Written While I Still Remember: A Patchwork Memoir

Tom Robson began to write creatively in his forties after he moved to Nova Scotia. Originally, his work was either with or for his elementary school students, or purely for the satisfaction that results from creating. Though his students were primarily the target audience for much of his fiction, poetry and plays, he also compiled reminiscences of his ancestry, his early life in England and, later, his life after becoming an immigrant in Canada. Written While I Still Remember is a history of the times, as well as a personal portrait composed during the last thirty years. The collection of sometimes true stories and poems coincided with a distancing from his children and grandchildren, most of whom had little perception of the people, places and situations that had shaped him. This book is meant to right that wrong-to give life to their shadowy predecessor. Too often, individuals wait until it is too late to discover the facts behind the elders in their lives. Of course, facts can be embellished by the elderly’s tale-telling. Tom hopes his collection proves that tales from an ordinary life can be interesting to readers outside the family.