Rick Belton:  

Life Hello people. To keep it short, I graduated at age 21, not an auspicious start however, I hold a Master's degree in Social Work and have had a mostly rewarding career in Child Welfare, retiring at age 45 on Manitoulin Island where we have lived for the past 20 years. I have two children - Rebecca aged 28 and Andrew aged 25 both of whom live in Toronto. I just celebrated my 33rd wedding anniversary on Aug 3rd with the only woman I have ever known who would put up with me all this time. I do wonder what it might have been like if I had pursued a certain relationship beyond high school but it doesn't really matter since I've been happy for so long now. I have been a Lion's member for over 25 years and am also a Mason and a Shriner. In fact I was in London at the Hilton this past weekend for the International Hillbillies Convention. We are all Shriners whose sole purpose is to raise monies so kids in medical need can attend the Shriner's Hospitals at absolutely no cost to them or their family in any way. My daughter was a lucky recipient of care in Montreal to have her leg lengthened. She was there three months. Believe it or not, Bernie Jackson and I became very good friends after high school. I was living in Haileybury, Ont. and visiting my parents on our anniversary at a camp on Rib Lake, for a bon fire after having gone to Temagami for dinner. Bernie was talking to my dad when Linda and I showed up. He had a cottage across the lake and had come over for the bon fire, He was good friends with the then vice principal of New Kiskeard High School, as was I and it took off from there. A couple of years later, Bernie's cottage fell on him when its foundation was washed out by the spring run-off. Bernie came close to dying and spent many months in the hospital. Jack ( the v.p. ) and I along with another friend of Bernie's went over and raised the cottage, fixed it up and repaired the damages don...Expand for more