Unless you take careful note, beginnings and endings tend to slip by unnoticed. Ted and I joined The Writers’ Union of Canada at about the same time—1982—his date (I checked); I can’t remember mine. Suddenly or gradually he was always there—at our Annual General Meetings—always friendly, so witty, such fun—and once I think we coincided as Floats (now called Advocates) so we must have attended the National Council meetings,twice a year. I was living in Muskoka then but always attended the AGMs. Ted was Montreal born and bred, andl ived there always, with some exceptions in the past, but he appeared wherever we gathered.

The exceptions, that required living elsewhere for some time, included a slew of degrees….