Becoming a Saint

During the 1940s, graduating with a grade twelve level education was the exception rather than the rule. Many small communities did not offer schooling beyond grade nine or ten, and many youth dropped out even earlier to work or because they were needed on the family farm. Education was more of a luxury than an expectation in those days. Therefore, it was both an honour and a privilege when Joe MacDonald was presented with the opportunity to attend St. Dunstan’s to complete his grade eleven and twelve years.

Joe was never quite sure why he was granted the opportunity….he was the only one in his large family to be given this chance. Perhaps it was his academic potential, his athletic ability, or possibly even the desire of his parents to keep him out of trouble. Or maybe it was his pious mother, Edith’s final hope at obtaining a priest in the family. Whatever the reason, Joe prepared to head to Charlottetown in the fall of 1946, at the age of sixteen.

There wasn’t much to pack, just a few clothes and personal items. Wanting him to put his best foot forward, Joe’s older sister, Mary and her husband, Art Doyle, bought him a new pair of shoes to begin his academic adventure. These new shoes provided him with the confidence needed to begin this new journey. So, with his suitcase in hand, and without a nickel in his pocket, Joe boarded the train to Charlottetown. The train dropped him off at the bottom of the hill, just below the campus. Though home was only a 45 minute drive away, without access to a vehicle or the modern technology of computers and cell phones, it felt like a million miles to Joe and the other new students.

St. Dunstan’s was a Catholic run school, offering both high school and university classes. At this time it was comprised of an all male student body. It would be a few years before they opened the doors to the first female students. Most of the students lived on campus during the school year, with a few from the Charlottetown area who were day students. Classes were taught almost exclusively by priests and nuns, who adhered to a very strict code of conduct. Students were expected to behave in an appropriate and orderly manner. Class attendance was mandatory, as was evening study hall. There was also morning mass first thing everyday. Attendance was compulsory and failure to do so would result in a punishment, which usually meant the young student would be benched from playing sports for the duration of the week.

The college quietly operated on a class system, with the best accommodations, cafeteria tables and even church pews reserved for the more senior students. In his first year, Joe was assigned a bunk in dormitory reserved for grade 11 students on the third floor of the Main Building. It was one long room with rows of bunks. There wasn’t much privacy or solitude in this kind of setting, and it was the least desirable of all the accommodations. In his grade 12 year, he was assigned a semi-private room in Dalton Hall with fellow Morell native, P.R. Sinnott. P.R. would become one of Joe’s closest friends, a friendship that was cemented during those years at St. Dunstan’s.

Even in the dorms, they were still under the watchful eye of the clergy. A priest was assigned to each wing as a monitor, to ensure that the students of St. Dunstan’s behaved outside of the classroom as well as in. Even with all these rules and safeguards in place, young men still found ways to get into a little bit of trouble. Joe recalls lots of fellows slipping out past curfew, sneaking cigarettes and at least one attempt at some home brew.

Weekdays were kept to a pretty rigid schedule. There were only a few opportunities for recreation. Weekends gave the boys a little more freedom to head out to a local dance or walk into Charlottetown to do a little exploring. Back on campus, many boys spent the extra leisure time playing sports, reading books, or playing cards. Even though the majority of the students were Island boys, visits home were few and far between. Their roommates and fellow classmates became their family for the duration of the school year. These free times were often the times that boys remembered the most, and looked the most fondly upon…the times when they really got to know their fellow classmates and forged life-long friendships.

Joe was a capable student, but academics were never really his passion. His first love was for sports, and he possessed a natural athletic ability that made him a stand out player. He played almost every sport available to him which included hockey, softball and rugby. He even played basketball, although at five foot seven on a tall day, he admits he wasn’t much of a basketball player. On one occasion, his parents were visiting him at college and they met with the monsignor in charge for a progress report. He told Charlie and Edith, “If Joe put as much time and effort into his studies as he puts into sports, we would all be better off.”

One of Joe’s favourite memories as a member of the St. Dunstan’s Saints high school hockey team was an occasion when the team traveled to his hometown of Morell to challenge the local team, the Morell Dreadnaughts, to a game. He invited his friend, Joe Dorsey from Borden, to have supper with his family before the big game. It was a rare visit home, and the whole family was excited about hosting company for supper and seeing Joe on the ice with the Saints. It was the only time Joe remembers seeing his mother at the rink. The Dreadnaughts would later return the favour and travel to Charlottetown for a rematch with the Saints.

As his days at St. Dunstan’s came to a close, fellow Morell native and St. Dunstan’s coach, A.J. MacAdam tried to encourage Joe to attend the university the following year. MacAdam was impressed by Joe’s natural athletic ability, and hoped to have him on the varsity roster in rugby and hockey the following year. Joe decided against attending the college. His future destiny was to work on the sea, first in the navy and later as a self-employed fisherman. Edith never did get her priest, but at least she could always say she had a Saint in the family.