Foy Family at home, 40 Fulton Avenue: Edward, Dad, Vincent, Mom, Jack, Frank, Mary, Doreen, Shirley and Jimmy.

This is my De La Salle Secondary School Honours Matriculation graduating class photo. I am in the top row, third from the right. De La Salle was a very good high school. My father was born in 1880 and went there in the late 1890s. One Brother who taught him was still teaching when I went to school. “Del” was located in a different location than now. “Upper Del” for grades 11-13 was at Perpetual Help parish primary school. They didn’t have enough students from the parish, so Del had five rooms in that school. “Lower Del” for grades 9 and 10, was next door to St. Michael’s Cathedral in a building on Bond Street. We had two floors of the building. St. Michael’s Choir school was opened in 1950. Before that, Msgr. Ronan taught singing to the choirs at 200 Church Street. The current location of Del on Farnham Ave. was donated to them in someone’s Will.

Since my mother knew I wanted to pursue the priesthood she never let me go to school dances, including the graduation dance.

My parents never missed Mass, that’s for sure, and they taught us our prayers. My mother was a marvellous woman, raised eight children, did her own cooking and sewing at night and got us all up in the morning.

My brothers were all very good boys.  We had a Holy Name Society where we were trained to do public speaking.  I already had the intention to try to become a priest when, around 1928, I gave about a five minute speech on “The Duties of a Priest”.

I was an Altar boy early on.  Fr. Fullerton, our pastor, came to the house and told my mother that he’d like to train me to serve at the Altar. My mother used to get me up to serve Mass.  I served at the 8am Mass and went to school without having breakfast, since I went to Holy Communion. The Eucharistic Fast in those days started from midnight onwards and with no water. I didn’t go home for lunch, but sometimes my mother gave me fifteen cents and I got fish and chips. If I served at the 7am Mass, I went home for breakfast. When I went to De La Salle Catholic High school, I used to take lunch in a bag.