1960-1965

In my first year I went through all the normal things a baby goes through. There are a couple of stories about things that occured between the ages of nine months and 18 months that my family laughed about for years. I call them stories because they were things told to me not things I remember.

For the record it appears that I was walking at nine months and began climbing just as soon as I figured out how to co-ordinate my hands and feet. The first thing my mom always talked about was the board I climbed. It was upright at about a 45% angle holding up our clothes line and it was not more than 3" wide and I climbed that thing all the way to the top then began to holler because I couldn't figure out how to get back down again. Mom always smiled when she told it though I was never sure if it was my courage or my fear that made her smile

Another story they tell is about when and how I began to read. I am not sure how old I was probably still less that a year. The truant officer came to my aunt's house to find out why one of her boys was missing school. He spotted mom and me in the living room. Mom was watching TV and I was lying near her doing what appeared to be reading a newspaper. Turning the pages looking at it and turning the next page. Of course I was too young to know what the words were but I suppose I could have been looking at the pictures. When the truant officer asked mom why she wasn't in school, (she was quite young looking), she pointed to me and apparently both did a double take when they saw what I was doing. It is no wonder with a start that young that when I did learn to read I read without ceasing well into my 20's and continue still to this day to read a fair amount.

There is one other thing that dad spoke about sometimes. I suppose it was quite embarassing to him. He was throwing me up in the air and catching me. In those days when children began to walk they were put into hard white shoes like the one above. I was wearing mine and I guess I got a little excited. I kicked dad with one of them and gave him a black eye. I am not sure how he explained it to the guys he worked with but I'm pretty sure he didn't tell them I gave it to him.

And finally there are the dogs. I guess I was quite a dare devil in those formative years. My dad kept hunting dogs, big strong hounds for the deer hunt. When I began to walk Queenie apparently adopted me. My mom said she always felt comfortable letting me out to play by myself because Queenie and her son King would watch over me and if I headed towards the road or any other dangerous place they would put themselves between me and my target until I gave up. Talk about your useful baby sitters.

October 7, 1960

I was born at St. Josephs hospital in Peterborough, Ontario before its services were all moved to the Regional Hospital. The approximate time was 5:00 PM. That is only a guess. Dad says that mom missed dinner so he had to go find her something to eat after she woke up. In those days they didn't just freeze your lower half they put you under. You were awake enough to hear them tell you to push but not awake enough to feel the pain. I was a small baby just a bit over 5lbs again I am not sure exactly because I never thought to ask my parents and now they are both gone. All I know was that I was a tiny thing and have remained small my whole life. At least height wise :)

My father was Milford Ralph Marois, age 30 born Nov 1, 1929. He was a labourer. He had spend his younger years doing a bit of travelling. He had worked in a lumber camp, did his bit in the army as a cooks helper and assisted a jewelry maker. These are the ones he talked about the most I'm sure there were others. He was also an alcoholic from an alcoholic family. Soft spoken unless he got really angry. Shortly before he died I also found out that he was a long time sufferer of depression.

My mother was Margaret Faye Creighton, female half of a set of twins. Their birthday was March 25, 1942. She was 18 when I was born. Of the two of them she had more brains than her brother but he got to go to high school while she stayed home. I do not know what if any jobs she had in her younger years before I came along she never spoke of them. Her family moves around a lot because her father was in the army. The other things I know about my mother is that she was molested by her father several times and that like me she had many boyfriends though how many she had sex with I have no idea. She was a cold and distant parent, I do not remember getting hugs from her or kisses or any of those other things you would expect a parent who loved a child to do, but I know she loved me she showed me in other ways which I will discuss as we get to those parts of my life.

As you can see I know more about my mother than I do about my father. I think that is because she was a stay at home mom so we spent a fair amount of time together

My parents got married because my mother was pregnant and dad was the only one who offered to marry her. Rather he was the sperm donor who created me has never been answered for me but he was the one who raised me so he is dad.

I have always loved the story of the proposal. Mom had climbed up into her favorite tree to think and dad found out she was there. He climbed up the tree and asked her to marry him. They always said that was why I was such a climber in my younger years because of that day. I just find it incredibly sweet that my father would go to that extreme to save her reputation.