![]() ![]() “My younger sister was teaching school east of Bowmanville. Working as his father’s assistant, a chance visitor to the farm in 1945 would shape his future for all the years that followed. And I read where the average Canadian carries $85,000 in credit debt. If you owed a lot, that was trouble – much like what some people face today: $300,000 mortgages with an economy in trouble. “Most farmers were okay during those years if they had a small mortgage, even though prices for products and livestock dropped almost overnight. ![]() The Malcolms remained prosperous through the depths of the Great Depression, thanks to continued milk orders and sound financial planning. But I was homesick, and finally decided to stay on the family farm rather than move all over as a teacher.” ![]() ![]() “I went to school in Lindsay had in mind to become a high school teacher and run a hobby farm. The depth of those family roots became apparent when Lawrence seriously considered leaving. As teenagers, we played badminton in the hall.” “We had two social centres nearby, the Foresters’ Hall and the Church. “No, we never felt isolated,” he recalls. He remembers North Nestleton as a great place to grow up. In 1921, his father bought out the others. Weavers by trade, the three Scottish immigrants plied a new, radically different vocation in dairy farming. In 1844, Lawrence’s great-grandfather and his two brothers evenly divided 200 acres of farmland in North Nestleton, not far from his current home. Lawrence points proudly to deep roots in Scugog. Today the township’s paying someone $20,000 to tell them about their staffing.” “Supposing we were considering fixing a road: some councillors and I would visit the site, make a decision. “There were no consultants then,” he remarks with a twinkling of sarcasm. A discussion of the regional political scene, then versus now, stokes a fire. At 91 years old, Scugog Township’s first Mayor, Lawrence Malcolm, shows immediately that retirement has extinguished none of that focus. Success in politics demands a keen analytical eye for current events. Scugog Township’s first mayor was a farmer, whoĥ5 years ago decided there must be more to life than cows. ![]()
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