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He recalls looking for strange varieties of trilliums, digging them up and trying to grow them in their backyard. Also there was a huge limestone rock at the top of the hill at their cottage that had some huge fossils in it that their dad had someone come and look at. At night he would often go out to the middle of the lake or the top of the hill to look at the stars, and watched for shooting stars. There were lots of other kids on the lake he played with they had a trail beaten across everyone's properties from going back and worth. They also had a trading library. He noticed that this didn't happen anymore when he went back as an adult the kids had all grown up.He remembers going with his dad to Juniper Island on Stoney Lake to go square dancing at the pavilion on Wednesday nights. It was just for kids and they loved it. Robert would go canoeing, swimming, and for picnics at the Kawartha Park Marina, his dad knew the people who owned it. There was also a church across the lake and Robert was in the choir, he would go across the lake once a week for choir practice and then go over for church on Sunday.
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Robert's favourite place now in Peterborough is the river near his house in East City. He says you can go down to the shoreline and not see any buildings. It's like being in the country, there are lots of flowers, ducks, etc. He takes his camera and takes photos of the flowers.Robert doesn't really keep in contact with people he went to school with since he moved neighbourhoods and went to a country high school with a lot of farm kids who had chores after school. He didn't do much socializing after school and he had to work at the store so he never really made a lot of long lasting friendships.
When Robert was young he remembers being able to buy a bottle of pop, bag of chips and a chocolate bar for a quarter. He would go to the Stop Awhile Restaurant (his mom worked there when the kids were a bit older it was very close to their house) and buy a drink for 5 cents, and popsicles for 2 cents.
He didn't go to dances at the YMCA because their church did not believe in dancing and playing cards (square dancing was okay different kind of dancing). His social life as a teenager was school, work and Young Peoples at the church.
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Robert Laing's mother Dorothy at the family's store.4 May 1966
Chemong Road, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
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As a young man Robert was involved with the Young People's group through the church his family attended. The youth group often went camping and canoeing, etc.The Laings attended Edmison Heights Bible Chapel which is located across the street from Adam Scott High School. The family was actually involved in the founding of that church.
The family often had a traditional Sunday dinner but that changed somewhat when they had the store because they were open 7 days a week. Robert's parents were more liberal about behaviour on Sundays (things you were allowed to do) but his Grandma Laing frowned on things like swimming on Sundays. The family did go to church on Sundays often twice a day.
Robert was in Youth for Christ and once a month there was an event at Pentecostal Church on Dublin Street in Peterborough. He also went to bible camp as a child, and was also a counselor at a bible camp when he was a teenager.
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Robert Laing talks about working on Friday nights at his family's store.28 March 2006
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
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Robert and his older brother, Ron, had to work after school and on weekends at the family owned Super Test Gas Station on Chemong Rd. When they first had the store his dad would be open early in the morning and would stay open until really late at night but it became too much for his mom who was diabetic and they did trim the hours down.He remembers working Friday nights when people from Ennismore would come in around 2 minutes after midnight for a hot beef sandwich. Many people in Ennismore were Catholic and they couldn't eat meat on Friday so as soon as they were free' to do so they'd turn up at the snack bar. The family used to hate it when this happened because they didn't really want to be making hot beef sandwiches and hamburgers after midnight but they did. Eventually his dad got wise to this and started closing around 10 or 11pm.
They put on a special lunch every day and people would come from miles around for lunch, people from Bell telephone even landed in their backyard by helicopter to come for lunch. The Laing Super Test Gas Station had quite a reputation for offering a good home cooked meal at a reasonable price. His dad was a pie maker and they always had home baked pies, etc.
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The Laing family in Bermuda on their first big vacation.1 January 1964
Bermuda
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The family went to Bermuda over the Christmas holidays in 1964. It was the first family trip to anywhere that was exotic. Robert and his brother were working at the store so they had to pay their own way. Robert recalls a fancy dinner out cost $5 each, which at the time was very expensive.Robert spent one summer working at Ste. Marie Among the Hurons when he was in university. There was a very intensive two week training program before starting the job that he thinks was worthy of a university credit. Interpreters had to learn a variety of skills and learn about several different topics, there was lots of reading to do and they were expected to know about what they read so they could provide interpretation of the site to visitors.
Robert decided he was not a maintenance kind of person and didn't know how to do repairs or anything like that so he got thinking about what would be best for his type of personality. He decided that teaching was the best thing he could do. His parents weren't particularly encouraging about going to university in fact his mom asked him why he wanted to do that. They didn't give him very much financial assistance, they didn't have a lot of money to give him.
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The Laing family on Robert's parents 25th wedding anniversary.1966
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
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When asked if his family encouraged him to get into teaching, Robert replies he "doesn't really remember". His real passion was art, he had applied to the Ontario College of Art and had been accepted, however he had to repeat his final year of high school and then he decided he really didn't want to go into that field. He thought the pressure of being a commercial artist would be too much. He then went to Bible school and did some mission work. He spent a year in France and learned to speak French a lot better.Robert's final teaching placement was a school in Toronto where he was teaching all second language. His dad called him and told him that the school board wanted to interview him the next day so he had to leave that placement and come home for an interview. The interview was half in French and half in English, he was interviewed by two people one spoke French and one spoke English.
He found out almost immediately that he had a job with the Peterborough Board of Education. He was sent to Grove Public School, one of the most difficult schools in Peterborough. It was very challenging for a French teacher since the attitude was not very positive for learning languages. Robert recalls most teachers had problems with the kids but French was the toughest to teach because many didn't think it was important. He also had to teach grade 6 social studies and grade 8 history.
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Robert's wife Theresia was born in Holland and her family emigrated to the Peterborough area. They met each other at church she had just returned from going to a bible school in New York. They met in the summer and they hadn't known each other very long before Robert went to France for a 6 week backpack tour with a friend. While he was traveling he didn't have any contact with her, when he returned in the fall they met up again. They were engaged at Christmas and were married in 1977. It turns out they both went to Crestwood but she was in grade 9 when he was in grade 13 so they didn't know each other then. She grew up in Bridgenorth after living in Calgary, Toronto and near Television Road in Peterborough County. They even rode the same bus but they didn't socialize because of the age difference.25
After their marriage Robert and his wife lived at the John Street residence for the first year. Their eldest child was born there. During this time Robert's mother died and his father sold the house and moved to Lakefield. Robert and his family moved out to take care of him. They lived in the big house and his dad lived in the smaller one on the property. Their daughter was born there. Robert and Theresia have three children, two sons and one daughter.26
Eventually Robert's dad remarried and Robert and his family went to Germany shortly after where Robert taught Protestant religion for a few years. When they returned to Canada they came back to Peterborough and Robert worked once more for the Peterborough Board of Education. He taught French as a Second Language for a few years and then started teaching grade 3. Sometimes he would teach a 2/3 or 3/4 split class but he always taught grade 3.Robert Laing retired from teaching in the spring of 2005. His last school was Queen Elizabeth Public School. He is now a very active volunteer in his community.
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