BROTHERS....(some personal reflections). We were four brothers born in the aftermath of World War Two. Our parents both served during that turmoil and met and married very quickly thereafter. We were the “Boomers”...the seeds of those parents that were born anywhere near the 1920’s and lived through both a terrible depression...and a devastating war. Although WE were born on average 3-4 years apart AND spent most of those formative years living and attending school in West Vancouver and environs...it is interesting in retrospect to reflect on the different tangents our lives have taken. I suppose this holds true with many of you that are siblings that lived through the tumultuous eras of the 50’s (Cold War), 60’s (Rebellion) and 70’s (Disco?)...be it that your siblings are sisters OR brothers? Robin, the eldest, couldn’t wait to leave the nest. I remember him working for General Electric quite early after leaving school. I remember a beautiful two-toned 58 Oldsmobile parked outside our shack in Horseshoe Bay circa 1965 or so as a mark of his fledgling success. Carl was next to find independence and began to work for the B.C. Ferries quite early...but still he left for a period of time to visit Montreal in 1967 with a buddy all beatnik and knap-sacked to Europe right after and came back to speak of cheap digs in Malaga, Spain and exotic excursions into Tangiers. He returned to resume his career with B.C. Ferries...BUT..still found time to do two more forays to Europe in the early 70’s. One time (1970) he had me and a young John Keller go along with him. He returned again a few years later on another trip after a group of us as we drove an old 64 Dodge Dart across country to Ottawa and, finally, to Burnt Church, New Brunswick.The eldest, meanwhile, continued his career with GE and began a family. My younger brother David was just finishing his grade 6-8 transitions from Bowen to West Van while Carl, John and I worked for the US Air Force in Germany. I brought young David back a USAF Staff Sgt’s uniform in 1970. By that time we were both listening to T Rex and puffing on the cheap Mexican pot...and hanging with the expatriate hippies on Bowen Island. Robin and Carl retired almost a decade ago..from jobs they stuck with for most their “working” lives. I retired myself not long after them...most probably “burnt out” from both my wacky lifestyle AND an eclectic life of shiftwork, logging, fishing and what seems like a myriad of careers. David is still working up in Yellowknife. After a career working underground as a gold miner...and a bad accident...he found interesting employment after a while working for the Government in the NWT as a underling for various ministries. Well paid work and certainly not as dangerous as drilling, blasting nor mucking! I write this encapsulated history because my three siblings share a birthday in the same (soon approaching) week in January. I was always kind of jealous of that. They also shared a birthday in the same month with our Grandfather, Peter Mathisen, for whom which we will always be grateful for his choice to move to Horseshoe Bay in the 50’s with his wife Lizzie...thus making West Van VERY important to all of us. My dad and I shared Oct 2nd and Oct 3rd respectively as our birthdays. This tiny coincident of birth set dad and I apart a wee bit from my brothers. Anybody else out there feel like sharing some sibling stories? Brothers..Sisters..or otherwise?
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 05:04:49 +0000