Joe had been born and raised in rural Newfoundland and had never left his home province until he turned 17 in 1962. That was the year his father had to quit working because of his health and Joe felt that it was time for him to start making his own way in life. Like many young Newfoundlanders of the day, he decided to seek fame and fortune in Ontario. It was in Toronto that he was hired as a cook’s helper in a hotel that was one of the city’s oldest. Joe enjoyed his work and was well liked by the other workers as well as by those in management. He spent his spare time getting to know the city and taking in some of the sights. Later he would look up some friends who had moved to the city the year before and begin to feel more at ease in his adopted province. Like most Newfoundlanders, he missed the sounds and smells of the ocean and the stillness of the night as the moon shone down upon the waters and lit up the narrow paths of the little community that he would always call home.

He had been at the hotel just a few days when he was asked to get some provisions from the storeroom and taking the list Joe proceeded to the service elevator used by the staff. Lost in thought he pushed the button for the seventh floor and getting off continued down the hallway making several turns and was soon standing by the storeroom door, and unlocking it stepped inside. As he looked around, he suddenly froze in his tracts. Not only had he never been to the storeroom before and no one had given him directions, not even the floor number, but he suddenly realized that he knew where everything was located in the room as if he had been coming there everyday for years! The realization and the emotions that swept over him at that moment were more than he could handle and feeling his knees begin to buckle, he slid to the floor. Joe was never sure how long he remained there wondering if perhaps he was losing his mind, but others told him that he had been gone less than twenty minutes, when someone remembered that they had not told him where the storeroom was located and another employee was immediately dispatched to find him. He thought it best not to tell the others about his experience but he felt later that they must have known that something was amiss because of his unusually quiet demeanor and what he knew was a faraway look in his eyes.