Marjorie King was born on June 23rd, 1930 in Trinidad and Tobago. She was born at a time when World War II was still happening. As the eldest of the family, she had to buy bread with her two brothers for the family and was responsible for planting in the garden.

The citizens had to draw curtains so the enemy bomb planes wouldn’t know it was a populated area. Her childhood wasn’t impacted negatively by the war.

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“There were lineups to get food…It was fun for me. I was the kid so people always pushed me in front of the line! My two brothers and I were given a shilling to buy bread. We would each go and line up, and come home with three loaves of bread, which is more than what we usually came home with, there was no refrigeration at that time, so we had to eat all that bread! It was a great time. I didn’t see the war, it didn’t register on me until I was 15.”

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She came to Canada when she was 23. She applied to the University of Toronto and never got a response from them for a year. So that year, she went to University of Manitoba, which was right when she heard from Toronto. She still ended up staying in Manitoba. In Trinidad, people were encouraged to do well and excel in school. Marjorie ended up finishing university in 3 years and went on to King’s College to do her teaching certificate. She went back to Trinidad and got the first job she applied for: an all-girls

high school. The students excelled and worked hard in school, and Marjorie was well respected.

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“My brother took my papers to Manitoba, and they admitted me to second and first-year courses. And then I heard from Toronto. Of course I wanted to go! At that time, Trinidad thought that McGill and Toronto were the best schools. But my father said, it is God’s will that you go to Manitoba.”

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In 1965, she went back to Canada, due to a marriage breakup. She was confident she could go anywhere in the world and get a job. Sure enough, she got a teaching job for the September. Unfortunately, she still had marriage things she needed to sort out and

started the actual teaching in January. She originally was promised the job of teaching French and English, but when she came back, she had to teach grade 8 social studies, which she knew nothing about. She taught for the remainder of the semester out of the

textbook and spent weeks preparing to teach grade 8 social studies for next year. All her time went towards nothing when they told her that she’d be teaching grade 8 geography.

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After finishing teaching that year, she left and went to Vancouver. She found a job as a French and English teacher and stayed there for 24 years. She stayed in Canada until her daughter finished university. 

 

“I’m sure there was a job for me in Canada. I had the qualifications. I was confident that I could go anywhere in the world and find a job. I didn’t have to come and look for a job. I came and there was a job waiting for me.”

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After her daughter finished university, she quit her job and started traveling to islands such as Guadalupe, Jamaica, and Martinique. One day, she saw a huge ad recruiting teachers to teach in Zimbabwe for 3 years. So she went to Zimbabwe in 1982 and traveled

in Africa and Europe during the breaks. 

 

“I had a wonderful life. After my daughter finished university, I took leave from my teaching job

and started traveling.”

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She now lives in Toronto, where she enjoys playing bridge online and taking Spanish courses.