EPISODE 926 SUMMER OF 1959: “VESPER INCANTATO PEREGRINAM VIDES” (SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, YOU WILL MEET A STRANGER)
Dec. 7,2023
Our love affair …on an “enchanted evening” at a dance “across a crowded room”, I met a “stranger” and
“never let her go”.
Sophmores…second year men …inflated egos perhaps. I saw her right away. “across a crowded room”
“Jim. that girl looks nice.”
“Right,” and Jim darted across the dance floor and danced with her then returned
“Jim, you did not give me a chance. I spotted her.”
“She is nice, Alan, really nice. Your turn is now.”
And we danced. The evening suddenly become enchanting. We danced slow to something like “My Prayer”, cheek to cheek”
and frantic to any lyric by Elvis Pressly”. And the dance ended. The crowd dispersed. She headed for her residence and
we caught the bus to western edge of Toronto. I did not even catch her name.
Latin was not my best subject but one fragment got into te the long term storage compartment of my brain. “Vesper Incantato,
peregrines vides,” … “Some Enchjanted evening, you will meet a stranger”…across a crowded room. The hit song from
Rodgers and Hamerstein’s South Pacific. Our Latin teacher loved to sing i to us in Latin.
That is how it happened. But who was she?
Next afternoon at football practice our team was doing excercises running around the trcak a few times.
Lo snd behold, there she was leaning out a window of her residence. Fourth floor. I spotted her.
“Hi, up there, what are you doing tonight?”
“Nothing much”
“Meet you at seven at Wymilwood” (coffee shop for Victoria College students)
“OK”
Her name is (was) Marjorie Hughes, freshwoman from North Bay, … a nice person for sure. We clicked
She became secretary for her 6T2 student executive. A lot of people thought she was nice. One boy
even proposed marriage to her unknown to me. She chose to take a chance on me. Big risk.
We all have priorities in our lives. My priorities changed in 1959 as a result of a speech given to
Humberside graduate by th Dean of Women from University of Guelph.
“What is most important to you as graduates?” She paused. “I suspect you have high goals….high careers in mind.”
Let me give you a word of advice at this fork in the road of your life journey.”
“The most important goal should be finding a person with whom you wish to spend the rest of your life.”
Pause. “Career is secondary. Too few people are aware of this. Your career might last for 30 or so years. Your marriage,
should you be so lucky could last twice as long. Be vigilant.”
Number of my fellow graduate thought that was dumb speech. They had clear careers in mind…doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc. etc.
Personally I thought she was right. I was looking for a wife. University was secondary…no university was third . Football was second.
Adventure ss a geophysical explorer was new the top as well. Until a geologist I worked with died and his body was flow from
the bush in Chibougamau. Suddenly this goal faded.
But finding a person with whom
to spend my life was the very top of my list.
We soon got around to holding hands.
Marjorie had come through a tough year in her life in 1955 when both her mom and her dad died. She was
a Grade 10 student at Lawrence Park Collegiate when all meaning her life had was shattered.
‘I went to school that morning dad died. I was numb…walked back home. No one seemed to care.”
Her mothers’ sister, Phyllis Morgan was a Latin tescher in faraway Norh Bay. She became Marjorie’s guardian.
A life changing event.. “All I owned was put in my suitcase when I took the bus to North Bay. What wonderful
years followed. Chippewa High School. Dances, Curling Team, Drama Club (I Was a witch), summer cottages, trips,
friends..
…life changed.
Also a lot of boyfriends many of whom I met. Nice guys.
she chose me
My family was huge. Marjorie became part of it. Dad was unpredictable so much so that I never brought a girlfriend to
meet him until Marjorie. He fell in love with her immediately. She liked horses and Dad had spent a lifetime at
racetracks looking for the golden ring which he never grasped. He loved her so much
that Marjorie could not breast feed our boys because Dad appeared at our house every spare moment.
Marjorie became part of our family. A big part. She even spent several summers as part of a series
of mining wildernes jobs one of which was at Paradise Lodge on the lonely Algomaa Central Railway stop
72 (?) where she brought our cat, Presque Neige, and her electric machine which amused the crew
as we had wolves howling for the cat at night and no electricity for the sewing machine.
we had a very rich life ahead of us.
