John Conlan

John Conlan was born in Clonlara, Co. Clare, Ireland on April 2, 1912. He became an electrician while working in Ardnacrusha on the Shannon Hydro-Electric Scheme which was completed on July 29, 1929. As work became harder to find, he and his wife decided to immigrate to Australia. However after hearing that jobs were even harder to find in Australia they decided to immigrate to Canada.

They decided that he would go to Canada first and his wife and children would join him later in the year. John traveled to Cork and boarded the Georgic for the trans-Atlantic journey to Canada. He spent 3 weeks at sea and endured several storms during the journey. On May 22, 1952 he landed in Halifax Harbour at Pier 21 and waited 8 hours for a train to Toronto. While waiting, nuns from the local convent served the immigrants tea and sandwiches. The journey to Toronto took 36 hours on a train with wooden seats. When he arrived in Toronto he stayed for a week with his wife's cousin, Phyllis Kirby. He then rented a room in Parkdale and soon got a job as an orderly in Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Dunn Avenue in Parkdale.

In August 1952 his wife Phyllis and the two children, Joan aged 4 and Anthony aged 7, arrived in Toronto's Union Station via New York. By the end of the following year John got a job as an electrician with CNR in the John Street Train Yards in downtown Toronto. John Conlan eventually retired from the CNR and in 2003 received a 50 Year Membership from the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers).