To Whom Do You Belong: A Family Historian’s Tale

These days, genealogy seems to be enjoying a massive outbreak in popularity. When I started, such was not the case. It was a lonely ordeal. I try to describe more in my book how I felt and the emotions I went through. This book is not about birth dates, death dates, or boring stuff but about talking to ninety-year-old people in nursing homes and hearing their stories, their lives-that's what impressed me. This research required turning over many stones and peering beneath to uncover stories long forgotten. I do go into biographical detail about my grandfather, Forman Way, mainly because I had researched so much information on his life and the historic times he lived through in the Cape Breton labor movement. My other grandfather, who I never knew, Captain John Jarvis, was also a constant inspiration as I tried to do my best to uncover his story, his life, and his death and the fate of a crew of twenty-two men who perished at sea.

Colin Douglas Waye, lives in the former steel-making city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, born into a large family of ten children. He became a third generation steelworker, working at the local mill until it finally shut down. Being unemployed he followed many of his fellow Cape Bretoners to the oil fields of Alberta. Physically active throughout his life, being a minor hockey coach for over 20 years, a 4th Degree Black Belt in Kodokan Judo and an avid runner. These days he is involved in the local Buddhist community and spends his time instructing meditation groups and teaching yoga. He is presently involved with the local Correctional Facility, where he instructs inmates in meditation and yoga. He picked up the genealogy bug shortly after his father died and has been obsessed with it ever since. This book being a reflection on that study of family history. Colin and his wife Mary have four boys and three grandchildren.