Laurence Hutchman:
CLASS OF 1966
Emery Collegiate InstituteClass of 1966
North york, ON
North Albion Collegiate High SchoolClass of 1967
Etobicoke, ON
Laurence's Story
I was known as "Larry" during my years at Emery. While at high school I participated in several individual sports such as track and field and gymnastics. I graduated from Emery in 1966. After attending North Albion Collegiate, I went to the University of Western Ontario for a year. It was the late sixties and I was feeling restless I left Canada to live in Europe for almost two years in Ireland, England and Holland as well as hitchhiking around Europe Also during the time I lived in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1968 the Irish troubles began and witnessed several violent events. I returned to Canada, graduated from Western in 1972. I still kept in contact (and still do) with some of my friends from Emery.
After leaving London, I relocated to Montreal to learn French (many people were travelling the other direction). I married Mary Downey in 1974. In Montreal, I met Louis Dudek who published my second book of poetry Explorations. I loved living in Montreal in the 1970's--it was an exciting time. I completed my Masters in Creative Writing. In 1980 our son Sean was born. The following year I got a position as lecturer in English at the University of Alberta in Edmonton where we stayed for two years. I met my old friend, Ron Grigg who was also working in Edmonton. Since I could not get a full-time position, I decided to go back to university one more time. Our daughter Emma was born in 1984. A week later I began my doctorate in English at the Universite de Montreal. It was the most satisfying academic experience of my life. In those days it was extremely difficult to get a position at University, but I believed in spite of the odds that I could obtain one. After graduating, I happily returned to Ontario to teach at my Alma Mater for a year. That was a fascinating experience teaching in the place where I was a student. In 1990 I accepted a position at the Universite de Moncton in Edmundston where I stayed until this year when I retired. I also taught English across the river in the United States at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. I greatly enjoyed my teaching career and was influenced by my Emery High School teachers, Miss Ramsden, Mr. Mitchell, and Miss Henderson.
During the last three years at university, I discovered that I loved to paint--and took several...Expand for more
courses from the Art teacher, Rejean Toussaint. I have always wanted to paint since I first saw my Uncle Herman painting. I have painted more than thirty large canvases. I had my first solo exhibition "At the Border of Writing and Painting" at the Galerie Colline in Edmundston. I also painted a picture called "Emery" which was printed in the Emery 50th Anniversary program along with excerpts of my poems. The painting is now at Emery.
When I retired in 2013, I moved to Oakville with Eva. We were married in 2015. Since retiring I have published Personal Encounters, Two Maps of Emery, and The House of Shifting Time. During this pandemic year I published a collaborative book of poems with my wife, Eva Fire and Water with Black Moss Press, and this fall, I published "Swimming Toward the Sun: Collected Poems: 1968-2020 with Guernica Editions. In 2017 I was named Poet laureate of Emery. In March of 2022, I published with Guernica Editions In the Writers' Words: Conversations with Canadian Poets, Volume 11 which included Brian Bartlett, Roo Borson, George Elliott Clarke, Travis Lane, John B. Lee, D.A. Lockhart, Bruce Meyer, A. F. Moritz, Sue Sinclair, Colleen Thibideau. The first volume of In the Writers' Words published by Guernica Editions in 2011, featured such poets as P.K. Page, Al Purdy, Louis Dudek, and Anne Szumigalski.,
Emery for me was not only a school but a place, the place where I grew up. When I was living in Quebec in the oldest house in the Chateauguay Valley, I started to write poems about Emery, perhaps because the area reminded me of the land around Emery. I wrote poems about typing class, Italian Gardens, playing hockey on Crang's Pond..." I had a dream that I should return to Emery. And I did return to Emery to discover the history of the place. I researched the history of Emery for more than two years in my summers. I published Emery in 1998 with Black Moss Press. In these poems, I wrote my time at Emery but also of the history of the
place. In 1958 Les Kelly and I were chased off the farmer's land. In front of the big field, where the arena is now we played hockey, football, baseball, and even camped out overnight. There are so many memories of Emery.
In December 2021, Eva and I moved from Oakville, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia.
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