A man's memory is bound to be a distortion of his past in accordance with his present interests, and the most faithful autobiography is likely to mirror less what a man has than what he had become...Brodie
During the planning for the Class of'53 mini-reunion of 1996, the Kingston Kommittee (notoriously known as the (group of nine) discussed at length a suitable project which would be useful (and cost very little) as a lead in to accession of the intake years of 1948/1949 (Class of '53) into the Old Brigade in 1999. After much discussion we decided on a collection of biographical notes(as an update to our yearbook), which we could publish and distribute to all classmates. This was strictly a local initiative, and in no way an official class project. Bob Adams and Dusty Miller undertook to edit, collate and prepare the personal contributions provided by Class members.
When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do-well that's memoirs !...Rogers
Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the ego, and a Sancho Panza, the self.. .Auden
We sent out a number of solicitations, both general and personal and by phone and e-mail, and the number of entries began to grow. This process also had several subsidiary rewards: we found several lost classmates and in many cases renewed personal contact with comrades that we hadn't talked to in years.
The 99 entries received make for fascinating reading and the diversity of various lives and career paths is truly amazing. By intent, no format or guideline was provided and the approaches vary from a detailed listing of postings to a humorous insight into personal life. This, perhaps is in part a reflection of the author concerned. In any event they certainly provide a new insight and starting point when we encounter a classmate.
" A well written life is almost as rare as a well spent
one"...Carlyle
The entries came in all shapes and sizes, on diskettes, typed, hand written on scrap paper, in lengths from 50 to several thousand words. Bob and Dusty are convinced that few members can count, some can't spell, many have museum piece typewriters, some write in a script that would confound an Egyptologist. We have taken some liberties with your entries in the editing process and apologize in advance for any perceived inequities. We also included the tributes given to Fred McConnell and Val Devooght at the mini-reunion. For those who were unable to get an entry in for this publication-there is a final chance-these entries will be formatted as a Class of '53 page on the Ex-Cadet web site. You will be able to access this page directly and add to or update entries via the editors.
" Autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last installment missing"...Crisp
Since we started this project, six of our classmates have been SOS. Only one, (in fact his was the first entry) Bill Ferguson, was able to get his notes to us before he died. He joked with us at the time about the biographies really being obituaries. Little did we realize at the time that Bill would be gone within three weeks. We were able to use these notes as the basis for his obituary and his family were most grateful to have this summary of his life available. We hope that none lasted here will be needed for that purpose and that they will, rather, provide a better understanding of old friends and classmates.
Bob and Dusty
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Royal Roads & Royal Military College of Canada
Class of 1949 copyright 1999
Published October, 1999; revised July 2002 revised July 2002 revised July 2002 revised July 2002