing in Oakville, Ontario. The realities of the Great Depression had kept them on the move, as Chris’s father looked […]
Tucker-Roberts, Dorothy
Dorothy Tucker-Roberts was born October 4, 1953; she grew up in rural Mississippi in the 50s and 60s, the daughter of parents who were active in the civil rights movement. She was among the first Black students in Mississippi to attend racially integrated schools. She remembers it as a challenging time; she and her siblings […]
Cracknell, Joan
Joan Cracknell was born July 3, 1923 in Ottawa. Her father worked for the federal government, and Joan grew up there in the interwar years, attending Ottawa Ladies’ College. Times got tough when her father lost his job as the Depression set in, but he was able to pick up some work on the side. […]
Johnson, Rene
Rene Johnson was born August 15, 1946 in South Carolina, where her father was serving on a military base. She is a 5th generation Floridian though, and that is where she presently lives. Her father was a World War Two veteran who stayed in the military after the war, and he was based in West […]
Amelio, Ray
Ray Amelio was born August 5, 1945 in Pittsburgh. He enjoyed what he remembers as the idyllic life of 1950s America, though he was aware of the Cold War and the ever present danger. Still, playing in the street and early television counterbalanced those concerns. Ray was attending Duquesne University, where he was struggling to […]
Tucker, Allen
Allen Tucker was born July 14, 1951 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. He grew up in a large farm family there, dealing with the realities of the Jim Crow South. Allen recalls that the family did not go into town often, so the principal segregation the children encountered was at school. He also remembers working on […]
Harbula, Bob
Bob Harbula was born January 2, 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a working class area there, and he expected to work on the railroad, as had his father and grandfather. As a young boy he saw the Second World War unfold all around him, and he was inspired by the stories of […]
Kersh, Mervyn
Mervyn Kersh was born December 20, 1924 in South London. He grew up with two older siblings in a middle class Jewish family in the neighbourhood of Brixton; he experienced significant anti-Semitism at school, until his parents moved him to a Jewish school. They also enrolled him in the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, and Mervyn too […]
Foreman, Stephen
Stephen Foreman was born August 3, 1946; he grew up near Pittsburgh, in the small town of Jefferson, Pennsylvania. Life was good in that small, racially-mixed town; Stephen’s father worked at the steel mill, and the family raised its own chickens. Stephen was a boy scout, and later played football and other sports in high […]
Topping, Al
Al Topping was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1939. His family emigrated to the United States in 1946, on a Pan Am flight to Miami, and Al grew up in Brooklyn. He made the decision to join the airline industry in 1964, first with United and then with Pan Am in 1969. Pan Am […]
Sprecher, Becky
Becky Sprecher was born in 1950 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky – the Baby Boom had begun. Becky remembers her elementary school teachers saying on the first day of school, “I’ve never had a class this big!” There were certain advantages in small town America in those days in that the kids could ride their bikes just […]
Adam, Wally
Wally Adam was born in Winnipeg during the Second World War, where his father was serving in the Army Pay Corps. He grew up there, and decided to join the RCAF Reserves in his own right when he was in high school. After university, Wally enlisted in the RCAF, serving during the Cold War years. […]
Boneham, Tom
Tom Boneham was born March 21, 1923 in Warwickshire, England, where he grew up on a farm in the village of Shotteswell in the Stratford-upon-Avon district, not too far from the town of Banbury. His father Tom worked that farm with Tom’s mother Hilda; the two of them had met after Tom’s father was discharged […]
Zipperer, Carl
Carl Zipperer was born on May 4, 1950 in Savannah. He grew up in that part of Georgia, and most of his early years were spent in the country on the family farm. Carl learned to be self-reliant there, a character trait that would serve him well in future years. Coming out of high school, […]
Instance, Tom
Tom Instance was born July 28, 1924, in Toronto’s east end. His father was a driver for the TTC, but with four siblings to feed amidst the effects of the Great Depression, Tom left school when he was 14. He delivered papers and groceries and found work where he could, including at a shipyard where […]
O’Leary, Gerry
Gerry O’Leary was born December 3, 1924 in Tottenham, Ontario. He grew up on a farm there, one of ten children, doing chores such as milking the cows and spreading manure. When the time for war came, both Gerry and his older brother joined up, and they were on their way overseas in 1944. Gerry […]
Palmer, Charlie
Charlie Palmer was born December 5, 1925. His father was a doctor, and Charlie grew up in Toronto. The family navigated the Great Depression, and Charlie’s childhood was typical. He remembers seeing baseball games with his uncle, who was a Great War veteran. When WW2 came along, Charlie was not enthusiastic about going to the […]