Who Was Alec Taylor?

Although this blog is devoted to my Dad's poetry, I think it appropriate that I begin with a very brief biography.  I will be augmenting it with my thoughts and memories, from time to time, so check back!

Dad was born in Crewe, England on June 13, 1920.  He was christened "Alec," with no middle name.  That seems to have been common, in his father's family.  Shortly after Dad's birth, his father died, of complications from mustard-gas poisoning suffered during World War I.  So, his mother packed up her two sons (Dad's older brother was Jack) and emigrated to Canada with her extended family, settling in St Thomas, Ontario, in 1922.

Dad grew up in a busy household, with grandparents and uncles, as well as his mother and brother.  Everyone had to do chores, to help keep the household running.  Dad's was to peel a peck of potatoes, each noontime.  He also worked, when he could, usually picking tobacco.  In his spare time, Dad would fish, read, and sometimes write poetry.  He also learned as much as he could about practical things, like gardening (which his uncles taught him) and how railroads run (from the nearby London & Port Stanley - "L&PS" - line).

In St Thomas, Dad attended Manitoba Street Public School, Arthur Voaden Vocational School and St Thomas Collegiate Institute.  He was a good student, but chose to learn technical skills, like carpentry and electrical work, at high school, and also completed the one-year "special commercial" program, in which he learned office skills, such as bookkeeping, typing, and shorthand.  That's where he met my Mother, whom he helped with the bookkeeping homework.

Dad enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1939, as soon as he graduated.  Many of his army years were spent in Ottawa, working for D.S.D. (Defense Signals Directorate).  He wrote more poetry, during his Ottawa years.  Later, he trained troops at Camp Petawawa (Dad married my Mother while on leave - another story!), before being shipped overseas.  Dad arrived in England on VE Day, so did not have to go to the front.  Instead, he volunteered wherever help was needed, and found himself back in the fields, working farmland.

After returning to Canada, my parents settled back in Ontario.  Dad took advantage of his army benefits to further his education, earning an "academic" high-school diploma (including a crash course of 5 years of French, compressed into 1 year), a B.Comm. (University of Western Ontario - I was born in London, during this time), and a B.Paed. (Ontario College of Education).

After that, Dad was a high-school business teacher at Uxbridge High School and Weston Collegiate and Vocational School (where I was a student).  During his Weston years, he earned his M.Ed. (University of Toronto) so that, later, he became Principal of Bradford District High School, which he served happily, until his retirement.  During his years at Bradford, Dad founded a Penny Stock Investment Club for some of the teachers, learning a lot about how the stock market works.

Dad was an excellent teacher, and expanded his love of education to include authoring textbooks.  First, he prepared an acclaimed Canadian edition of Twentieth-Century Bookkeeping.  Later, he wrote his own 3-year accounting text, Debit Equals Credit (W.J. Gage, 1962), which was accompanied by 6 workbooks and 3 teaching guides.

In 1978, Dad retired, becoming a member of the North York chapter of Superannuated Teachers of Ontario (STO).  He enjoyed weekly bridge games and excursions with the STO, as well as the many concerts and plays he and Mother attended throughout Ontario.  Dad also expanded his interest in technical stock analysis by becoming an associate member of the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts.  He even created his own index, based on the (then) 14 sub-indices of the Toronto Stock Exchange.