Biography

EARLY LIFE: THE PHYSICAL LABOUR YEARS
I grew up in King’s Point, a small outport town in Green Bay, Newfoundland, during the 1950s and 1960s. My early childhood was defined by rural realities… living without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Academic pursuits were not on my radar; I dropped out of school before finishing grade nine to enter the labour workforce. For several years, I worked various jobs in the woods, including logging, sawmill operations, pulpwood harvesting, and trucking, while spending my weekends playing in a local rock band.

My trajectory shifted entirely due to a nudge from a local girl who persuaded me to return to school. At the time, my ambition was modest: finish grade ten and take a welding course to secure a trade.

FROM “GREEN BOY” TO NUCLEAR MEDICINE
Leaving King’s Point marked a massive detour. I arrived in St. John’s as a self-described, totally “green boy” from Green Bay. Homesick and out of my element, I spent my weekends hitchhiking back home whenever I could. Another nudge from an influential friend steered me away from trade work and toward the medical field. I applied to become an X-ray technologist at the College of Trades and Technology, primarily because radiography seemed like a clean, respectable technology.

While in the program, a visiting representative pitched a brand-new field: nuclear medicine. Recognizing that moving up the ladder in radiography would require waiting for someone to die or retire, I weighed my options and chose to move to Halifax to study this cutting-edge specialty. Over the next few years, I learned to handle radioactive materials, concoct various pharmaceuticals, and inject them into patients to capture high-tech images of their organs. As my confidence grew, I became certain this would be his lifelong career.

I returned to “The Rock” to begin working in St. John’s in 1975, but within a couple of months, the environment had me ready to run away. Because my contract legally required me to work within Newfoundland, my options were slim. Relief came via a phone call from Dr. Brian Harley, a physician I had met as a student in Halifax, who was building a brand-new nuclear medicine department in Corner Brook on the province’s west coast. I resigned from my post immediately and headed west, spending four deeply satisfying years planning, building, and running the new nuclear medicine department.

THE HALIFAX FACULTY YEARS AND CREATIVE EXPANSION
Though content on Newfoundland’s west coast, a relocation request from my new wife prompted another move back to Halifax. I accepted a job as a clinical instructor for the nuclear medicine program at the Halifax Infirmary. Over the next few years, I taught the curriculum and eventually became chief instructor of the program. During my early tenure in Halifax, I also began writing, contributing several articles to Ontario’s Downhomer magazine and the online outlet Asia One.

Throughout my years in medical instruction, I began teaching my hobbies to the general public through evening courses. While I loved the arts, I felt I lacked the artistic skills to teach traditional art classes. Instead, I mastered computer software, becoming highly proficient in photo and movie editing, as well as website development.

After 17 years of medical instruction, my Nuclear Medicine Program was transferred to Dalhousie University. Reluctant to become a “little fish in a big sea,” I inquired about other teaching opportunities on my campus. The school offered me a faculty position within the Applied Arts Department, essentially hiring me to teach my creative multimedia hobbies. After 36 years as a faculty member, I retired from Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). I reflect with amusement on spending a lifetime as a government employee, a concept I used to make fun of during my days in the private workforce in Newfoundland.


MUSIC, MEDIA, AND GLOBAL EXCHANGES
Parallel to my career in education, I tried to maintain a connection with the local music community, frequently collaborating with notable Atlantic Canadian artists:

• Collaborations with Jim Henman: I co-wrote and produced a jazz CD with Jim Henman, an alumnus of the iconic Canadian rock band April Wine.
  
• Collaborations with Terry Kelly: I co-wrote several songs with celebrated singer Terry Kelly. Among them was “Ties That Bind,” commissioned to raise funds for the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland. The song was performed live by the Symphony Nova Scotia and achieved national prominence when it was played at the 2010 installation ceremony of Canada’s 28th Governor General, the Honourable David Lloyd Johnston.
  
• International Documentaries: In 2001, I became involved with Los Primos, a non-profit music exchange program between Nova Scotia and Cuba. In 2004, I travelled to Cuba as a cameraman for a documentary chronicling the project.
  
• Archival Releases: In 2020, I officially released a Christmas song that had sat dormant on a hard drive in my desk drawer for 35 years, making it available on YouTube and major streaming platforms.
  
  

LITERARY CAREER
Retirement opened the door to a full-time second career as an author, in which I successfully bridged my outport roots and my creative storytelling.

MEMOIR AND SHORT STORIES
Around Christmas in 2014, I posted a nostalgic story to a Facebook group dedicated to King’s Point. The enthusiastic response prompted me to set a personal challenge: write one short story every week for a year. This exercise culminated in my 2017 debut book, My Life in Short Form. Capturing the unvarnished freedom, hardships, and humour of growing up in mid-century Newfoundland, the book became a commercial success, selling internationally on Amazon across 14 countries.


CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Decades prior, when my children were small, I had written five original children’s songs. I began adapting these musical pieces into a series of children’s books, publishing A Dinosaur Lives Next Door in 2019 and I Wish I Lived in a Treehouse in 2022. The books feature accompanying streaming tracks so young readers can sing along, with three additional children’s books currently in development.


FICTION AND “POINT OF NO RETURN”
Marking a distinct shift from lighthearted nostalgia to dramatic fiction, my latest release is the crime novel Point of No Return. The narrative is built around a dark chapter of real-world local history: a true-life murder that took place in my hometown back in 1931. The novel uses the historical crime as a foundation to explore complex, intersecting themes of religion, isolation, and love.

MY BIO IN POINT FORM

• I grew up in my early years in NL, without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.

• Without finishing grade nine, dropped out of school. 

• I worked in the woods… including logging, sawmill work, pulpwood harvesting, and trucking, and played in a rock band on weekends.

• After being in the hard-labour workforce for a few years, a local girl persuaded me to return to school. All I wanted to do back then was to get grade ten and take a welding course.

• I left King’s Point and my life took a huge detour. Arrived in St. John’s as a totally “green boy” from Green Bay and rented a room. Being homesick, every chance I got I hitchhiked home for a weekend. 

• Again with the nudge from an influential friend, I steered toward the medical field and applied to become an x-ray technologist, mostly because it was a fairly “clean” technology. 

• After my radiography program, we received a visitor in our department, pitching a new field called nuclear medicine. I weighed my options. I figured with radiography, someone would have to die or retire for me to move up the ladder, so I applied to go to Halifax to study the newer technology. 

• Over the next few years, I played with radioactive material and learned to concoct various pharmaceuticals and inject them into the bloodstream of my patients, and took high-tech images of their organs. As my confidence increased, I became more certain that this was what I would do for the rest of my life.

• I returned to ‘The Rock’ and started working in 1975. 

• After a couple of months in St. John’s, I was ready to run away. My contract required me to work in Newfoundland, so my options were limited. That’s when Dr. Brian Harley from Corner Brook called. He was a physician I’d met in Halifax when I was a student, and his plan was to start a new department on the west coast of Newfoundland. He wanted to know if I’d like to work with him there, so I resigned and headed for Corner Brook immediately. 

• I spent four years immersed in the planning, building, and running of a new nuclear medicine department in Corner Brook. 

• For four years, I was totally satisfied with my lot in life, but my new wife was not. 

• I reluctantly agreed to leave and together, we looked around for something back in Halifax. The Halifax Infirmary was looking for a clinical instructor for its nuclear medicine program. I applied and was offered the job. For the next few years, I taught nuclear medicine and eventually ended up being in charge of the program.

Throughout my involvement in medical instruction, I taught some of my hobbies to the general public, as evening courses. I had always been interested in the arts but was not good enough to teach the ‘art’ part. What I did know was computer software, and became proficient in photo and movie editing, website development, etc.

• While working in Halifax, in my early tenure, I Wrote several articles for Downhomer magazine in Ontario, and for “Asia One” online.

• During that time, I also co-wrote and produced a jazz CD, with April Wine alumnus, Jim Henman.

• I wrote 5 Children’s songs when our kids were little.

• I co-wrote a couple of songs with well-known singer, Terry Kelly. “TIES THAT BIND” was written to help raise money for the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEWFOUNDLAND. That song was played at the installation of the 28th Governor General of Canada, the Honourable David Lloyd Johnston, in 2010. It also was performed live, by the Nova Scotia Symphony

• I became involved in Los Primos [a nonprofit Nova Scotia – Cuba] music exchange program in 2001 and volunteered as a cameraman for a Los Primos documentary, in Cuba in 2004.

• I have developed a functioning board game. Hopefully… a project to return to within the next couple of years.

• After seventeen years of instructing in the medical world, my program was transferred to Dalhousie University. I didn’t want to become a little fish in a big sea, so I inquired about what else I might be able to teach at my campus. They offered me a teaching position in the applied arts department—essentially teaching my hobbies. I accepted. After thirty-six years as a faculty member of NSCC, I retired. I could not be further from what I was and did those many years before. I have spent a lifetime as an employee of the government—something I always made fun of when I was in the private workforce back in Newfoundland.

• In 2017, after my retirement, I wrote a book of short stories about my early life in King’s Point, NL. [MY LIFE IN SHORT FORM] has sold well and is available from me directly, and on Amazon in 14 countries.

• In 2019, I published a children’s book, [A DINOSAUR LIVES NEXT DOOR], and in 2022, I published a second, [I WISH I LIVED IN A TREEHOUSE]. These are based on children’s songs I wrote many years ago. I have 3 more kids’ books to finish.

• I have begun a crime novel, based on a murder that happened in my hometown back in 1931.

• I finally released a Christmas song in 2020, after 35 years of it sitting on a hard drive in my desk drawer. My song is available on most streaming platforms and on YouTube.