William Francis Young:  

I was born in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia on July 12, 1951. My family name is of English, Irish and Scot lineage. I was named after my grandfather William who was killed in the war, my father Francis, and my Uncle and godfather Patrick. I moved to Montreal (Amherst & Sherbrooke) when I was just one. I returned to Sydney Mines every summer, until I was given my first bicycle and job at age 13. I attended Daniel O'Connor (an all boy's school run by the Franciscan Brothers) for grade school. We lived on Prud'Homme Avenue, just south of Sherbrooke. At 13 I worked at the local drug store delivering prescriptions for about a year. Then I was offered a job at Cantor's bakery, cutting and selling bread. I was there for about a year. We moved to King Edward Avenue, at Fielding when I went to High School, so I could walk to school. At Marymount I was on the Chess Team, Football Team, Gymnastic team, and the Track and Field Team. On the weekends, I would play football with Jerry Forliano, David Engel, and Elmer Szigetevari?? (sorry Ziggy...not sure about the spelling). I saw Jerry once a number of years back, but have lost track of everyone else. A big change in my life came the summer between grade 9 and 10. Eddy, my neighbour across the street was a mason. He was also a Hungarian Jew, so he had a head for business. He was a short, muscular, tough as nails, with a really short temper!!! He offered me a job for the summer. I am not sure what he saw in the skinny little teenager, that lived across the street, but anyway I worked for him for the summers. My job was to mix cement in a wheel barrow by hand. Typical day was start work at 7...Go load the old milk truck up with about a ton of sand by hand with a shovel. Then pack the bags of cement on top of the sand, if we had a large job, bags were also piled in the doorway where we sat. We would get to a job, and I would have to mix enough cement to do the job. Sometimes 20 to 25 wheel barrows of cement and be finished by noon. I gained 25 pounds of muscle that summer and grew about 4 inches! In September I made the Marymount football team. I will always remember Eddy, his terrifying temper and his heart of gold... I found out years later, that Eddy was stabbed (and died) one night by a family member when he was intoxicated. I am guessing his temper got him killed! I Graduated from Marymount in 1968, and Graduated from Ecole de Metier d'Automobile in 1969, and from Institut de Technologie de Vaudreuil in 1970. At that time I was working as a landscaper on Brigadier General Whitehead's estate in Dorval. The "General's" son Dr. Michael Whitehead, was the director of hematology at the Montreal Children's Hospital and would visit his parents and stay in the guest house. I am sad to say that in January 2016 I learned that Michael was diagnosed with a form of dementia. His wife was a Television News Woman and is an accomplished Quebec author. Check out her Facebook page " louisepennyauthor" My two years of French immersion for Auto and Diesel Mechanics, served me well my whole career, as I am nearly bi-lingual. I had part time work at Morgan's in the Men's department, so I always had nice clothes to wear when we went downtown to the "Bus Stop", a coffee shop near McGill University. I was a Sea Cadet and I also took Karate lessons in Montreal. I returned to Marymount in 1970 to upgrade my math and English for CGEP. The most memorable part of Marymount that year was a very special lady, who hailed from Mexico. Unfortunately, I had made a bad choice in life, and was forced to leave Montreal before finishing the school year. Once in Toronto, my uncle hired me on his crew as a steel worker for Horton Steel; building the Bruce Nuclear Power Plan near Kincardine. The money was great but I did not like living in a steel camp in the middle of nowhere, so another uncle sponsored me as a dock hand with Kingsway Transport in Mississauga. While working on the night shift, I went to George Brown College in the mornings and learned to drive tractor trailer. When I graduated, I began working the dock at night and driving tractor trailer in the mornings for Provincial Driver supply. In 1972 I lost my sister in the Blue Bird Club fire in Montreal. In 1973 I had a serious back injury and was hospitalized for 8 months. I could no longer do heavy lifting, so I enrolled in college in 1974 and Graduated as an Electro-mechanical Technologist in 1977 from Humber College. My first job after college was as a Starch Technician with St. Lawrence Starch in Mississauga. I travelled all over Canada to paper mills and cardboard box companies. My next job was as a Marketing manager for Cusco Industries, a tank truck manufacturer, owned and operated by Wilf Stemmle, Father to Canadian Olympic skier Brian Stemmle. I finally landed at Bell Canada in 1979. I retired from Bell after 30 years of service. During my working years, I had over 5 years of industry training, and ended my career as a Performance Management Consultant. I was the first Bell Canada Call Centre Consultant to be contracted out to a client for a long term contract. I have to give tribute to Colin Campbell, from Bell in Ottawa. I was a single dad of two when I met Colin, and he was a forward thinking boss. He was one of the true forces in my life. It was Colin who convinced me to take that first assignment at BMO as a contractor. It was something that no one at Bell had ever done before, and it was terrifying to step out of the Bell Box! To go to work every day at your client's office, and report to both your boss at Bell and a new boss at BMO. The eight month long contract negotiated and with me convinced to give it a try, I was the first bell employee who's contracted rate more than covered his salary... I was being paid for my "grey matter"... at a rate of $500 a day In 1997. Over the years I learned to be proactive and always look at the BIG picture, and I also developed a unique ability... to seamlessly join a client's team and blend into their organization. This gift gave me the opportunity to work with the executive teams of some of the largest call centres in both Canada and the United States. During my career I had the opportunity to travel to more than 20 US States, and across Canada. My daily rate increased with every contract and my improving skills. Before I retired, my daily rate for the training packages I facilitated had grown to over $3000 a day. Now that I am retired, I look back on those challenging times and wonder... How was I so lucky, to have met Colin! Colin wherever you are, a big THANK YOU! The only province I have not visited is Newfoundland, I have vacationed all over the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. When I travel I like to get right into the culture. I have ridden the local bus in the Dominican, Went fishing in Belize, swam on the reef and rode a horse in the surf in Honduras. I learned to sail in Mexico (I have visited Mexico 5 times), I have taken the local bus between Playa Del Carmen and Cancun to do some sightseeing or to snorkel off the reef. I have a weakness for foreign cultures and Latin women. I married in 1979 and was married for 15 years, and have two children. My Daughter, Nadine is a Teacher. She is married to Kevin a Fire Fighter, and my Son Derek...Expand for more