{"id":24497,"date":"2023-06-02T15:40:20","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T19:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24497"},"modified":"2023-06-02T15:45:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T19:45:38","slug":"episode-830-sad-little-boy-that-i-never-helpedand-marjorie-almost-parallels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24497","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 830 SAD LITTLE BOY THAT I NEVER HELPED\u2026and MARJORIE \u2026 ALMOST PARALLELS"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 830    SAD LITTLE BOY THAT I NEVER HELPED\u2026and MARJORIE \u2026 ALMOST  PARALLELS<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
June 2, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Fwd:\"Whole<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
MY life has been happy most of the time.  Only a Sore knee from football injury. Unlike the student i remember so well at Parkdale  C I in the 1960\u2019s which has a similarity to<\/div>\n
what Marjorie and her brother faced in the 1950\u2019s.   (Picture of Marjorie and Doug Hughes )<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
WHY WAS I SO LUCKY IN LIFE WHILE OTHERS FACED TRAGEDY\u2026ESPECIALLY ONE LITTLE BOY WHOSE NAME IS FORGOTTEN?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Last night I could not sleep so memory took over.  For some strange reason I thought about<\/div>\n
a sad little boy in my Grade 9 class at Parkdale C.I.  He was very shy\u2026.avoided speaking if he could.<\/div>\n
Likely poor.  How do I know that?  Because  a lot of the students were poor which made him<\/div>\n
unremarkable I suppose.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I think his dad died in November in 1964 or 1965. Think he sidled shyly up to my desk and said \u201cMy dad died.\u201d  Or<\/div>\n
another student told me.  That evening I went to the funeral home. A dark place wth 25 Watt light  bulbs. <\/div>\n
Frightening.  The boy was alone in one room.  Seemed surprised and glad to see me. But sad and confused\u2026perhaps frightened. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cHow is your mom?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShe died.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
No mom.  No dad.  No siblings.  No visitors.  No funeral service.  Just this sad little boy and the<\/div>\n
casket with his father\u2019s remains.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why did he come to mind on a sleepless night over sixty years later?  Why?   Because I did nothing to<\/div>\n
help.  Just visited the funeral home across from Bellwood Park where other kids joyfully played ball hockey.<\/div>\n
I did nothing.   I am not sure I even alerted the principal about the boy.  I do not even remember his<\/div>\n
name.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
How lucky I was.  Surrounded by people who liked me.  A huge extended Skeoch family \u2026 so large<\/div>\n
I had trouble sorting out my nieces and nephews.   My grandparents on both sides welcomed visits <\/div>\n
with food and genuine interest in my life.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Yet this little boy had no one.  Sad.  Sadness captured by the song Old Man River… \u201cNobody knows the trouble I\u2019ve seen.  <\/div>\n
Nobody knows but Jesus!\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Whch made me start thinking about Marjorie.  Fast asleep beside me in bed.  A happy girl\u2026woman\u2026wife\u2026.future parent.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Both her parents died.  Her mom died at Christmas 1954 when Marjorie was in Grade 9 at Lawrence Park Collegiate.  At her mom’s funeral she<\/div>\n
did not cry until Mr. Chick, her teacher, brought her home form class to the funeral home.  At least She had her dad<\/div>\n
who taught her how to fish, how to raise baby rabbits. That was some consolation.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
But in April 1956 he died as well.  Marjorie found him and did not know what to do.  She woke her brother.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cDoug, I think Dad is dead.  What should I do?\u2019<\/div>\n
\u201dI think you should go to school.  I\u2019ll look after things.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
   Marjorie walked to school in a daze. Sat in her class<\/div>\n
and wondered why.  What should she do?  What could she do? She went to the office.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cI am going home.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMy father died this morning.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And she went home.  Her high school did nothing.  Marjorie was like the sad little boy described <\/div>\n
earlier.  No mom.  No dad.  No one seemed to care.  Her brother was eight years older than Marjorie<\/div>\n
Already making his way in an adult world.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened to your house?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWe were renters.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYour furniture?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPeople came and took what they wanted.  Strangers.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There is one big difference between the sad little boy and Marjorie.  She was rescued by her aunt Phyllis Morgan who<\/div>\n
was a Latin teacher in the North Bay high school.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cMarjorie, you will come to live with us when the school term ends.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPack what you can carry.  We have a room for you and a new high school..\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And that was all.   Her brother put Marjorie on the train to  North Bay with her single suitcase.<\/div>\n
That was the low point  Soon events turned upward.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Marjorie was loved and rescued.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
  Her life in North Bay turned out to be wonderful.   She joined the curling team, drama club,<\/div>\n
played basketball, went skiing, got good marks, danced, had lots of boy friends who were serious about her.  How do I know that?<\/div>\n
Because when I appeared on the scene she introduced me to them all\u2026even one that proposed marriage.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Her aunt created a new life for Marjorie  Helped her forget the terror of that<\/div>\n
morning when she found her father.  She was loved.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Maybe.  Just maybe\u2026that sad little boy in my Grade Nine class had an uncle or  aunt \u2026older brother or sister\u2026friend..<\/div>\n
that rescued him.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I do not know.  All I do know is that I did nothing .   I did nothing.  And that memory stays with me still.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
What should I have done?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
june 2, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
P>S>   What do schools do when tragedy strikes a student?  I will ask Mary.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 830    SAD LITTLE BOY THAT I NEVER HELPED\u2026and MARJORIE \u2026 ALMOST  PARALLELS alan skeoch June 2, 2023 MY life has been happy most of the time.  Only a Sore knee from football injury. Unlike the student i remember so well at Parkdale  C I in the 1960\u2019s which has a similarity to what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}