Ken Edwards:
CLASS OF 1965
Hall High SchoolClass of 1965
Little rock, AR
Ken's Story
Life
Moved to England in '64 so I missed grade 12 at Hall. Lived in England for over a year and got my 'O levels' (grade 12 equivalent).
Moved to Toronto, Ontario in '65 and started "grade 13" there. It was like the first year of college but back then in Canada, it was still part of high school. I hated being treated the same as a ninth grader so I quit at xmas break and started working as a roadie for a band in Toronto called the Creeps. They changed their name to the Magic Circus and when they broke up I started working for The Paupers.
After that I went back to school (a real college this time) in Toronto.
I quit in my third year and bought 250 acres in eastern Ontario with a bunch of friends and we still own it today.
While I lived there, I started buying old log buildings (there were lots of them back then) and selling the logs. That got me into carpentry work and then contracting.
I moved back to Little Rock in the late '70s and started Edwards and Company Construction. I built houses mostly in Pleasant Valley (West Little Rock) and over in Maumelle.
I got married in Little Rock in 1977 and had an instant family by adopting her 6 year old son, Simon. When the credit crunch hit in the early '80s and interest rates went way up, the banks in Arkansas basically quit loaning money so I moved back to Toronto with my new family.
I worked as a project manager for a post and beam construction company for two years and then I started my own company again, this time doing building inspections. I also started buying houses and fixing them up to sell.
Shortly after that my wife, Dottye, decided she wanted to move back to Arkansas and like a dummy I closed my business, sold the house I had just renovated and moved the family to Hot Springs where my parents were living.
Managed my dad's donut shop for two years then said enough's enough and we moved back to Toronto.
Started working for a large construction company in Toronto as a project manager doing commercial construction and renovation. After a couple of years, the company was bought out by a larger firm but within a couple of years the new company went out of business an I was laid off.
I started another company, this time doing residential renovations. My wife and I split up a couple of years later and I started dating my 23 year old vegan secretary...(yeah I know). I like to hunt, or as she kept pointing out, "kill animals and eat them". So the novelty wore off after a few months. Still, I can't say it wasn't fun.
About that time I met a lady that produced kids television. At the time she was working on a show call "The Big Comfy Couch". It was shot in Toronto but most people think it's done in the states.
We got together and moved to Nova Scotia to start a production company. She had the expertise and I had the business background. Seemed like a good idea but after two years we had spent most of our money and had no product...Expand for more
ion going. So she started writing for some kids shows and I started driving a limosine.
Then I got offered a job by an old friend in Toronto as a site supervisor on a large project. It would have paid really well (not as much as project management) but a lot of money compared to driving a limo.
The problem was I had to commit to stay for the whole two year project and Cheryl, my producer lady, didn't want to move back to Toronto from Halifax. So like a dummy (again) I agreed to stay in Halifax. Of course, we broke up a few months later.
The good news is I quit driving the limo and started driving for film productions here in Halifax. We work brutal hours (70-80 hrs per week) but I make decent money and I only work about 6 months a year. The most recent film I did was called "Outlanders". It should be released in '07.
My new lady's name is Arlene. She's 19 years younger but she is wonderful and we get along great!
Well that wasn't everything but it gives a good idea about my convoluted journey so far.................
Ok, here's a brief update.
Still in Halifax. Still with Arlene ( over 10 years now). BUT, haven't worked for several months! I may be retired....not sure. My last gig was doing transport for "Bag of Bones" last fall. It was an MOW based on a Stephen King novel starring Pierce Brosnan, Mellisa George, Annabeth Gish and Anika Noni Rose. Jason Priestley also had a small part. He was here to shoot a new season of "Call Me Fitz" so Mick got him to step into a role that hadn't been cast yet.
Pierce was a really nice guy and great to work with. He won the whole crew over at the end of the first week.
It was late Friday night. It had been a long week and they had already been shooting for about 12 hours that day. The Sparks had been lighting the last scene for about 45 minutes and the director, Mick Garrish, called Pierce to the set and said he wanted to block the scene, then Pierce could go back to his trailer while they tweaked the lighting, before they shot it. (Blocking is when they do a walk through to finalize how the actors will move during the scene.) This could have added as much as an hour to our day.
Pierce looked at Mick for a few seconds then he said, "Screw that! It's an easy scene. II'm ready. We'll shoot it in one take and go home." And that's what they did! We all wanted to give him a standing 'O', but decorum prevailed.
Pierce also organized a crew golf tournament and came to the wrap party. A lot of big name actors don't bother to do things like that.
Anyway, I may do another show or I may not. It can be interesting work, but, in Transport, we work 15 hours or more on most days and It's getting harder to do as I get more....uh...Mature!...Yeah, that's it. Mature. Sounds better than 'older'. We're all getting more mature aren't we. To everyone who is retired, congratulations! For those of us who aren't sure yet, well...good luck to us!
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