Profile of Marina Gambin

Biography

Born and raised in Branch, but a resident of Placentia since 1966, Mrs. Gambin fits the mold of previous Charter columnists as a retired, primary school teacher of 29 years at St. Edward's School, Placentia. She has always enjoyed writing and much of her work has been about growing up in Branch.

All articles of Marina Gambin

• Where the Foghorns Wail - Two generations later
  I am living in 2013 but there is no way I will ever catch up to it. In over five decades, I have moved from growing up in Branch, where my family ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail - Feeling no pain
  With hundreds of types of drugs and other health-related products lining pharmacy shelves, I sometimes wonder how in God’s name did I make it ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail - Popes, Smoke and Silver...
  It was in the 1950s when my great-uncle, Andrew Joseph Nash, to me Uncle Andy, told me about popes and silver hammers and other papal stuff. In ...
• Wher the Fog Horns Wail - Not exactly a one-horse...
  In the 1950s in Branch, we had lots of snowy winters but we didn’t have sleigh rides as such. Most families owned a horse or two and the stables ...
• What was in your school bag?
  When I was a child in the 1950s, I loved going back to school after our Christmas holidays. Given the fact that I hung up a big home-knit woollen ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  Every outport Newfoundlander is familiar with the term landwash. Although my WordPerfect tells me that there is no such word, I will not insult ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  A few years ago, the use of outdoor clotheslines was banned in some urban areas of Ontario. Although I cannot recall the reason for the ban, I ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  Here, in Placentia, I never know for sure when winter is over. Sure, the calendar shows April and I have put away my winter boots. We are ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  With my computer going out of whack, doctors’ appointments to keep and other interferences, this deadline really crept upon me. Once again, I ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  This story about growing up in Branch in the 1950s has lain in my computer for quite awhile. Right now, with another deadline looming, I sit ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  By definition, a novena is a recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially to saints asking for their ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  The partridge season, which is truly a Newfoundland rite of passage, kicked in a few weeks ago. Growing up with three brothers, who just loved ...
• Where the foghorns wail
  When I am looking for storylines, the strangest memories pop into my head. Some members of my family and my circle of friends question the fact ...
• Playing Slough, which rhymes with cow
  Where the foghorns wail - Recently, while browsing Facebook, I playfully referred to some childhood pastimes of the 1950s in Branch. I couldn't ...
• The nine-handed initiation game
  Where the foghorns wail - Every now and then, I get a phone call from my brother Terry, in Labrador City, who says "I have another story for ...
• Another everyday hero
  Where the foghorns wail - Forgive me if this column seems similar to the last one, but even in little places like Branch, heroes abound. In the ...
• A hero by any other name
  Where the foghorns wail - Everybody likes to read about champions who are worthy of imitation. With the accessibility of today's modern ...
• Where The Foghorns Wail
  Terry Power, my youngest sibling, who lives and works in Labrador City, is a storyteller, writer and poet in his own right. Because I am 14 years ...
• A tasty childhood memory
  Where the foghorns wail - Writing a column such as this, where I have to submit an article every second week, keeps me thinking constantly about ...
• The April Fool's Day Lambs
  Where the foghorns wail - The approach of April Fool's Day always brings three components to mind, namely, newborn lambs, my uncle Cyril (Sooley) ...
• Those cold March mornings
  Where the foghorns wail - In centrally heated houses, which boast an unlimited number of electrical appliances, there is no way in the world that ...
• Pork chops and snow clearing - Terry's story
  Where the foghorns wail - I feel so lucky to have grown up in Branch in the midst of a storytelling family. Whenever I'm stuck for a topic for ...
• Where the foghorns wail
  Henry John Curtis was well known in the little community of Branch in the 1950s and 60s. He lived in a makeshift house situated, to itself, in ...
• Snowball battles of the 1950s
  Where the foghorns wail - The outport of Branch has always been identified by the areas which make up the whole settlement. Growing up in that ...
• Where the Foghorns Wail
  Recently, on a radio talk show, a caller complained about the fact that Newfoundland fishers are no longer allowed to sell their fish dockside or ...
• The world will end
  I've seen a fair number of New Years come and go, but I particularly recall the 1959-1960 one. That specific year, I was a 12-year-old with an ...
• Memories of my 13th Christmas
  Where the foghorns wail - I remember my thirteenth Christmas. I was in Grade 8 at St. Thomas Aquinas School on the Lower Road of Branch and Leo ...
• The rabbit that wasn't
  Where the foghorns wail - I have saved this story for a time like this when my deadline is looming and I need to come up with a hasty anecdotal ...
• Before Reddy Kilowatt
  Not long ago, I was chatting to an old friend of mine, and in the course of our reminiscing, he made the point that our generation was lucky to ...
• The common laws of right and wrong
  Where the foghorns wail - My husband loves this time of the year because it is rabbit snaring time. Everything about this pastime interests him ...