I was born in 1929 in Alliance, Alberta, just east of Camrose. My father was a farmer. In 1966, I was working for the Municipal District of Flagstaff on a grader, and I got a pamphlet in the mail advertising this place. It said to fill the pamphlet out if I was interested in working here, so I did, and two months later, I got a phone call.

I started as a grader operator with Great Canadian Oil Sands, which later was renamed Suncor. I worked on a variety of heavy equipment for Suncor.

Fort McMurray had a salt mine called Dominion Tar and Chemical. The salt was recovered as a brine from wells using water. They made the salt here in five and 50-pound boxes and salt blocks, and they shipped it all over Alberta and Saskatchewan

Now that I'm retired, I like to go fishing. I have a boat I take to Lac La Biche and the little lakes all around here. I think the fishing is getting poorer in this country. And I don't know who to blame for it - maybe it's because there are more fishermen.