HILLHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL – CALGARY – September 1930 to April 1931
We lived almost four miles from the local school and my parents felt that this was a bit too far for a six year old to travel alone.
My mother’s aunt and uncle, who had taken her and her siblings to live with them when their parents died, lived in Calgary. They agreed that I could live with them and start school there. I don’t remember too much about life in Calgary, but it was certainly different. My mother’s aunt, who I knew as grandmother, had been a teacher; she remained a strict disciplinarian. The principal of the school came for tea frequently. I tried to keep out of sight on these occasions.
BERT THE CAT
One of the most distressing things about leaving home was that I couldn’t take my pet cat with me. Being left behind didn’t seem to worry him too much. In fact, when I left again to go to high school, Bert was still an integral part of the family, sleeping under the kitchen stove.
THE BUBBLE GUM ENIGMA
Pink bubble gum was very popular with the other kids, but I wasn’t allowed to have any. My grandmother felt that chewing gum was an inappropriate thing for kids to do. There was one colored boy in the class; this in itself was a new experience for me as I had never seen anyone with black skin before. Strangely enough, he had blue bubble gun instead of pink. I wondered if this was connected to his skin color. Understandably, I didn’t discuss this with my grandmother.
THE WRITING ON THE FENCE
There was a furor at the school because it was reported that some of the students were writing with chalk on a board fence in a park near the school. As part of the investigation, I was asked if I had done this. I admitted that I had, in fact, written on the fence using snow. This was hard for them to evaluate, and I was warned not to repeat it. But no more serious repercussions came about.
WOLF HILL SCHOOL – BYEMOOR – April 1931 to June 1938
At Easter the next year I came home and started to go to the local one room school. There weren’t any Grade I kids at the school so the teacher decided to put me with the Grade II class for the rest of the year. In the fall I moved to Grade III along with the others. There were ten kids in the school, from Grade I to Grade VIII.
My brother and I rode Shetland ponies to school, but as more of my siblings went to school, we used a cart in the summer and a sleigh in the winter. During my last year, I was towed on skis as a means of getting there; I think that this is called “skijoring” in Norwegian. One of my more vivid memories is getting to school with excruciatingly cold hands and spending most of the morning trying to get them warm.
When I was in Grade IX my grandmother brought me a second hand typewriter. Being able to type, more or less, by touch is a great help when using computers.
Sometimes the teacher would stay with a family near the school and other times she lived in the school. This must have been a trying experience for them, especially for the teachers who came from a city or a town. Since jobs of any kind were very difficult to find during the depression, the school didn’t have too much trouble getting teachers, also Wolf Hill was one of the few schools that managed to have enough money to pay the teacher regularly.
BIG VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL – BIG VALLEY – September 1938 to June 1942
Although my father only had a Grade III education, both he and my mother, who had been the teacher at Wolf Hill before she married him, felt that education was extremely important. The issue of schooling was never discussed much, but we realized that they put a high priority on education.
When I finished Grade IX, the best alternative to continue was to go to Big Valley, thirty miles away, where there was a dormitory for the out of town kids. Several students from the general area were doing this, but only one girl from Wolf Hill who was three years older than me.
The charge at the dormitory was ten dollars per month. This could be partly offset by supplying vegetables from the garden at home. Since my father, being Irish, grew a large patch of potatoes, we supplied several truckloads of them. The residents were responsible for doing the cooking and other chores. I was assigned the job of milking the cows, which were boarded at a farm a mile away, and bringing the milk back.
FATHERLY ADVICE
During the Easter break, in my first year at Big Valley, Dad and I were cleaning the barnyard of the winter’s accumulation of manure. He asked me, “How are you getting along in school?” I said, “Pretty well, I think. I’m usually first in the class or sometimes second.” He continued by saying, “Take advantage of the opportunity so that you won’t be doing this all your life like I have been.”
This was the only time that I recall him directly bringing up the subject of education. It had always been more or less of an assumption that education was good thing.
THE ARTISTIC DILEMNA
In Grade XI I was faced with a problem. I needed to take one more optional course to complete my quota for the year. The only two options available were Art and Music. I knew from my limited exposure to art at Wolf Hill that this was not my forte. I approached the music teacher and told him that I would like to take his course. He took me to the piano and played a few notes. When I conceded that I couldn’t tell the difference, he suggested that I consider some other subject. I told him that the only other possibility was art, which he also taught, and that I had no talent for it either. He reluctantly agreed to take me in the music course.
Somewhat to the surprise of both of us I was able to memorize enough theory to pass the exam with a decent mark. By the next week I had forgotten everything and was back to my old musically illiterate state.
THE LATE ARRIVAL
It was generally expected that boys would not come to school until the harvest was completed. Accordingly, in my Grade XI year, I arrived in early October. The principal greeted me by saying, “Do you know that you have to be in school for 150 days in order to take a full load of courses?” Naturally I had no idea of this requirement. He added, “Do you know how many school days are left? One hundred and fifty two.”
It was obvious that I could not have any sick days or get stranded at home. By good luck, or something, I managed to make the 150 day barrier. The next year the principal told my father that I had to get to school sooner regardless of the harvest situation.
DORMITORY RESIDENTS – 1941
THE UNWELCOME REPORT CARD
The school sent a report card home, by mail. On one occasion, the card indicated that I had the highest marks in my grade, and made the comment, “We will have to move the pool hall closer to the school so that he will be able to get back in time after lunch”.
This comment was not well received by my parents.
THE PART TIME JOB
The school principal, who was also the dormitory supervisor, had a small print shop that made posters for auction sales and store sales. As one of the options at school, we took a shop course which was basically learning something about the printing business. He also decided to publish a weekly newspaper with some of the local news.
The printing operation required that the text be set letter by letter using movable type. The students put varying degrees of effort into this so a good deal of editing was required to correct the mistakes. He offered to pay me $0.15 per hour to do this work. The money was welcome, but the biggest benefit was that I could avoid the two hours of compulsory study each night at the dormitory because I was working on something related to school.
When we finished Grade XII we put out an edition of the paper that was basically like a school year book. Among other news it contained the usual comments on the students. The comment about me was:
“George Knowles, a recent graduate in Physics at the University of Alberta, has received a patent on his latest invention, a device that enables him to shut off his alarm clock without getting out of bed.”
THE FREIGHT RIDERS
Big Valley was a minor railway center. Although there was only one passenger train per day, there were usually several freight trains passing through every day. One day four of us decided to ride the freight to Drumheller, some fifty miles away, and come back on a later freight.
We got up early and caught the southbound freight. The ride to Drumheller was fairly uneventful, but the return trip was more interesting. The train moved so slowly coming up the hill out of the valley that we could run along beside the track and keep up. We discovered a locomotive that was being taken to Big Valley for repairs and climbed aboard. We had a marvelous trip back pretending that we were driving the locomotive.
When we got back to the dormitory the principal was not amused that we had left without telling anyone where we were going. The idea of riding on the freight also didn’t please him.
THE HOME ECONOMICS CLASS
During the year in which I was taking Grade XI at the Big Valley High School, a class in Home Economics was offered as an option. The intention was that it would be available only to girls. One of the boys objected to this apparent discrimination because he wanted to take the class. After some discussion the original intention was maintained and the class was restricted to girls.
To ease the situation the teacher offered to have a class after school for any of the boys who were interested in learning more about cooking and meal preparation. Ten or so of us accepted this offer. We made a small contribution to buy the food and we were off and running. Some of us had more experience in cooking than others. I was in the group who had no previous experience. This was probably due to a couple of reasons. There was enough outside work on the farm to keep my brother and me busy. Also there were three girls in the family at this point and housework was considered to be more suitable for them.
We started out with very basic menus, primarily easily prepared meat and vegetables. As we grew more confident we progressed to more exotic dishes, mainly deserts. In addition to preparing and eating the food, we were faced with the usual housewife’s more distasteful activity, which is cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes.
Towards the end of the year, we were experimenting with many types of food which we would not have been exposed to in our normal lives. This helped to give us a better understanding of the various foods eaten by other people and become more willing to try different foods. We also learned that it is possible to produce more exotic dishes from ordinary food by the addition of small amounts of additives, such as spices.
Although I enjoyed the experience I did not continue this interest after I left the school. There were probably several reasons for this. The primary on was that there was no opportunity for me to engage in this activity when I was in the R.C.A.F., going to university and living in boarding houses. Also my wife was a Home Economics graduate and a Registered Dietitian. I will cite these as excuses to avoid explaining why I really wasn’t interested in cooking as a career.
BACK TO THE FARM
After I finished Grade XII, in 1942, I stayed home on the farm and my brother, Leo, went to school in Big Valley.
My cousin, Ed, and I were chosen to be the Central Alberta representatives at the 4-H clubs grain judging competition in Edmonton. The provincial winners went to the Winter Fair in Toronto to compete for the national title. We lost out to a team from Bon Accord. As a side note, my future brother-in-law, Stan Kowalski from the Bon Accord club, went to Toronto three years later. He had a ball in Toronto.
OLDS SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE – OLDS – July 1943
A week at Olds was the reward for participating in the grain judging competition.
There had been publicity about a tractor-mounted bundle gatherer that had been developed at Olds. It was intended to alleviate the shortage of men to work the harvests. Our father told me to find out how to make this device. It turned out to be fairly simple and, using an electric welder that Leo and I had built, I was able to make one when I got home.
After one year at Big Valley, Leo decided that school was not for him, so I wasn’t needed to help on the farm any longer.
I decided to try the Air Force. This lasted for two years until the war was over.
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA – EDMONTON – January 1946 to May 1947
When I arrived in Edmonton from Moncton, it was too late to enroll for the regular term. However, they were planning a special program for veterans that would start in January and finish in August in time to join the regular second year classes in September. I enrolled in this program in the Faculty of Applied Science (Engineering).
The first year program was fairly uneventful. I stayed in one of the University residences. Since I had been in various schools for most of my life, I didn’t have as much trouble with the course as many of the older veterans who had been out of school for several years. The standard comment was, “Look at the guys on each side of you. Only one of the three of you will be here next year.”
While finances weren’t a real problem because the Department of Veterans Affairs paid our tuition and $50.00 per month for living expenses, in the second year I had a job correcting Math papers for the first year students. I was enrolled in the Electrical Engineering program.
THE SEARCH FOR A SUMMER JOB
I had no idea how to go about getting a job for the summer. One of the older members of the class who had been an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company before enlisting had decided to go to Fort Smith as an expediter for the freight that was shipped up the Mackenzie River.
I had been helping him with his math problems, and we had developed a friendship because of this; we also we played badminton together. He suggested that this would be a good summer job for me and helped me get an interview at that the Hudson’s Bay Company.
My roommate, Tim, had obtained a job as a “cat skinner” with a company doing land clearing in the Peace River country, preparing it for homesteads for war veterans. They advised him that they were looking for a surveyor for the summer, and he thought I should apply for this. As it turned out, when we went to see the man in Edmonton, who was acting as their office manager, he said that they had just hired someone the day before. Tim suggested that it would be a good idea to have two people in case one got sick, or something, and this idea was acceptable. So I was hired as the Assistant Surveyor.
When we got to the job site near the town of Wanham, Tim was expounding on his ability as a “cat skinner” during the supper time of the first day. The foreman said, “There is a little job in the camp that you can do after supper.”
Everybody in the camp turned out to watch this event. Tim was able to start the tractor, but when he dropped the bulldozer blade he stalled the engine of the tractor. This provided considerable amusement to the crowd and the foreman said, “You’re in luck. The “bull cook” (basically the dish washer) quit today and you can have his job”. So this was the end of Tim’s career as a “cat skinner”.
My problems surfaced a bit later and are discussed in the Employment section.
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN – SASKATOON – September 1947 to June 1949
I decided that I would take Agricultural Engineering as a preparation for a career in designing farm machinery. Accordingly I applied to the University of Saskatchewan and moved to Saskatoon. This meant that I had to take some courses that I had not taken in Edmonton, on the other hand some of the courses I had already taken were included in the curriculum in third-year in Saskatoon, so there wasn’t much extra work involved. I soon adapted to the new environment and was getting along reasonably well.
THE DAIRY VISITS
In the spring four of us used to stop out at the dairy on our way home after class and take a tour. After the tour the guide would give us a Revel and we were on our way, enjoying the Revels. After a few visits the receptionist would call in the guide saying, “Your friends are here again” and he would come and give us another tour. He resolutely refused to give us a Revel without giving us the tour first.
THE COMIC BOOK THESIS
One of the requirements of the course was the writing of a thesis on a topic selected by the student. I had been involved during my two summer jobs with the development of a heavy duty plow for use on the land preparation project. The “HOOVER” plow was designed to be pulled by a D8 Caterpillar tractor. Since this was original work and I had been involved, I felt this would be a good topic for my thesis.
The original design of the plows had proved inadequate and there were several modifications made before the plow performed satisfactorily.
There was very little scientific or engineering information available on the project, so I relied on a general description of the work that was done and used a good number of pictures to illustrate the project.
One of the pictures is shown below.
A major problem with the plowing operation, which was not realized until later, was that the meager layer of topsoil was buried. It turned out that several years of growing legumes was required to prepare the soil for cereal crops and because of this many of the potential farmers abandoned their land.
Some of the other students criticized the thesis as being merely a display of pictures, rather than an engineering project. However, the submission was approved and I graduated successfully.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA – EDMONTON – Night Classes 1958 to 1962
I took several night classes in the subject of Business Management during this four-year period. The courses covered various topics related to Business Management, including accounting, personnel management, finance and other business related topics. After completing the classes I received a Diploma in Business Management.
One of the side issues that I recall being discussed was the likelihood of an additional university being developed in Calgary. The instructor felt that this was a foregone conclusion because of the political implications of the move. I considered that it was unnecessary and that it wouldn’t happen. However, soon after, the University of Calgary was established and once again I had failed to predict the future correctly.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA – EDMONTON – September 1970 to May 1972
I considered that it would be desirable for me to increase my educational qualifications, partly because of uncertainty about my future at my then existing position, and also to give me a greater advantage in the workforce.
Accordingly, I negotiated an agreement with the City of Edmonton that would enable me to enroll in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Alberta and continue to work at my job part time, mainly in the afternoons. One of the conditions was that I would continue to work at the City of Edmonton for five years after completing the program.
I made a serious mistake in my assessment of the time required for the Business Administration Program. In the Engineering program, we had 40 hours per week of class time. The requirement in the Business Administration program was 20 hours per week. Based on this, I felt that I could continue to work half time and spend the required 20 hours per week in the classes. I soon found out that there was a big difference in the time required for the university programs. In the Engineering program, if one understood the concepts, there was a manageable amount of extra work required. On the other hand, in Business Administration there was considerable time required for researching various topics that came up in the courses.
Also, in order to find a parking spot near the university, I had to be there by seven in the morning, and time on the university computer was only available in the evenings. The result was that I rarely saw my children during the time I was involved in the program
COMPUTER ILLITERACY
I had limited experience with computers before enrolling in this program. The other students, by and large, were reasonably computer literate. I realized that I would have to overcome this disadvantage and set about improving my skills in this area. It worked out reasonably well and, in fact, I became known as one of the computer authorities in the class. This did, however, require me to spend a considerable amount of time learning the basics of computer programming and usage.
THE GRADUATE ASSISTANT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
During my second year in the program, I was able to get employment as a Graduate Assistant. The pay was nominal, approximately what I paid for parking, but there was a big advantage. I could get a parking spot in the university parkade.
I was fortunate to be assigned to a professor who knew nothing about computers. We would discuss a project that he had in mind requiring computer usage. I would go away and as time became available, I would develop the necessary programming. In the meantime, I would report back to him that his project was taking much more time than we had expected. He never really realized how little time I was actually spending on his projects.
THE ANALYTIC PROJECT
I had chosen the non-thesis option for the program. This meant that I had to take some additional courses and also carry out a project, or study, related to business administration. I selected a project that I was working on at my work that involved exploring the correlation, if any, between the age of construction equipment and vehicles and the cost of maintaining and operating them. This would enable better decisions to be made about the optimum life of the equipment.
This was accepted as a suitable project, and I proceeded with it. The results were somewhat inconclusive, but it was helpful at work.
THE RETURN TO A MORE NORMAL LIFE
After graduation, in May 1972, I was completely exhausted. I developed a mild case of pneumonia and required some rest time before I was able to resume my normal work duties and become reacquainted with my family. It was certainly a great relief to get back to a more normal lifestyle, and I doubt that I would undertake such a program again.
THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO – MOSCOW July 1974 to September 1974
I was enrolled in the public utilities executive course during this period at the University of Idaho. The course content was quite similar to a scaled-down MBA program. Since I had recently completed the MBA program at the University of Alberta the course content was not difficult for me to understand.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
One of the things that I found interesting was the extensive involvement between the university and the community. For example, during the summer, at any rate, the university held a picnic lunch on Fridays and the people in the community were welcome to attend, along with those like us who were students at the time. This is probably a characteristic of a fairly large university and a small city. The community was very much aware of the importance of the university to the city.
THE TRIP TO GRAND COULEE
The university provided a trip to the large hydroelectric project, on the Columbia River, at Grand Coulee for those of us who were interested. They were in the process of installing a new hydroelectric unit that had been built in Canada at the General Electric plant in Ontario, and was being installed under Canadian supervision. It was interesting to hear some of the comments of the local staff about the Canadians working on the project. Many of them seemed surprised that this capability existed in Canada.
THE SOFTBALL GAME
A softball game with one of the teams of teenage girls in Moscow was organized. It was an interesting game, although, not much of a challenge for the girls. They won handily.
THE VISIT TO MONTANA POWER FACILITIES.
One of the students was an employee of Montana power, and he advised me that they were completing the installation of their first 600 MW unit. Since the largest unit in the province of Alberta, at the time, was 400 MW, I was interested in seeing this installation, and he invited me to come for a visit on my way home. The unit was indeed impressive, and I was glad that I had taken the time to make the visit.
During discussions with the people at the plant I was told about an experimental atomic fusion reactor that had been built near Butte, Montana. They checked with this plant and made arrangements for me to visit this site also. The installation was very small and had never functioned satisfactorily, but it was interesting to see something completely different than the typical thermal power plant.
AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION – DALLAS – July 1975
I took a two week course in Corporate Planning put on by the American Management Association. The course dealt primarily with some of the basics of Corporate Planning and was useful because I had joined the recently established Corporate Planning group at the City of Edmonton.
United Airlines had their initial training school for Flight Attendants in the same hotel. The scenery around the swimming pool was spectacular. The adage “Although you may be too old to sample the food, you can still enjoy reading the menu” was never more appropriate.
THE INSTITUTE OF FINANCIAL PLANNING – TORONTO- 1974 to 1978
I felt that it would be desirable to have something to keep me occupied after I retired from my regular occupation. With this in mind, I enrolled in the course at The Institute of Financial Planning that required four years of study by correspondence. The completion of the course would enable one to use the designation Chartered Financial Planner (CFP). Most of the work was similar to that of the MBA program, but there was more emphasis on income tax issues. I completed this course in 1982, two years before I retired in 1984.
Three factors became important in deciding whether or not to pursue this career. Firstly, I had become sufficiently involved with the church and other nonpaying activities that I didn’t need another job to fill my time – there would have been considerable time and effort required to establish a new business of this type. Secondly, I wasn’t spending all of my existing income at the time and didn’t really need the additional money the business would have provided. Thirdly, I decided I didn’t really want to be responsible for other people’s money. For these reasons, I never officially used the CFP designation. However, the knowledge that I gained by taking the program has been helpful in my personal investment program and in preparing our income tax returns.
THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA – February 1992
I enrolled in a two week course at the University of Victoria dealing with the use of computer web-pages as museum exhibits. This would be useful for my volunteer involvement with the museum operated by the Edmonton Power Historical Foundation. This small museum, located near the city of Leduc, is dedicated to the explanation of the Electric Power Industry to the general public.
The people taking the course came from various locations throughout North America and there was also one woman from the National Museum of Australia. They were a very interesting group, who knew much more about the intricacies of museums than I did. On the other hand, I was more familiar with computers than most of them.
My wife spent her days at her favorite occupation, shopping, and visiting some of her relatives who lived in Victoria. Spring had sprung and the flowers were starting to bloom, so it was a welcome change from midwinter in Edmonton.
THE CHURCHILL – EDMONTON – 2007 to Present
When we moved to the Churchill, I heard that an educational session in Spanish was being offered. Since I had formerly been reasonably proficient in the language, I felt that it would be a good way to meet some of the other residents and would not be too demanding. The class has become considerably smaller over the years – now there are only two students. I still enjoy participating as both a pastime and a learning experience.
My siblings have been encouraging me to write a story of my life. When a Creative Writing session became available at the Churchill this seemed to be the push needed to overcome the inertia and I became involved. It is proving to be interesting as well as stimulating.
SCHOLARSHIPS
I have established Scholarships at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta,
The Scholarships are similar at the two Universities. They are intended to provide financial assistance to students with aboriginal status who are studying in the Education Program at the University.
The purpose of the assistance is to enable them to become qualified teachers who will return to an Indian Reserve, their home or another, as teachers. This would provide an example that would encourage other young people on the reserve to further their education.
SUMMARY
After more than ninety years of life, and a more or less continuous pursuit of education, I have formed a basic philosophy regarding education.
Education gives you more tools to use in your life. It does not automatically provide more ability or commitment to use the tools or more wisdom in their use. Any success, both personal and general, that you achieve in life is more dependent on your effective use of the tools you have than on merely possessing more of them.