Though it may be nothing but a reflection of my inveterate smugness, I take inestimable pride in being a country lawyer and living in the country. I am only too willing – unprovoked – to share with others what I believe to be an extraordinarily happy circumstance. My elevation to this lauded status at the age of 27 years happened within 3 years of graduation from law school at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1973, interrupted only by the necessity to fulfill my clerical articles with Messrs. Macdonald, Affleck, Barrs. &c., 100 Sparks St, Ottawa as mandated by the Law Society of Upper Canada then subsequently passing the bar exams at Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto (during which I smoothed the transition from urban to rural by having been appointed by Dean Charlie Lennox as a Don at Devonshire House, University of Toronto).
My initiation to country living was the precept of Senator George J. McIlraith PC QC. I embraced it without reserve. The employment interview which I underwent with Messrs. Galligan & Sheffield, Barrs. &c. was conducted over dinner an early summer evening at the Mississippi Golf Club (one of Ontario’s oldest and longest standing golf clubs). My conscription was immediate. Although my first office was with my employers at their offices at 63 Bridge St, Almonte (part of what was then best known as the Royal Bank building and which the bank later charitably conveyed to Almonte Community Coordinators aka “The Hub” on the sole condition that the bank be entitled to maintain an ATM), I soon graduated to overtake the office of lately retired Raymond A. Jamieson QC at 74 Mill Street, Almonte where he had practiced for about 52 years. There, assisted by Mrs. Evelyn Barker (RAJ’s former legal assistant), I began what was to distinguish my practice as a country lawyer.
Mr. Jamieson had formerly closed his office on Wednesday afternoons and held in its stead a Saturday morning office. This I am told was to accommodate the farming community who routinely conducted business of a varying nature “in town” on Saturday mornings. At the outset I attempted to preserve both the current standard of having an office throughout the week, Monday – Friday, and also Saturday mornings but it soon became too onerous and there wasn’t an evident demand for the Saturday office.
It quickly became apparent too that, as a local solicitor, one was expected to participate in community affairs. Spirited by Pat Vetter, I acted as president of the Almonte Business & Professional Association (the predecessor to the Chamber of Commerce).
In addition to completing the organizational by-laws of the Almonte Community Coordinators (Janet Duncan and Fern Martin), I incorporated the Elizabeth Kelly Library Foundation (Louis Irwin and Robert C. Wilson CA), the Rosamond Woollen Mill Foundation (Herb Pragnell) and the Almonte General Hospital Foundation (Raymond Timmons).
Following a brief involvement with the Lions Club I was invited by Messrs. JC Smithson, Land Registrar and Harry Walker, Mgr LCBO to join Mississippi Lodge No. 147. I acted as both Master and Secretary of the Lodge (in which latter capacity I wrote a history of the Lodge from March 19, 1861 to December 31, 1993).
Naturally it was the people whom I met who most distinguished my career. It wasn’t long before I discovered that there were many people from a wide variety of backgrounds who had also made the decision to remove themselves from the urban vernacular to the country, not the least of whom were several friends and acquaintances of my parents, including Air Commodore Donnie Blaine, Mr. Angus Morrison and Mr. Leonard Lee. By contrast to this migration there was one chap whom I met who disclosed to me that, over his 70 years in Almonte, he had never been to “the city”. Nor was he at all apologetic for the refrain.
I met exceptional people such as Mr. George Gomme who contributed so much not only to our local community but also to our province when acting as Minister of Highways. I am told Mr. Gomme was one of the original “home boys” from England; that is, young men without family transferred from England to farming communities in Canada. His development was astronomic. Similarly I met George Slade (also a former home boy) who inherited from his spinster farm employers a home on Clyde Street in Almonte near St. Paul’s Anglican Church – a home subsequently purchased by Ian LeCheminant (a contractor who worked for the brother of a colleague of mine Jan Graybiel from Glendon Hall, Toronto) and later by my erstwhile physician Dr. Franz B. Ferraris.
Gomme was elected in a by-election to replace John Arthur McCue who died after having served for only one year. He was re-elected in the general election of 1959 and 1963. He was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio on January 12, 1966, and then as Minister of Highways on November 24, 1966. A time of tremendous growth in Ontario, particularly in Toronto and surrounding suburbs, Gomme was actively involved in the development of new highways, such as Highway 410 in the Brampton area, as well as the expansion of other 400-series highways. He continued to serve as Minister of Highways until March 1, 1971. at which time he left Cabinet, having already announced that he would not be running in the 1971 general election. He died on March 3, 1996
Though it is purely selfish, another ingredient of country living which continues to this day to attract me is the country roads. They’re invariably well maintained and picturesque. Because many of the winding roads in the countryside go through areas nearby which draw me for their additional interest (such as restful riverside stops, superb restaurants, coffee shops and specialty stores), I have ample resource at my fingertips for which to exercise my automotive and social indulgence (often I have invited friends from urban sites – or new arrivals – to join me in the country at these places or the golf club). Like my late father, driving a car aimlessly about the country is an addiction.
In addition to our home in the country, my partner Denis Arial and I maintained a condominium apartment in the ByWard Market, Ottawa for years. He was then employed in the city by Her Majesty in right-of-the Dominion of Canada. But upon his early retirement he too was anxious to retreat to the comfort of the countryside where he amused himself with gardening and home renovation until my own retirement and our half-yearly displacement to Hilton Head Island and Florida.
Now in the grips of old age and related decomposition our headway is increasingly limited to looking out our apartment picture windows upon the meandering Mississippi River towards the Village of Appleton across the burgeoning agricultural fields. This however is no deprivation whatsoever. We are of one mind that there are no grounds for objection to the current status. Admittedly too the native automotive instinct has compelled us to consider possible expeditions to Nova Scotia to visit with our friends Jay and Alana Anderson who have recently moved there along with their dogs Louie and Roy.
The formulation of one’s last rites of adventure is not something we dismiss out of hand. In keeping with what has been our characteristic intentions, we consecrate ourselves to a calculated review of the future insofar as one is capable of doing so. Once again complacency tranquillizes the endeavours. We increasingly see less and less reason to distance ourselves from our immediate nest. Reducing one’s life to elemental features such as tricycling, driving, reading, writing and podcasts requires unfathomable preoccupation and analysis. It helps to know that a hospital is nearby, as well as a dentist, optometrist, chiropractor, accountant, audiologist, butchery, grocery store, art gallery, hydro station and donut shop. And should one be religiously inclined to Christianity there are scintillating alternatives including Hillside Reformed Presbyterian Church, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Holy Name of Mary Roman Catholic Church, Cornerstone Community Church, Almonte United Church, Almonte Baptist Church, Community Presbyterian Church, all of which have within them a commendable history.