Many changes have taken place on campus since 1958 when I entered Ontario Agricultural College (O.A.C.). There were three colleges: Ontario Agricultural College (O.A.C.), Ontario Veterinary College (O.V.C.), and MacDonald Institute for Home Economics. Degrees were granted by the University of Toronto. In 1964, the three colleges became the University of Guelph.

In 1958, tuition for Canadian and Commonwealth students was $100 per year and the total fees, including room and board as well as books, was $515. In 1996, tuition was $2 450 with an average annual cost of $6 000. Now, tuition for Visa students is about five time the cost for Canadian citizens. It would have been impossible for me to get a University education today.

The coffee shop in the basement of Massey Hall (the Library) operated on the honour system. Students helped themselves to coffee and doughnuts and made their own change. That practice has long disappeared. During the March and April months, students stayed up late as they studied for their final exams. They took extra milk, bread and butter form Creelman Hall (cafeteria) and no one stopped them. Those were the good old days.

Physical education was compulsory in First Year. My instructors were Alex Peepre and Tom Mooney. I took part in touch football and wrestling for the first time. I wrestled against Alex Leslie, a classmate in my weight division. Alex lived in Guyana and Trinidad as a youngster but his family moved to Canada where he completed his primary and secondary education. I won against Alex. After my toboggan accident during the Christmas holidays, I was excused from taking part in any physical activity, but Alex continued to wrestle and represented O.A.C. against other Universities with some success.

I liked my second year (1959-60) much more than my first. The best years were third and fourth when I was in my option, Poultry Science. I enjoyed Biochemistry under Dr. Waghorne. His course was interesting and his enthusiasm indicated that he enjoyed teaching it. He lectured at a pace at which we could make good notes. Dr. Basrur, a professor from the Vet College, sat in our class. She enjoyed Dr. Waghorne’s lectures. I detested Prof. Osborne who lectured in Histology/Embryology. He drew diagrams on the board and talked at the same time. I found it impossible to keep up with him. Most students paired up with a classmate; one copied the diagrams and the other took the notes. Prof. Osborne enjoyed giving tests on which students did poorly. A few other lecturers were just boring. Prof. Arthur, who lectured in Animal Nutrition, often read his notes. Today, every lecturer is evaluated by the students. This is one way of making them accountable.

In my second year I missed about two weeks of classes because of mumps. I was in isolation in the infirmary at Johnson Hall. Nurse Nelles attended to me and discouraged studying. My friends brought my meals from Creelman Hall. I listened on the radio to news from B. B. C. as well as to The Craigs, a farm family serial. On my discharge from the infirmary, I had much catching up to do in course work.

I was a member of the West Indian Students’ Club and met most of the West Indian students who were on campus. I was able to recognize their various accents and learn a little about each island. Most of the students were from Jamaica, where I was told, there was much inter school rivalry in the field of academics, cricket, soccer and athletics. Intense school competitions helped to develop many Jamaican sprinters, who have done well in world athletic events. At the West Indian Students’ Dances I met other West Indians from Guelph and the surrounding communities. One of them was Sam Johnson, a Barbadian, who still lives in Guelph. Sam, an X-ray technician at Guelph General Hospital for many years, is now retired. Sam has been quite successful in Real Estate and I used to tease Sam by calling him Squire Johnson.

Deopaul (Paul) Naraine, a Guyanese, was my room mate in Third Year. Paul was a fourth year student at Ontario Veterinary College. We had a room off campus and got along fine. There were a few other Guyanese students in Guelph: my brother Reuben, Opendra (Bill) and Chris Narayan, Paul’s brother Cecil, Azim Khan, Clifford Harricharan, Tom Ashby and Bal Samaroo. Bill and I became good friends. For a few years Guyanese students in Guelph sent home Christmas greetings to relatives and friends. Our messages were taped in late October in the AV room in Johnson Hall and sent to Radio Demerara in Guyana. Christmas music played in the background and we pretended that it was Christmas Day. I was told that on Christmas Day my relatives gathered around the radio at our home in Camp Street in Guyana to listen to those messages. It was a major event for them.

In fourth year my room mate was Cyrus Kagira, a Kenyan. We had a room on the second floor in Mills Hall. Cyrus was quiet but quite popular. He had a pleasant personality. I used to tease him that he was a Mau Mau and that my life was at risk. The Mau Mau, led by Jomo Kenyatta had used violence to oppose the British in Kenya during the 1950’s. Cyrus’ father had two wives and his two homes were next to each other. The two families got along fine.

Robert Clark and I became very close friends. He was friendly and we “hit it off” very quickly. It was a lot of fun to be around him. He came from Nova Scotia Agricultural College where he completed his first two years of Agriculture courses. He had an excellent background in Poultry Science having grown up on a poultry farm and Hatchery. Robert’s father graduated from O.A.C. in the 1930’s.

Robert and Ruth Clark, Ramon and Lucy

Robert and I took some courses in Graham Hall with Poultry Science students who were a year ahead of us. They were Alan Bently, Bob Dechman, Bill Herbert, Angus MacIntyre, Don Ramey, and Owen Thompson. Except for Owen Thompson, a Jamaican, the rest were from Nova Scotia. When Robert and I were in fourth year, Robert J. Teskey (nickname R.J. Testes) entered the Poultry option. We also took some poultry courses with Peel Holroyd, an exchange student from England and with a post graduate student from U. S. A.. We enjoyed having most of our Poultry Science professors and had nicknames for all of them. Some of the names were passed down by former Poultry Science graduates. Dr. Stan Slinger, a nutritionist, was called Almquist because he frequently referred to H.J. Almquist, a poultry nutritionist of world renown. Once we had a major assignment on feed formulation. We worked in pairs. A graduate student recalled hearing Robert and me arguing during the many hours we spent over it. We felt proud when we realised that we were the only ones who did the assignment correctly. Once we were invited to Dr. Slinger’s home for supper and we had a wonderful time. The Slingers seemed to be a happy family and were great hosts.

Dr. Fred Jerome (F.N.) was an excellent teacher. He was able to simplify difficult concepts and we liked Genetics. Dr. Jerome was a well respected Geneticist in the Poultry Industry in North America. I often passed by his office where he leaned back on his chair, or had his feet on his desk deep in thought. He was a nice man, and always approachable. I was told that Dr. Jerome invested in the Stock Market and had done very well. On his retirement, Dr. Jerome started painting as a hobby and became quite an accomplished artist.

Prof. John Walker (J. P.) taught a course in Poultry Management. Once a week Robert, Bob Teskey and I went on a field trip in his car. He always bought us an ice cream or a chocolate bar. Whenever he entered our class he used to say “Well, how are you guys today?”. One day we played a joke on him. He came to class and as soon as he started his opening sentence he saw that it was already written on the board. We had a chuckle over it. Prof. Walker enjoyed fishing, hunting and flying. Robert had earlier obtained his pilot’s license and had taken me up for a “spin”. He and J. P. shared their flying experiences when we went on field trips. A few years after our graduation in 1962, Robert was in Guelph for a visit. We decided to take Prof. Walker out for supper. When we were about to pay the bill Prof. Walker quickly intercepted it.

Our other Poultry Science lecturers were Hank Orr (Poultry Products), Harvey Pettit and John McConachie (Hatchery Management), Chuck Winget (Poultry Physiology) and Gerry Friars (Turkey Management). Others in the Department at that time were the Chairman, Ross Cavers, Prof. Earl Snyder, Bert Reinhart and Earl Hunt. Due to the relatively small size of the Department, we knew the secretarial staff quite well. Ronnie Lockie, Rose Tonin, and Helen Marolt were very friendly and always smiled. Ronnie and Rose knew when my Christmas cake had arrived from Guyana because they were able to detect the smell of rum in it. Robert Clark and I used to have great fun with Mrs. Reinhart (no relation to Bert) who worked in the Library. Whenever we started a conversation in the Library, Mrs. Reinhart stopped her typing so as to listen. She was just “nosy” and we took advantage of the situation.

In 1961 Robert won the Danforth Memorial Fellowship which took him to a Poultry workshop in Missouri. In the following year I won the W.H. Fisher Poultry Award.

Our lectures took us all over the campus. We took Animal Physiology and Poultry Pathology at the Veterinary College, Poultry Microbiology, Crop Science, Chemistry courses, Farm Management and Economics courses, a Nutrition course and English courses. We joined students from other faculties and made many friends.

After our final exams in April 1962, I accompanied Robert to his home in Berwick in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. We were due back in Guelph in two weeks to take part in graduation exercises. We travelled by car and passed through Quebec and the New England states. I did not have my driving license so Robert drove the entire distance. It was tiring for him. We slept in the car. About 3 o’clock one morning, we stopped by a creek in Maine for a wash. A full moon shone and Acker Bilk played “Stranger On The Shore” over the car radio. It was a memorable occasion. The tune in that setting of peace and tranquillity was food for our souls and we felt happy. Since then we have talked about that moment and would like to make a similar trip to recapture the thrill of that occasion. That tune always evokes happy memories.

I spent an enjoyable time at Lone Pine Farm with Robert, his parents and Ralph, his brother. I was made to feel “at home” and Mrs. Clark was an excellent cook. Mr. Clark was quiet and shy but had a wonderful sense of humour. I met two grand old ladies who had worked for the Clarks for many years. Mrs. Rafuse and Mrs. Williams were two characters and had us laughing most of the time. Mrs. Williams came to Nova Scotia from Barbados when she was a girl. She lived a few miles outside Berwick and her home did not have plumbing. Her family collected water from a well nearby.

I accompanied Robert when he made deliveries of Rhode Island Red chicks to individuals in Berwick and the surrounding areas. Every spring those long standing rural customers ordered new dual purpose stock for egg and meat. I enjoyed the friendly interaction between Robert and those simple country folk. In the modern era of specialization with large and separate egg and meat farms, such small deliveries are no longer viable. I observed the hatchery operations at Lone Pine Farm and saw the old setters and hatchers from his grandfather’s time as well as the modern equipment. I also got some practice in dubbing, debeaking and vaccination which I did not experience at University.

The Clarks had a great relationship with their regular customers. They operated on the honour system. They picked up their egg supplies weekly from the shed and entered the quantity taken in a notebook.

I started my Master’s Degree program under Dr. John Summers in September 1962. My project was “Evaluation of Various Protein Supplements For Poultry”. I spent many hours in the lab carrying out a surgical technique, colostomy, on birds as well as doing chemical analyses of feeds, urine and faecal samples. I am greatly indebted to Anthea Ward, a lab technician from New Zealand, who was of great help to me. Anthea came on a few Saturdays to assist. She was very well organized and showed me the importance of good organization. My chairman, Dr. Summers provided guidance and encouragement, for which I am grateful.

Now I can look back and find some humour in past situations which were so frustrating at that time. It was a cold evening and the roads were very slippery. I was taking urine and faecal samples from one of the poultry pens to the lab. As soon as I left the building I slipped and all my samples ended on the ground. I could not salvage anything. A week’s work “down the drain”! I nearly cried.

All the frustrations and hard work were not in vain. We had happy times in the lab during our lunch break. We used to listen to Bert Kaemfert’s music on my record player and Helen Marolt used to give us dancing lessons on the polka. One day Dr. Summers joined in on the fun. On one occasion Helen Marolt and I played a joke on Anthea Ward. It was during the Profumo scandal in England and Dr. Stephen Ward was seriously ill in hospital. I got Helen to type a letter purporting to be from the Office of the President, University of Guelph. It stated “Dear Miss Ward, Regret to learn about your uncle’s condition.” The letter was addressed to Miss Anthea Ward, c/o Dr. J. D. Summers, Poultry Science Department. It took Anthea very little time to learn who were the “culprits”. I passed my oral presentation and graduated in May 1964.

It was time to say goodbye to the many wonderful people I had known over the previous six years. There was the Ewing family in Shelburne who had given me a home away from home. The boys used to look forward to visiting me in Guelph at “the chicken factory”. Mr. and Mrs. Bob McVie, the superintendents of South House where I had a room for which I paid the “grand” sum of $6 per month. South House was owned by the Poultry Department and Bob was the caretaker in the Department. South House has undergone many changes over the years. For many years it was Spanish House. It has recently been renovated and is now a Day Care Centre for the children of University Personnel. I watched the Stanley Cup playoffs on TV in the McVie’s living room. There was always a beer for me. There were also the Osburn children, my neighbours. I enjoyed chatting with them.

I sent my belongings by train to Halifax where I was to take a cargo vessel to Guyana. The Ewings drove down to Guelph to see me off at the train station. Dr. Summers, Dr. Slinger, Helen Marolt and Ruth Tucker were also there. It was a sad farewell.

I spent a week with the Clark’s at Lone Pine Farm. This coincided with Anthea Ward’s visit there. Anthea was backpacking across Canada and U.S.A. prior to leaving for New Zealand. I also met Ruth, Robert’s fiancee and future wife.

Anthea, Robert and I and our families have maintained our friendship over the years. We had a happy reunion in Guelph in May 1993. It was nice to visit Dr. Jerome, Prof. Walker and Dr. Summers and walk around campus. The Poultry Department no longer exists; it has been swallowed up by the Animal Science Department and all Poultry operations moved to Arkell, five miles south of Guelph. The interior of Graham Hall has undergone major renovations and it now houses the Department of Environmental Biology. Many of the old buildings and the vacant spaces are gone but our happy memories of “The College on The Hill” will remain.

Chapter 10

Ontario Agricultural College