Lives Lived - Fredric Fraser Thompson

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In addition to the usual obituary notices, The Globe and Mail often prints personal stories and reminiscences under the title "Lives Lived". The one submitted by Fred Thomson's daughter, Sarah, caught my eye.

It identified Fred as historian, academic, teacher, administrator, reader, roamer,wit

Born October 22, 1913 in Sheffield, England. Died (of old age), October 23, 2008 in Kingston, Ontario.

Apparently he was an amazing character but also described As "A Man of Two Hearts". Born a working class boy in Sheffield, his childhood haunts were Meersbrook Park and the streets beyond. But he never seemed to forget his old neighbourhood.

He progressed from a 14 year old cabin boy on a trading ship bound for China, to Cliffe College in Derbyshire, Lay-Methodist missionary in Newfoundland and Labador and eventually to Head of the Arts Department at the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston.

But it was said that he never stopped yearning for the land of his birth and in 1970, he realized his dream for a country home when he bought a farm near Kingston. He called it"Meersbrook".