Donald Downie:
CLASS OF 1959
Port Arthur Collegiate High SchoolClass of 1959
Thunder bay, ON
Queen's University - LawClass of 1966
Kingston, ON
Queen's University - Arts & ScienceClass of 1963
Kingston, ON
Donald's Story
After graduating from PACI in June of 1959, I went along with a number of other PACI grads to Queens University in Kingston. I took a BA in Politics and History and then entered Law School at Queens. I got married to Gerri Mallins,who started at PACI but who transfered to Lakeview when it opened. She also went to Queens (English and History) starting a year after me. We got married in August of 1962 as she was entering her third year and I was entering Law School. We had some sort of belief that two could live as cheaply as one. However our plans did not include her getting pregnant within a month of the wedding. As a result we left Queens after that year and returned to Thunder Bay where we both got jobs teaching at the newly opened Hammarskjold High School. I was full time and Gerri was half time and looked after baby Mary-Jo the other half time.
After a year of teaching we resolved to return to Queen's so I could complete Law School. Gerri got a teaching job at Sydenham High School, just outside of Kingston.
After Law Shool I got a job articling with a corporte law firm in Toronto and Gerri taught at Mimico High School. I got admited to the bar in Ontario after the Bar Admission Coursr in April 1968.
I took a job with an old established Kitchener Law firm and we m...Expand for more
oved there where Gerri continued to teach off and on while having our son David and a second daughter Karen.
Once in law I gravitated to civil litigation eventually becoming a local specialist in wrongful dismissal cases. I also got elected a Township Counsellor for Woolwich Township between 1978 and 1985.
I June of 1985 I got appointed a justice of The Ontario Court of Justice doing mostly criminal cases but with a little family law thrown in. I retired from full time judging in Janualry of 2008 but continue on a part time basis.
We spend our winters (except for time at Christmas) at a winter home in Punta Gorda Florida (about 25 miles north of Fort Myers on the west coast) and the summers at our home in Winterbourne (just outside of Kitchener and at our cottage on Lake Huron at Southampton. I work about 60-80 days a year during the periods in Ontario.
Gerri taught for a number of years and also served as Associate Registrar at Conestog College for a while. She is full retired since 2004. We were married 48 years last August.
Our Children have all grown up. Mary-Jo is with the RCMP in Ottawa. David is a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Waterloo and Karen is Facilities Manager with the YMCA in London. We have three grandchildren.
Well that is us in a nutshell.
Don Downie
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