Autobiography - written by J. B. Cooper
August 6, 2010
JAMES B. COOPER
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OCT. 16, 1919 -1989
A poem comes and hits the spot,
Arrives in my mind as a pleasant thought.
More time to think as we're getting old,
So many neat stories to be told.
October sixteen & the year nineteen,
I’m told, snow on the ground, everywhere to be seen.
You don't have to think about way back then,
Just add up the years, & I am three score & ten.
With sights set for twenty nineteen & more,
In another thirty years, I have beat the four score.
A good heart responding & nerves that are calm,
Each day lived for God, is like a fresh Psalm.
Took off from the farm, where we lived by Grass Lake,
A fifteen year old lad, decided cottage to make.
It could have been the first, I am not keeping score,
Today the lake is surrounded, there are many more.
My mother a midwife, so much in demand,
And father a good farmer who lived off the land.
A first job was cooking, at the old Lambert Mill,
Those workers ate hardy, had big stomachs to fill.
I liked driving truck, & oft had a choice,
Drove a year for the Hydro, & cousin Rex Boice.
I met my future wife Doris Cowen,1938 was the start,
By 1940 we were married, as she stole my heart.
Redstone Lodge paid so little, they promised the sky,
Took off for Camp Borden where wages were high.
This job near completion, the end was in sight,
Our next move to Oshawa, & # No. 20 E.F.T.S. flight.
We bought a nice home, & then Mary arrived,
But with so much illness, she barely survived.
The war effort progressing, pilots trained by the score,
I joined up for duty in the Canadian Army Corp.
While Doris kept home fires burning, & didn't complain,
I seemed to be moving, always catching the train.
The war was now over, & back home at last,
Let's move to Haliburton & pick up our past.
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A store there was ready & soon it was bought,
But C.T.C. was not ready for that certain spot.
A licensed mechanic can go where he will,
A new garage at West Guilford, was soon filling the bill.
A good home was established, the years there 18,
Lynda, Terry, Judy & Wanda have arrived in between.
Many products were handled, & sales often scored,
But the greatest thing happened, we trusted the Lord.
A new Chapel is needed, Medeba Bible Camp a must,
It is now 38 years that in Jesus we trust.
I gave up the Masons & Rotary plan,
All good in themselves, they only elevate man.
Garage Operators, Red Cross, School Board, held their grip,
The Gideon meetings & Realtors, were a Lindsay trip.
Earl Pitts, a fine Christian, of that Gideon band,
We became trusted partners in developing the land.
From Minden to Bancroft, barrel signs you did see,
On homes, cottages, businesses, or on a tree.
My plane came in handy, many pictures did take,
Found property to divide up, mostly on a good lake.
We moved from West Guilford, the year sixty-four,
A brief stop at Grass Lake & now Beech Lake shore.
C. Walker was our builder using stones that are cast,
Four bedrooms, two carports, we think it will last.
Our five daughters all married, husbands just great,
There were seven grand kids & now there are eight.
The first three girls were nurses, gave hospital care,
The next two in offices, their knowledge to share.
Our new home in Florida, has seen ten years go by,
Love those sunshiny winters, and all that blue sky.
There is volunteering, foreign travel, with stories to tell,
Praise God & Lord Jesus, He guides all things well.
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