June 14, 2008. Canyon Lake, Texas. Bud.

E mailed to Ken today was a picture of Ken and Bud taken while hunting north of Parry Sound. These young boys were very thin indeed, so Ken thinks it must have been taken in the Fall of 1954. Bud and Ken went to school together and he mentioned to Ken on the phone that it was very irritating for Ken and another friend who breezed through high school, while Bud had to work like the devil to keep up with the work and pass the tests. Bud and Mary married in August, 1958, just twelve days before us, so they can not come to our 50Th celebration in Nova Scotia. They are good friends and have been since we all met in 1957, Bud and Mary were both born in Parry Sound, Ontario, and except for one year away at Teacher's College for Bud , they have always lived in Parry Sound. You would think that we would not be good friends, but we are. Bud completed his undergraduate degree either by attending summer school or by taking correspondence courses. He was a teacher, and a good one, eventually ending up as an elementary school Principal, so we had interests in common. And of course, while Ken's Mother was alive, we visited Parry Sound every summer and after every Christmas. They have always been very gracious by having us stay with them. One night we drove from my sister's home just south of Owen Sound, expecting to stay at a motel at any spot available whenever we got tired. But we hadn't known that it was a holiday weekend, and we were in tourist country, so all the motels and hotels were full. We arrived in Parry Sound about midnight, and of course, stopped by Bud and Mary at the Lake. Their house was empty so we went across the road to Mary's brother's cottage to find out where Bud and Mary were that evening, to be told that they were at a wedding. So in we go and crash the party, all four of us, the boys were 9 or 10 years old, and we looked like a wreck. No mind. Bud and Mary were delighted to see us and were happy to let us bunk in with them, even though their children were fast asleep by then. They are good friends, but we do not see much of them now. They are still good friends.

The other significant observation in the picture is that the boys look very carefree. This must have been pre college, pre medical school, pre marriage pre children. Very carefree indeed.