Back to Pettypiece History Page         To Geneology Page         Back to Home Page

Autobiography of
Harper John Pettypiece
(1921-2002)

Table of Contents

Part One – The Childhood Years 1921-1932
Highlights memories and impressions of his childhood growing up in the small town of Forest, Ontario, Canada.

Part Two – The Love of Music 1925-2002
Harper's life-long love of music is described in detail from his childhood until his passing. He studied music and music history, attended musicals and operas, played in bands and orchestras, developed a huge collection of music, produced musicals, and in his later years, obtained a degree in Music History at the University of Western Ontario.

Part Three – Growing Up in Forest 1925-1939
Goes back to his memories, impressions and interests growing up in a small town from age 4 to 18.

Part Four – Service in the Navy 1940-1945
Harper joined the Royal Canadian Navy and served both in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II as a communications officer. Oddly enough, he saw very little action and he always seemed to be a day or two early or late for many famous battles including the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Part Five – Meeting Joan Taylor and the End of the War 1945
While waiting for a hearing concerning a ship collision in Liverpool, England, Harper met his future wife and life companion, Joan Taylor. They had a brief courtship and were married prior to Harper being sent back to Canada.

Part Six – The Return to Canada After the War 1945-1946
Joan soon came to Canada and they lived in Halifax for about a year. 

Part Seven – Settling Down in Forest 1946-1950
Due to his father's illness, Harper and Joan moved to Forest, Ontario to help his father with the weekly newspaper he owned. The move was supposed to have been temporary as Harper had ambitions of teaching music and music history at university. As it turned out, they stayed a lot longer than planned. Their first of seven children was born in 1947.

Part Eight – Introduction to the Baha’i Faith and Development 1951-1960
After studying comparative religion, Harper and Joan were introduced to the Baha'i Faith and helped develop a thriving Baha'i community in Forest.

Part Nine – Vacations of the Early 60s to Western Canada and U.S. 1960-1963
The annual vacation became one of the highlights of the year as they loved to travel and the intention had been to take one child with them each time. In 1961, the eldest, Paul, went with them to Chicago through Wisconsin to Winnipeg and back through Northern Ontario. The following year, Harper and Joan went to Northern Ontario and the year after went to Western Canada where they met with native and non-native Baha'is in Alberta and Manitoba.

Part Ten – Vacations of the Mid 60s to Northeastern U.S. 1964-1966
In 1964, they took Paul to New York City for the world's fair and Paul's international Key Club convention. The following year, they took Geof to the northeastern U.S. and the year after, they took Larry to several Civil War battlefields in the central eastern U.S.

Part Eleven – Canada’s Centennial Year to the End of the Decade 1967-1970
In 1967, Harper and Joan took Paul with them to the National Weekly Newspaper Convention in Ottawa and Expo67 where Paul went on his own and headed west. During the following couple of years, several Baha'i events took place in and around Forest.

Part Twelve – Intro to Iceland, Deciding to Pioneer and Two Weddings 1971-1972
After attending a Baha'i Oceanic Conference in Iceland in 1971, the family, except for the three oldest, decided to pioneer there to help the Baha'is become established. That meant selling the business and the house and officiating at the weddings of their two oldest, one in Forest, the other in Manitoba, all before leaving.

Part Thirteen – Pioneering to Iceland 1972-1975
Adjusting to a new culture and language, finding new friends, getting work, enrolling in school, buying a car, getting to know the country -- all aspects of pioneering in a new region. Also many visits from Baha'i friends from abroad.

Part Fourteen – Conferences and Lots of Travel 1973-1975
Harper travelled to several Baha'i events including to the Faroe Islands, Germany, Scandanavia, England and around Iceland.

Part Fifteen – Adventures Exploring Iceland 1974-1975
Travelling and history being passions of Harper, they did a lot of exploring of the country.

Part Sixteen – New Beginnings and Adventures in England and Paris 1976
After losing employment in Iceland, an opportunity arose in England. Harper spent some time in London and soon they and the two youngest (Linda and Carl) moved to Oakham. Shortly after settling in, Vicki and Asgier joined them to go to an International Baha'i Conference in Paris.

Part Seventeen – Oakham and Side Trips 1976-1978
As part of working for the British Baha'i Publishing Trust and as a member of the National Baha'i Teaching Committee, Harper did a lot of travelling around Britain. During periods of time off, Harper, Joan and the kids visited a lot of castles and toured many historical places around Oakham. They also visited Joan's family, sometimes accompanied by Vicki and Asgeir from Iceland.

Part Eighteen – A Change of Direction and a Wealth of History 1978
After two years, Harper found himself unemployed again and had to decide whether to stay in England or move back to Canada. Upon deciding to stay, he went looking for work which provided many opportunities to see more of the country. Ultimately he found work in Wells.

Part Nineteen – Glastonbury and Lots of History 1978-1980
While Harper was working in Wells, they lived in Glastonbury. Again lots of opportunity to travel and visit castles, cathedrals, museums, air shows and many other interesting places.

Part Twenty – Holidays Around Britain 1979-1981
Aside from many side trips on weekends, Harper and Joan went on holidays to various parts of Britain during the annual vacation period.

Part Twenty-One – Homeless and Holidays Outside Britain 1980-1982
After a trip back to Iceland in 1980, the family returned to England to find themselves homeless and it was quite a struggle for awhile. In 1982, they decided to travel to Canada as the two youngest (Carl and Linda) had very few memories of their homeland. They travelled to Ontario and Alberta and it was on the bus to Alberta that Carl met his future wife Cathy.

Part Twenty-Two – More Travels Around Britain 1981-1983
The family did a lot of travelling around Britain that fulfilled Harper's interest in history and his Faith.

Part Twenty-Three – Time to Return to Canada 1983-1985
Partly due to the possibility of losing the Veterans Affairs pension, the family decided to move back to Canada in 1983 and settled in London, Ontario. They bought a house and a car, the furniture arrived several months later, Harper was elected to the London Baha'i Assembly and the 'kids' got jobs. In 1985, Carl moved to Venezuela, the other three went to the Maritimes for a holiday.

Part Twenty-Four – Illness and University 1985-1986
This is a very brief chapter describing how Harper had decided at the age of 64 to go to university to get a degree but the process was interupted by a severe illness.

Part Twenty-Five – A Trip Back to England 1986
A very detailed diary of Harper and Joan's trip back to England where they travelled extensively around the country and into Wales and renewed some old acquaintances.

Part Twenty-Six – Holidays in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. 1987-1988
Harper and Joan took a short trip to northern Ontario in 1987 and headed out west in 1988 to visit Paul in Alberta and Linda on Vancouver Island.

Part Twenty-Seven – Side Trips Around Ontario and a Trip to Winnipeg 1989-1992
Harper and Joan and sometimes Tim took some side trips around Ontario. In 1991, they went to see Tim in Winnipeg and were joined by Linda, Paul and Laddi.

Part Twenty-Eight – A Holiday in Prince Edward Island 1993
In 1993, Harper and Joan went on one of their longer holidays in a few years to Eastern Canada via northeastern U.S. and returning home via Quebec.

Part Twenty-Nine –
Short Trips, Golden Anniversary, Graduation, Failing Health 1994-98
In June of 1995, Harper and Joan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and most of the children and many of the grandchildren were there. In 1996, at the age of 75, Harper graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a BA in Music History. During these years, Harper became increasing ill and was in and out of hospital several times. He could not attend the Convocation ceremony at the University so the Dean, Assistant Dean and other dignitaries went to his house to do a special ceremony that was covered by the city newspaper. During these years, Joan and Harper went on short local trips when his health permitted.

Part Thirty – Recollections of Childhood
A few final thoughts about some of the changes that have occurred since Harper's childhood.

Note: These divisions/parts are somewhat arbitrary and were not part of the original manuscript. Also there may be many spelling errors especially with place names I’m not familiar with. The autobiography was written in 1998-99 approximately 3-4 years prior to his passing. His health continued to deteriorate and he was effectively bed-ridden for the last year of his life.

Back to Homepage
Back to Pettypiece History Page
To Geneology Page