The following transcript of

Morris Cayen’s interview

on

Memories and Music (broadcast between 1974-1976)

was created by the Sudbury Public Library as part of a

Summer Canada Project

in 1982.

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SUDBURY PUBLIC JJIBRARY " ~1Ei10RIES eX, rmSIC " I co LTD . CIGH

ORAL HISTORY PROGRA~

I TAPE JiO : 37 , I TERVIE EE : .1orris Cayen, ,q;;l­POSITION; AQ;t/ '"'..d /N7 ~O fLYr1p4ya DATE :

TRA S. : Raymonde Lafortune DATE OF TRA S.: July 19'8? sur .ER CA TAD!;. PROJECT

I TERVIErJER : Don Macr-1illan

D. 'I .

M. C.

D • . 1.

M. C.

D. H.

Now friends and neie;hbours we ' re goine; to have a litt le cha t ..... with a f riend and nnighbour of yours and ours in Sudbury . Ht s name i s Morris Cayen , he retired in 1971 , from Inco , now we think that the story of Morri s Cayen is the most inspiratiunal story ; and we ' re certain that you ' re going to en j oying hearing i t. However orris let ' s go from the begi nning ; where, you 'from , ,here ' s your home town Horris?

creie;_to~ne . ' /

Of you can ' t e;et much cl os er to mining than Creie;hton I - guess , e ? ,

Jo , I guess you can ' t .

Rio- t . Q Arld \\That year were you born there?

M. C. ' 19?1.

D. H. I suppose you ' d e;ro up and go to school in Creighton~ H. C.

B. M.

M. C.

D. H.

M. C.

That ' s right .

Do you remember any of your school mates , or schoolteachers of that era2 ,

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Ohyes . 1iss Hers Lebl ack who was ,princip?-l at the time . ,

Okay ho! ' bout somebody else? Some , some of your t eachet s and schoolmates .

n' Nell Bri~n (eU y was a good friend of mi~7)all thro~e;h school . Albe~t Mi es~nd his br other Torm }ille~who st i ll l ives in Sudbury .

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CAYEr

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Well now , tell me what did a you~ !§'ellow do when he was 10 or 11 0~~ 12 years old in Creighto~ ~I mean did you play Runchy Prun\: or what •

No , we played , we played a lot of baseball , in fact j ust about . everyday of· the week during the summer holidays .

Well now we ' re going to the , b~fore we do that ,

around to the baseball bit ' friends ,

use to ' l ive in Crei~hto or might you live i n Creighton .

you live? Just as for anybodYlilhO have _ some memor.ies , ..l'!heBe did

'3 Droff~itreet . Right ~~right up the hIll from the school , at the bal l fie l d . ~

. t~

But I thi nk you lived 0!1. T.',d [T! on , before that , isn ' t that true?

l~J I I was born on Edmond street , yes .

Well now , to get tbi~hing establ~hed your father presumably was worki ng for I nco and Creighton t en , was he not?

That ' s right .

Where was he from originally? I/ o

From Pembroj(ke .

Give us or what

/ a little bac ground , what , what did he do in Pembro~ke , did hi s parents do there?

Thett was store- keepers . /

OhI see , was a general store was it , eh?

Yes . And ~~oved to ChelmSf?r~rOm a general store in Chelmsford~

. / Pembr08llke , , ,,,There they had

~x.\\i ' . I think the day of the~mall town general store is family store is startine t o pass . Is that right ?

startine; to ,

. C. Oh yeah . Yes , you have your bie chain stores n01pT , that ' s taking over .

D.H.

M.C.

Right . But now I gather also that I think it was it , your wife ' s ' people carne . om that area. Was that right?

They were farmers .

D. ~1 . ell now, your fat er then came to , he left the st::t business , or didn ' t carr,,' on in there , and carne to Creighton with his . brothers. as that so? ~ . • • , -

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CAYE1T

M. C. 'rhat ' s rie; 1t . An~e himse wor in Creigton . .

and his two brothers moved to

D. H. And ·about w at year as tat?

M. C.

D. H.

N.C .

D. M.

f-1. C.

About 1919 .

How many , were there in your family Morri s ?

Were 5 of us : :fliur brothers and one sister .

Are they , are they living now? -

Oh yes , they ' re all living .

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D. M. Are they , what are they r etired? Or where are they? · And what are they do~ng now?

On e brother , a securi ty e;uar~t Cre i e;hton ~ -have another brother underground at Frood ; ·and one o~y brothers passed

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away . Hy sister s t ill lives in Sudbury. .

Now · 10r-r is if we may get down to your e;rowing up years in Creighton , I thin you thin they ' re the best years of your life . as that so?

M. C. They were . T ey certainly ere .

D. r1 . Rie;ht . Now tell" us a '1i ttle bft about baseball. lhat position did you play?

H. C.

D. -1.

I was pitcher most of the time .

Well now , as most of us remember as kids .wanted to play bal l, ever~body how come you got to be pitcher :

M. C. r was left hand and had a fast ball. - 'Z

D •. H. How was your curve ball~

. C. It ' s very good .

D. M. But ow were you as a hitter?

~ ..

wK ere growing up ; and wanted ,to. be pitcher ,

1. C. Not t oo good . . .

the

D. r1 . ~jorris·tell u~ little bit about playing ball ,_diitching- ~all , in Creighton ~a~k i n the ear,iLy .' 30s . I believ~ ,,!hat would the population of Cr~ie;ht6~be about that tim~? .

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CAYEN 4 199

M. C. I , as a r ough guess I ' d say about , 3 , 000 .

. M.

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And I believe that- the school principal use to drive your team around in the "car a good deal , and your still gra tefu . What was her name? . ~

~J Yes . Hiss Herss Leblac , at least once a month would pile .)' of us in~ her ~r , an take us out , sometimes to Coni ston , Capreol , Garson ; ~. e had Intra school competition .

D.. S e must ave been a onrlerfu l a y and a great ball fan . Is that true?

• C • Oh s e was a , wond-erful ..,oman .

D . r1 . - Any idea of ..,hether or not she ' s s t i l l ali ve ~ or could be lis­tening to this broadcast?

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I c ouadn ' t tell you Don , but I hope so ~

\1' Wel l Hersela , MisS H~~s Lebl ack if you 're listening , or if anyone knowing Hersela pac]{C" P- A-C- K, was that it " or. Bl ack?

Black .

Blac ~ I hope you pass on , pass on the very best wishes of Horris Cayen .

/'

Yes .

\,iould any o-f your team- mates who played on that club with you , are t e~till around now , /br in Creig to~or at leastin Sudbury ,. or CoppenfftC liff ,Varnund in ere? ' _ A

Well there"stk quite a few still around •••

Li <e to name one L~<t /o?

ell the BlackielI boys Nho lived in Sudbury .

" L" ' l " / ' fT h 1 "' 1.n :tve. y , orm ' ows WOlves

I believe that you , when you went to school in Coppe~Cliff I guess it ,.,ould be , or ~ Sudbury • • •

~, / 1m Creigton.V

- Creightonv{ather , what was your favorite subject there?

Well believe it or not , I liked Algebra • .

Did yOl,l. have a particular head for figures really?

Well averae;e .

CAYEN

tV H01 l~ere you in English , and History, and things like that.

Terrible .

But you may surpass them sometimes , eh?

That ' s right . I alwayi got a pass .

Well Morris we ' re trying to get this i n chronological order ,

5 ?6?

I believe that your family , your father and mother , they were bothtQ Sudbury ih about 1936 : and that you went to Tech . School here , Is that . right?

.C'- That ' s rig , t .

D. l\1 . And what d~id you study there ,

M. C. Mining .

D. i' And ha t did , you do w en you gra llB ted?

H. C. vent to lork for I nco .

D. H. hat· sort of work were you doing?

~ • C. Worked in the rock house , on the picket be l t " my first job .

D. f1 . And how' long wer,e you at , that?

M. C. Oh , 0 f and on about a year.

D. fl . And then wher e ' d you go from t here?

M. C .• "" Went to the engi neering department· at Frood !

D. H.

M. C.

Now when we were ' tal king before mentionned a couple of fellows .

~) 1~) Robert Fathis and Ruben CooR.

the broadcast Mori is , you What were their names?

D. H. And t hey {ere in the r ock house ,

r1 . C. They _were t he supervisers i n the r ock- house at that time .

D. f·1. Did they give you a hard tirne't ~

H. C-. r 0 they didn ' t . T~ey were my fishing buddi es. ,

D. f1 . Well now, spea ring of fishing , you were telling me . something(t J about , you claimed that you did some fishing with Bob _Fathis I

and Ruben Coole.... back in Junction Cr eek . Jow tell us something about that . (1../')

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CAYE 6 307

H. C. Yeah , we \lse to fish in JunM;lon cree/.eaqt ll2.£. t e Lasalle '/ Bou evard , for Speckel Trout ; back i B them{a~y.s· . We e;ot some nice " ones . In fact Bob Fathis~knew w'here all the ho l es were . He use" to take Ruben(~.nd lout to) he:n •

• H. This would be fly. fi sbing 0 course .

M. C.

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D. M.

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Well they were fly fishing when I was just a stx~ie;ht , oplar pole fisherman .

Then I th'ink you even went was t he best isherman.

. ·Z ') so far as to admit that Bob Fathis C,

" " tJ' (2-') He l,.,as a e;ood fisherman , " but "Ruben 'was pretty good imself .

11 ') . 1') " " Alrie;ht BOb\~thiS';t or Ruben coo~ , if you're listening I hope you call up ·'f1orris ; ~and give your version of the story. OV{ I take i t we lTe tal kine; around about the year '41 and ' 42. Is t ha t right , eh? \

That ' s "right .

What other jobs did y ou move to then? you ' ve ro~ressed to a variety of other jobs .

/ ('?") Well at Frood '-the mine surveyor , then I moveo over to Stobie Mine asa ine surveyor , I was a mine surveyor till I went on pension •

• r1 . ow riends we ' re coming to a part 0 , the ;interview that we

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chec ed 'Ji th10rris, an he' i 1r . Cayen , r • Morris Cayen--and he certain y doesn ' t mind t a lking about it. N"w 1,'e think it ' s ;1

"that it ' s marve ous the way h e has coped wit it. , He , I be ieve you suf ered a s tro 9 . Is tbat rie;ht, Morris?

That ' s right . I had a ' stro e in ' 6R .

Now tell us something about it. Just v-,hat happened?

Paralysed all my left side ."

Then you were taken presumably to hospital.

That's /right • • And how long were you in hospital?

For 2 months .

Now the , what I ' m , l "eadine;" up to ladies and gent lemen is t at Morris , Hr . Cayen,sT,)ent a couple 0 months in ho~pital; and he was told by pretty competent authorities that , l"he was · going to get anonnd again, It'd probably have to be a wheel-

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chair . That e ' d. . RW this for a one beli eve · 'Torris you rie;ht?

ost the use 0 his l eft arm , and left leg . time left handed , basebal pltcher , but I s aid " ~We ' pe going to beat it .~ Is that , y~ C;~,.0

~aJi s right ...

Oh~te l l us . Tell us something about it . HRw you went about beating it and some ': of the things that happened .

M.'C. Well I ,wanted to get out of the -hospital or Christmas , they tOQ- me. home in a wheel-chair ; and spent -a month in a wheel­chair ; and finally decided t o ge t the hell ':: out of it , which 1- did .

D. M. Good for you . NRw, bow . hat ' d you do?

H. C. I just e:, t up and tried to wal , mind you I fell quite a ew tim.es , but I manae;e~ to , to beat it .

D. H. I believe Horris t hat', at this point , the, doctor had a brace made for your 1e t leg , t hat i'Ten t rig t up to y'our thigh . But you figured you could operate with it just up to your kne e . What was t at part 0 the story?

M. C. 1 el l this brace had a "nee lock .

D. n . Right .

M.C . Which every time r had , wanted to w~lk I had to reach down and unlock the neO\i: But after wearing ~ t for a while , finally decided to cut the top half off' , and get rid of the knee lock which I did . low I only wear the lower h~lf .

D.H . Wel friends you ' d , if you know Hr . Cayen why you know what we ' re . talking ab9~t here . If you don ' t , I can tell you here ' s a ~an

who suffered a paralysis of his left side , that ' s his left arm , his left leg , he was told~e ' d be in a · wheel- chair a l l his life. He decided to fig0t , i~$nd beat it ; and he has; and I also believe that , that , not only that but that you ' ve , you ' ve kept up your interest , that for instance you ' ve .done some t r avelline:; , I s that right , Morris?

. C. Yes the wife ane' I have been to Vancouver ; Barbados • • •

D.H . And I t in you plan to do some more t ravel ling. Is that right?

~1.C •

D. H.

We 1 we plan ' to do -more travelling".

\1 ell now, you get aro'und pretty well then , you get Joff the plane; and you can rna e it to t · e ,taxi cab or something" ,S tha.t right?

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8 438

Oh yes , vell this braa ~ is an advantage usually your the first one on the airplane , they see your brac.e ; and t hey wheel you i nto the airplane t he f irst one .

Now tell us somet }ing . What'd you trdnk of Vancouver and the Barbados and someO~hese places . . -nh 1{ . WA-l Vancouver beautiful , it raine-d all the time e were . there though . But e still en joyed i t . .

I be lieve also Morris , t at you have not only maintained your interests in . tle eame in fish league , qhich ha~been an interest o yours all your ife , but tlat you have a cotta8e out here . Is that r i ght? . .. ~

Pa.no-c h e ll I have a cottage on Lake Fana~

And tell us about , I believe you ''!ere honored b Fish .Association .

the -Game and

In 1963 they made me a li e ~ember , for the work that I ,was l1' involved with , and setting up Laurentian Lake ~anctuary , Whitefal l ~anctuary . _

Right _- And now another bit 0 your story that I think out listeners wil l appreciate , I , where did you met your wife?

I met her in , in -hi gh- school Sudbury .

This would be a fh igh..:school sweet- heart then .

A hi8h- school s re et-heart , ~right •

D nA h t ' -;- d? Db ?' • •• .t-'.n '-II a year were you marr~e . . 0 you remem er .

• C. In 1 43 , that ' s r i ght .

D . fl. And I thin c you picked a rather special ay t o 8et married .

M. C. Christmas day . -

D. M. And di you , ""here did you go on your honey- mo on, Morris?

. C. Sudbury .

D . ~1 . Well no I"orris , what family have you?

M. C. .1 have three boys .

D. M . .. What are their names 1 Where are they? What are they doing? '\ -1 ) l· .C . Gary , Gary ,,,ho ' s an a cO tintant wi -th Arsenault and Desmara is ,

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, " F 1 " / d D l' . 11 t h \l ayne s wor lne; ln a conbrldge; an oug as s Stl a orn e going to hiEh-school .

9 4-86

Now I think today Morris if we may say so is that , you had this problem but you did not , I think as we said, earlier , YOtl di dn 't sit in ~ corner and sulk you decided to make the best of i t; and fight . it. Is that rig t?

'veIl it ' s the only ~ay to e;o.

And I thke it yo~]~ quite a hockey fan.

Oh yes , .1 enjoy 1,.vatchine; hockey and football.

Who is your avorite hoc ey player?

Well , like everyone else I e;uess Bobby Orr .

An it see~%,to me that you e;ot a soft spot in ~your heartJr for Eddie Shack': . Is that right? .

Oh , he ' s a wonderful entertainer .

MorriS , if I were to ask you if you had a phi osophy of life, what woul i t be?

, ~V>C 10 ;" <j Keep pl'mping ' cause to orrow's another day and it mie;ht be better .

Ladies and gentlemen it ' s been ,~rivilee;e today to have as Qur e;uest Mr . orris Cayen , who is , ,.Tho retire,d from Inco in 1971 , now lives in~' dbUry , , ±s very much a part o£ , a northerner~ and part of the wo d , - this part of the world , having been ,?orn in Creipht<;Hi 'vIe I l~ke the story Morri s ?as told us ,?ecause lt ' s a man WDO ~s fac~ wlth a real problem , ~lS s t roke WhlCh , paralysed his entire left side. It has .no·t kept him from enjoying life , and you hear d what he said , keep V!lB-teaing because maytre

, tomorr ow will be b t t C'j'. ~'M;

(END OF TAPE)