Trevor Carlos Gomes:
CLASS OF 1962
Simonds High SchoolClass of 1962
Saint john, NB
University of New BrunswickClass of 1969
Fredericton, NB
Trevor Carlos's Story
Life
Graduated in '62... Remember fondly many people including Alan Dodge, Jimmy Thompson, Darlene Lawton, Tom McIlwraith, Don Dunbar, Peter and Allyson McLellan, Garth Maxwell, Mr. Eliot, Miss Ellen Gregg..and many more...
527 Simonds Air Cadets was a wonderful experience. S/L Hastings was a great CO. I loved airplanes, summer camps at Greenwood and an overseas tour to Marville, France, the Maginot Line, London, Uxbridge, Cardif, Edingburgh and Aberdeen in the UK.
Social life--none-- dreadfully shy -- new immigrant from South America and unfamiliar with behavioural codes around young women. Had lots of friends but did not date.
Workplace
While at Simonds I worked part-time at the Kwik-Pik grocery store as stock clerk, packer and sometimes cashier. After graduating I worked at the Golden Ball (Irving Oil) as a mail clerk for Miss Scribner, who was a good boss for me. I worked for her for a year, then she recommended me for a job at the oil refinery where I worked for several summers, first as a labourer, then received training as a fire-fighter then in the trades insulating, carpentry, pipe-fitting, steam-pump operation, and in the boiler plant. I did not mind the shift-work at that age, but when I saw the old men still walking the pipe-line at 2 a.m on cold or rainy nights, or doing an emergency repair on a broken steam-pump during a storm I decided I had better find some other occupation.
Attended Grade 13 at Saint John High where I had a couple of great teachers including Dr. Wagstaff (chemistry) who took me on as his lab assistant. I took German from a very sociable female teacher whose name I cannot remember, and Mathematics from a brilliant, very thin English gentleman.
UNB Fredericton was my next stop, and the scene of many life-changing experiences.
Miss Ellen and her sister Nan Gregg helped me to settle in Fredericton and to make friends.
Many many wonderful people have crossed my path and marked my life. Wil van den Hoonaard a most remarkable Dutch young man a year or two older than me impressed me with his kindness, openness, positive spirit and encouragement, his non-violent, peaceful nature and his deep spirituality. He is still my closest friend. There are others--like Ken Moore a graduate student in English, Shankara Jois graduate Physics, Chang and his wife from China -graduate chemistry, David Kamwete with WUSC-from Kenya, Steve Crawford the pianist who played in the dark in the Arts building, Charlie Rowan and Linda Green (my first wife) and so many more I am embarassed to not be able to mention them all. Then there were marvelous professors like Mariano Piquer, Harry Lusher, Franz Eppert, Laszlo Szabo, Abram Friesen, Szdenek Valenta, and my great medieval history professor Dean MacNutt.
I started UNB in Physics and Chemistry and did well, but loved the Classics, languages, sociology, and switched into Arts and completed a BA majoring in languages/linguistics...Expand for more
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After studying in Germany at the university in Kiel and then at the university in Freiburg, I returned to Canada (UNB) for further post-graduate studies, and married Linda Green. We had two children--Paul in 1972 and Jonathan in 1975, and lived in Nashwaaksis.
I worked for the federal government for 25 years in adult education/ training, human rights and employment equity. Most of my volunteer life was spent seeking justice and fairness for all people--for women, for Native peoples, for people with disabilities, and visible and other minorities.
Linda and I separated in 1979 although today we are still friends, and I thank her for the wonderful job she did in raising our two boys.
My second wife was Lauraine Légaré who I met in Québec City. She was a very special woman who was magical in many ways. We were a perfect fit together, and loved each other so deeply it scared me...perhaps commitment was an issue. We separated in early 1989. After a period of intense sadness and depression and suicidal urges, I regained some focus and met Jo-Anne Elder. We married in August 1990, and she has been the love of my life. When I thought there was nothing left, she came along and showed me the world. My life has been enrichened by seven additional children--Jérémy, Katherine, Gabriel, Elisabeth, Anneke, Benjamin, and Naomi. Jo-Anne and I have grown together and matured and deepened our humanity, compassion and spirituality. We have had to deal with the deaths of our parents, my own health issues and dance with death--cancer, heart, diabetes, and Jo-Anne has been there with me every step of the way. Our love and our devotion to one another has grown way beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Every day is a blessing, and every person who crosses our path and event which takes place is an opportunity to deepen our humanity and our spirituality.
In 1993 I took the job as Director of the Atlantic Human Rights Centre at St. Thomas University where I conducted research projects and taught human rights for two years. In 1995 Jo-Anne and I left paid employment and moved to Burlington Ontario to look after Jo-Anne's ailing father and to raise our family. Needless to say we both became involved in volunteer work and took on some contract work to make ends meet. I mentored with a couple of Native Elders -- Raymond Gould and Vern Harper, and became very involved with the Fort Erie, Hamilton and Toronto Native Friendship centers as Drum Keeper, and working with the homeless and alcohol and drug centers. After returning to NB I teamed up with Elders Maggie Paul and Harry Laporte and others volunteering in First Nations communities and bridging the gap with mainstream society by offering Native awareness sessions in schools throughout Fredericton and Oromocto, Moncton and even in Hampton and Saint John. Both Jo-Anne and I work out of our home so that we can be available for our children.
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