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A Bulletin of Doyles

By the time I got back to St. John's it was supper time. Jim and Lillian and I went out to Scampers for the best hamburger and fries I have ever tasted! It was rainy, but we decided to find an ice cream place. No luck! We ended up at Sobey 's and went home with Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia and something else..

When we had finished gorging ourselves, Jim showed me his computer baseball game and I listened to a playback of the other day when he interviewed me. It felt really weird to hear myself on the "radio." I guess no one is ever prepared to hear what they really sound like. As I listened, it sounded like I was very conscious of the mic in the beginning but was more comfortable by the end of the interview. Vic heard it and said it was my teacher voice. LOL! I am sort of glad I didn't see the presentation I made before the city council and mayor on TV. They must have been surprised by my Philadelphia accent. I didn't think it was that strong until I heard the playback of the ROAR interview. Whew! You can take the girl out of Philly, but you can't take Philly out of the girl!

I got to chat with Vic who had jury duty today at home. He got a surprise when he showed up and was informed everyone comes for TWO days, not one. He sat in on a case, but it was settled before it got to the docket, so he just has to call tomorrow morning to see if they need him. I approached him with the idea of postponing my departure by two days in order to take Jim and Lillian to Terra Nova this weekend on business. He told me to go for it. I love this man! He also told me something to make sure I came home - our friends Al and Karen bought an old backhoe and I've been invited to come "dig a hole" in their backyard. Woohoo! I was going to come home anyway! He knows that's a real draw - my wish for my 65th birthday is to either run a cement mixer or a car crusher machine. Now that I've announced it, my family has 10 years to figure out how to make it come true!

Tuesday, August 15th

I woke myself up at 9:30 but Jim had beat me to the kitchen table once more! He's gonna ruin my reputation!

Vic called early to express frustration about the schedule at work. His hours are constantly changing as well as his days worked. He said he just wanted a hug, a long one. He even suggested a dance. That would've been so sweet, but we had to settle for smooches over the phone. *sigh*

Jim and I had a long conversation about CDs, publicity, and touring or lack of. Boy, I wish we could get him down here to perform. Maybe after I'm retired I could be his tour manager so Lillian wouldn't have to leave her work behind. I'm used to driving! Vic and I could rent a Winnebago and drive Jim all over in the fall and/or summer. Jim also talked about t-shirts and bumper stickers for Terra Nova Park's anniversary next year. He's a dreamer, this man. But that's a good thing!

Candace had gotten us tickets for this evening's performance at the Masonic Hall. It was called A Bulletin of Doyles and was an evening of performances by people named Doyle. Marjorie Doyle (daughter of Gerald S. Doyle and author), John Doyle (editor of Globe and Mail and author), Dahmanit (dav-net) Doyle (musician and author), Alan Doyle (yes, from Great Big Sea), and Tom Doyle (Alan's father). Rounding out the evening was Mike "Caribou" Stevens (harmonica player and humanitarian). Surprise! Shelagh Rogers of CBC Radio was the emcee of the evening.

Candace and I got there early but so did 100 other people! Most of the people in the line were my age or older. That surprised me, since the 'entertainers' were much younger. I wondered what my father would say, if he were alive, about me in a Masonic Hall. That was a big no-no when I was growing up. We looked thru the hall, trying to find two seats together towards the front, but it seemed futile. Then Candace got the idea that we could move a chair next to the end seat in the front row. There was room for another chair and all the rows behind it had a seat in that position. I asked an usher, who walked over with me, sized up the situation and said, "Go ahead!"

As I dragged a chair to the end of the row, I passed two familiar faces. They belonged to the mom and daughter team who were at the Fat Cat the other night when Candace and I were at the door. They bought Jim's Musaik:In This World CD then and told us tonight that they loved it! I was surprised to see Lynda and Christina in the second row. I shouldn't have been surprised though, after all, Alan Doyle was there. But it was great to see both of them!

Shelagh looked a lot different from her photo on the CBC site, but her personality was the same as I heard on her shows. She really loves Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders and it shows both on the air and in person.

She announced to the audience that they had a hard time coming up with a title for this gathering of Doyles. Some names bandied about were: A Collective of Doyles, A Scruff of Doyles, A Treasury of Doyles, A Dole of Doyles. But none captured the theme they were trying to create. Then someone suggested "A Bulletin of Doyles," after the Gerald S. Doyle Bulletin that was aired from 1937 to 1966 on the radio in Newfoundland. And since Marjorie is the daughter of Gerald S. Doyle, it seemed only fitting to call the gathering A Bulletin of Doyles. Certainly made sense to me!

The following article was taken from the Junior Achievement of Newfoundland and Labrador website:

Gerald Stanley Doyle was born on September 26, 1892, in King’s Cove, Bonavista Bay, to Captain Thomas and Margaret Doyle. At 10 years of age, Gerald moved to St. John's with his family, finished grade 8 at St. Patrick's Hall School and apprenticed as a druggist at Wadden's Drug Store on Water Street.

In 1917, Gerald traveled to the seal hunt on the S.S. Njord where he was listed as the ship's doctor. He also traveled the coast of the province distributing patent medicines, and in 1919, he acquired his first agency, the Dr. Chase Medicine Co. The Company initially operated from a 3rd floor walk-up room on Water Street, but Gerald also toured the Caribbean selling these products. In 1929, Gerald incorporated his business activities under the name of Gerald S. Doyle Limited.

The Company developed its own distribution organization throughout the province for a wide range of food, drugs and household products and also manufactured and bottled cod-liver oil. He used his own boat, the Miss Newfoundland and later the Miss Newfoundland II, to travel the coast and to promote his products. In the 1920's and 1930's, he introduced modern merchandising methods to Newfoundland including point of sale display materials and minimum credit terms. By the mid 1950's, Gerald S. Doyle Limited was distributing products for over 30 manufacturers and was serving 3,000 retailers throughout the province. Gerald also sponsored the Gerald S. Doyle News Bulletin, a radio show provided to the people of Newfoundland through VONF and CBC consisting of a news broadcast, public service announcements, shipping schedules, weather reports and personal messages.

Gerald Stanley Doyle died on July 12, 1956.

Shelagh explained that the proceeds from the evening would go to the Writer's Alliance and ArtsCan Circle.

Mike 'Caribou' Stevens, founder of the ArtsCan Circle, told us a bit about his work with the Native youth at risk in Canada. The website says, "Our hope is to encourage self-esteem amongst Native youth in isolated communities through a cooperative exploration of the arts." There is a donation page for those who wish to help his mission to Native youth.

He was fantastic, an expert on the harmonica. He used a loop machine to create loops as he spoke to us and then put them all together and played a tune he made up where he said the word "Doyle" into the harmonica and made it part of the tune. He explained that one of his missions took him to Brightgrove Ontario to give the kids music to help change their lives.

He takes harmonicas with him and gives them to all the kids, teaching them to make music using their own native languages. He seeks out the sniffers at 2 AM, playing his tunes and bringing the curious out to learn an alternative behavior. It's a noble cause that he supports and I was proud to be a part of a fundraising effort for his programs. Perhaps music will make enough of a difference in these children's lives to repair the damage that decades of abuse have created.

He stood there in his socks, holding notes on that harmonica for what seemed like an impossible amount of time.

Marjories Doyle was next up. I had not known that she was an author. In fact the only thing I knew about her was that she was Gerald S. Doyle's daughter. I've had two copies of his collections of Newfoundland songs for a few years now, one from the 1940's and one from the '60s or 70s.

She read from her recent book, Reels, Rocks and Rosaries. The selection took place in the 60's and placed her in a miltary marching band in the midst of the anti-war protests. She had us all laughing!

She spoke of having dreams of being in a marching band , spelling out the school's name, the pope's name...She sadly recalled that marching bands were for boys only and girls were encouraged only in classical piano. But she indeed did try out for the Newfoundland Regimant Band and surprisingly was accepted. Although she was classically trained in voice and piano, she relished her time in the band and was especially touched when they played at the War Memorial on July 1st, Newfoundland's Remembrance Day.

As we all clapped appreciatively, Shelagh confessed that the first time she visited Marjorie at her home, Marjorie greeted her by playing "Come Near At Your Peril, Canadian Wolf!" We all had a good laugh at that one!

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