Sterling was born on August 19, 1926 in Newcastle, New Brunswick. His parents were Lawrence and Frances, who raised a family of nine children, Sterling being the youngest sibling. The town has been renamed Miramichi, situated in northeastern New Brunswick, and was basically a logging centre at the time. The times were very difficult for a large family and to complicate matters, Sterling’s father died when he was all of 3 years old. In spite of the great depression, the family unit held with the support of the older siblings assisting their mother. Educated locally, Sterling only completed grade eight before finding whatever work he could scramble to aid the family. His mother died when he was 15 years old.
Hardship such as this was common throughout the Maritimes, indeed in many other parts of our country as well. Perhaps, as a coping mechanism, these humble conditions breed a great sense of humour in those who live it. A preponderance of Canada’s funniest entertainers come from the Maritimes. Sterling is no exception to this and here are a couple examples of his humour when referring to his youth. He only went to school every other day, there were only a few pairs of shoes for all the kids in the family. He knew when mother had used up a flour sack; somebody in the family was wearing a new T-shirt with Robin Hood stamped on it. Then again, there might be some element of truth to this.
He went to work in 1943 in Montreal at Montreal Locomotive building railway locomotives, but it then switched to armoured tanks for war-time production. Sterling’s brothers had all enlisted for service in WW2, and being the youngest he wasn’t eligible until 1944. He enlisted in September of 1944, and did his basic training at Camp Borden. He wasn’t permitted to serve overseas as his brothers were already there, the government being uncomfortable of having too many immediate family members in active combat units. Sterling was trained as a trainer and spent the majority of his service time in Fredericton, NB in the Demonstration Platoon, training recruits.
After demobilization in October 1945, Sterling returned to Newcastle, NB. He married Kathleen Somers; together they would raise two children. They relocated to Wilberforce, Ontario in 1947 joining one of his brothers working at a veneer mill. He remained in this employment for 17 years. In Wilberforce he served on the town council and he coached minor hockey, even though he couldn’t skate! He was managing the mill when in 1964 it was purchased by CurvePly Wood Products. Sterling and family relocated to Orono where he was the general manager of the production facility. He retired from there at 60 years. of age in 1986.
Sterling was widowed in 1981. He remarried Nancy Barry in 1990 residing then in Newcastle, Ontario. He was widowed once again in 2009. For the last few years he has been living with his daughter in Oshawa. He has been a life-long Royal Canadian Legion member, first in Haliburton and then at Branch 178 in Bowmanville. At 93 years of age, he has maintained his great sense of humour to which many Branch members can attest, having been skewered by his witticisms, his presence brightening up any and many an occasion. He’s always been a self-taught man rising from a humble background to success, but never losing his common touch.
Courtesy of the Orono Weekly Times with special credit to Patricia Grant
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