Musings of a Native Son

My story begins in Montreal on August 6, 1931, the day before my father died. I was not quite five years old, and I was the fourth of six siblings that my mother was left to raise—at the height of the so-called Great Depression. I trace and comment on my life struggles through public school, high school, and thence to my first university degree. Throughout, I faced the dual problem of going to school without having the mandatory fees. But I point out that I completed my education debt-free, ne…