At Short Notice
Posted by Bill Molesworth
Due to an emergency, the scheduled speaker could not be available. With only a couple of hours to prepare, Ron Crane agreed to fill in.
Ron has heard it said that to speak for hours is easy - it's the speaking briefly that's hard and with no preparation time, he was afraid he might take the easy way out.
Ron has moved up to Midland from Toronto recently and joined the Midland Rotary Club from the one in Toronto. He was born in there in 1942, his Dad worked on the Sears Catalogue but got a name for himself in the neighbourhood when Ron told everyone he 'made book'. With no socialization, pre-school or kindergarten, Ron showed up at grade one not even knowing what a line up was. He recalls a sister 'Dominatrix' instilling him with a profound respect for the concept - he got the strap on the first day of school.
His family were regulars at Wimblewood Beach after the war, though they had Acton Island in Muskoka as a destination for a few years as well, so his ties to this area go back a long way and manifest themselves in strange ways. In High School, he joined the band and remembers a church parade in Midland.
His sister is a retired psychiatric nurse and his brother the religous director for the Peterborough Catholic School Board. He felt he had a vocation and joined the Oblate order in Arnprior which taught him about silence, farming and how to look good in a cassock - the latter he declares he carried off with a certain flare.
Religious education at that time seems to have focused on farming - Arnprior had 98 acres, the seminary in Orleans had 200 and there was another facility that had 500. He became adept at handling livestock and still remembers the joys of the land.
However, he left the calling for a year as manager of one of the first coin operated laundromats before finishing his BA at York, which then was also a rural institution with only 300 students. After that, 'trade school' Osgoode Hall with Rod and into criminal law. Once all his clients were safely ensconced in Kingston Pen he decided to try his hand at other aspects of the law.
He was a member of Toronto Rotary for 27 years and their youngest ever President. The Club then had 400 members with a permanent office and paid staff, making it a second job.
His wife also had strong ties to this area, being a cousine to Arnie and with a family cottage so for their almost 40 years of marriage they have been coming here and his long term plan was to sell the Toronto house, rent an apartment, start fixing up the cottage and retire. The house sold in a week, Fred Hacker offered him a job and the cottage was falling off its foundation so they turned it into a house suitable for entertaining three children their spouses and what will be, next week, six grandchildren.
He enjoys being part of the club, enjoys the job and mostly enjoys the sense of belonging he feels walking the streets here.
Bob Campbell said, as an import himself, he identified with Ron's sense of place - that this is the place to be - and thanked Ron for producing such an amusing talk on such short notice.
Ron has moved up to Midland from Toronto recently and joined the Midland Rotary Club from the one in Toronto. He was born in there in 1942, his Dad worked on the Sears Catalogue but got a name for himself in the neighbourhood when Ron told everyone he 'made book'. With no socialization, pre-school or kindergarten, Ron showed up at grade one not even knowing what a line up was. He recalls a sister 'Dominatrix' instilling him with a profound respect for the concept - he got the strap on the first day of school.
His family were regulars at Wimblewood Beach after the war, though they had Acton Island in Muskoka as a destination for a few years as well, so his ties to this area go back a long way and manifest themselves in strange ways. In High School, he joined the band and remembers a church parade in Midland.
His sister is a retired psychiatric nurse and his brother the religous director for the Peterborough Catholic School Board. He felt he had a vocation and joined the Oblate order in Arnprior which taught him about silence, farming and how to look good in a cassock - the latter he declares he carried off with a certain flare.
Religious education at that time seems to have focused on farming - Arnprior had 98 acres, the seminary in Orleans had 200 and there was another facility that had 500. He became adept at handling livestock and still remembers the joys of the land.
However, he left the calling for a year as manager of one of the first coin operated laundromats before finishing his BA at York, which then was also a rural institution with only 300 students. After that, 'trade school' Osgoode Hall with Rod and into criminal law. Once all his clients were safely ensconced in Kingston Pen he decided to try his hand at other aspects of the law.
He was a member of Toronto Rotary for 27 years and their youngest ever President. The Club then had 400 members with a permanent office and paid staff, making it a second job.
His wife also had strong ties to this area, being a cousine to Arnie and with a family cottage so for their almost 40 years of marriage they have been coming here and his long term plan was to sell the Toronto house, rent an apartment, start fixing up the cottage and retire. The house sold in a week, Fred Hacker offered him a job and the cottage was falling off its foundation so they turned it into a house suitable for entertaining three children their spouses and what will be, next week, six grandchildren.
He enjoys being part of the club, enjoys the job and mostly enjoys the sense of belonging he feels walking the streets here.
Bob Campbell said, as an import himself, he identified with Ron's sense of place - that this is the place to be - and thanked Ron for producing such an amusing talk on such short notice.