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Continued from page 9 it doesn’t begin in Canada. fed was born in the United States - Detroit, Michigan to be exact. fed explains that when his father, Sam Griffen, was a young man he was faced with having no work around Port Perry so he headed off to Detroit where there were still plenty of jobs. After about four years in the USA, Sam decided to return to Port Perry, where he mar- ried his childhood sweetheart Verna Macke' Following their marriage, with Verna in tow, Sam re- turned to his job in Detroit. Not long after, in November 1928, Verna gave birth to their first son, Charles Edward Griffen. Not by coincidence, Edward was also the name of his grandfather, who lived near Honeys Corner north of town. With encouragement from his father, Sam returned to Port Perry and purchased the Farmer’s Union Milling Company, on May 25, 1930. Ted was only two and a half years old when they ar- rived in town and one of his most vivid recollections was playing in the old Cora steamboat, which was dry docked on the property his father had purchased. “T lived in the mill from the time I was four years old,” he recalls. By the time he was seven he was working cutting scraps of wood on an old bandsaw, standing on a wooden platform built by his father so the youngster could reach the machine. “T always knew Id be in the lumber business,” he says, but admits at one point in his life he had dreams of becoming a bush pilot. “I thought that would be a real thrill,” he beams. His dream of becoming a bush pilot faded, but he did get his flying license years later and he has now Sam Griffen Like many young boys, Ted stumbled But he thrived when school was dismissed at the end of the day, wormed his way home, dropping into shop after shop “I'd stop at Mr. Stevenson’s and watch him repair shoes for awhile, then make my way to Jeffrey and Taylor and watch them make harness. Then it was off down the street to Ben Smallman’s blacksmith shop and I usually ended with a visit into Carnegie’s Hardware store.” After his brief adventure, he headed back home where he changed into his work clothes and headed down to the mill. Here he would fill his wagon with scraps of wood and haul them home, where they were used to heat the house. All this for an allowance of 25 cents a week. To earn extra money he collected dew worms by night, sometimes with his mom. They would be packaged and sold at the lakefront for one cent each. When he turned 14 years old he recalls getting his driver’s license so he could help his dad at the mill. Due to the war, the government allowed young men to get their license early, so at 14 years of age, Ted would drive his father’s 1930 GMC truck around town delivering ice blocks to his customers. These were the same blocks they had harvested from Lake Scugog over the winter. “My dad hated cutting ice in the winter and he was always ugly at that time of the he recalls. Tt was during his school years that Ted got a taste for music, a love of his to this day. “1 gota taste of the joy of music from a music teacher when I was in Grade 2 and I’ve never lost it,” he says. While attending high school, he started playing the trumpet in the school orchestra and that lead to his becoming a member of an 11-piece dance band called the Vandywalker Orchestra. “We played at the Jubi- lee Pavilion in Oshawa during the winter and at Musselman’s Lake in the summer,” he said. It was also while attending high school he met the girl who would become his wife. He explained that the senior boys would always look over the new crop of girls coming “T lived in the mill from the time | was four years old...” wnTed Griffen along the way to feed his curiosity. 12 FOCUS - MAY 2010 father Edward J. Griffen, his father Samuel N. Griffen, his great grandfa Samuel Griffen (mallet and watch), Cecil King (50 year employee) and ried own at by, from left, his rand