Walter talks about his family and his philosophy of life
INT:So all in all what message would you give to anybody listening to your story? We are going to have a lot of school children listening.
W.G:I think when you look back two thirds is attitude. I don’t want to say successful life, because I do not want to say I have a successful life, but I mean I have a good life and I enjoy life and two thirds of it is attitude.
Unfortunately, a big chunk of that comes from your parents so if you are born in the right circumstances you get more that just a head start.
INT:And your mum must have been a very strong person?
W.G:My dad was pretty strong too. You know I mean my mother was certainly interesting.
They were an interesting pair.
INT:Your sister went to Israel?
W.G:My sister married in 1953 and moved to Israel.
Bridget moved to Israel and got married there and she has lived there ever since. She has four boys and eleven grandchildren. They are all in Israel.
INT: And you married?
W.G: I married in 1964. Tomorrow it will be 50 years – 7th June.
INT: What is your wife’s name?
W.G: Oh my wife, my wife.
My wife is Lois Kay. We met in Winnipeg. She was just finishing up university and finishing off three years of being Manitoba fencing champion, foil you know, and so I live a dangerous life so you know … every minute. No damage at all.
INT: How many children do you have?
W.G: We have four children. They are all living in Vancouver, in the same area. I can cycle there. The furthest is a 35 minutes cycle run. One daughter lives just across the back lane there and we have five grandchildren. We see them pretty regularly. We bump into them at least once a week.
We live far enough away that we do not see them leave their houses. Every second Friday, we are all together for Friday night supper.
We moved from Saskatoon to Vancouver almost eight years ago.
We decided, as three of them were here, and the one who was in Saskatoon had been working here. They are all very good friends and do all kinds of things together and they have done all their life. The middle two are competitive sailors. For them coming to Saskatoon twice a year – we had the room but it was an awful expense and it meant we did not grow up with the grandchildren.
The climate was not much of a consideration as we got used to the climate.
