Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia in Canada from families having British, Scottish and Norwegian ancestry who came to British Columbia about 1900 to work in the forest industries. I grew up in British Columbia and saw much of it with our family through vacations and travel. In the 50’s we crossed Canada many times visiting relatives in New Brunswick. My grandmother, an artist, was born in Truro NS, however she later built a little log house on Gabriola Island just off the coast of Nanaimo in the Salish Sea.

In my later teens we moved to Ottawa. My father was an engineer working for the Department of National Defense and was transferred to DND IN Ottawa. The family became interested in farming and much of my formative years were spent working on the farm driving machines which I learned to do even before I got my drivers licence. I learned a lot from my dad.