This is the first installment of REWIND, a series written by a local teen that features one local senior’s story every other Friday.
Born in November of 1940 in the town of Bootle, England, near Liverpool, Reg Ogden experienced one of the most devastating events in modern history as a toddler — the Second World War.
He lived through the Liverpool Blitz, in which Nazi bombers targeted Bootle’s seaport (it was an important British harbour at the time).
The German blitz was the second heaviest bombing to occur in Britain during the war.
Ogden’s two brothers, his sister, and himself were evacuated and placed in an orphanage 40 miles away from their home.
“[The conditions of the orphanages] all depended on who the sister was. If you got a good head sister, life was good. We had two horrible ones,” he explained.
“I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as nice nuns. I thought they were all mean.”
In the face of these harsh circumstances, Ogden’s determination to fulfill his dream set him apart from other children.
“I stayed two years longer in the orphanage so that I could go to university. I shut my mouth and didn’t talk back, because I knew that that was the only chance I had to go.”
Ogden’s hard work paid off in the end, and he was given a scholarship to study public administration at the University of Manchester.
“Only 1.5 to two per cent [of people] could go to university in those days,” he said.
In the 1960s, the British economy began to decline as unemployment rates rose. While attending school, Ogden did whatever jobs he could find in his free time to earn money for his rent, food, and tuition.
“Every vacation I’d be working somewhere. I’d hitchhike and ride to work somewhere and earn some money.
“I’d get dishwashing jobs, jobs at the bakery. But I used to have to walk miles and miles just to find one part-time summer job.
“If I worked a week in a bakery, I’d earn £2.50, which is about $4 or $5. I used to go to a country pub in another county, and it would take me two hours to get there.
“I’d make about £5, or $8 bartending on a Saturday afternoon or evening. That was good money.”
Once Ogden graduated, he decided to leave Manchester for Canada in search of a better environment and more stable job opportunities. Yet when he arrived in Toronto in 1964, he felt unsatisfied.
“[It was a] big mistake. Grey skies, grey buildings, grey ground, the wind, the cold, the ice,” he recalled. “I just didn’t feel comfortable on the east side.”
Two years later, he moved to Vancouver and instantly realized that it was the right place for him to settle.
“When I came to Vancouver, I was at home right away. It was very British,” he said.
“I came in September. As soon as I left the airport, we drove through UBC and down Marine Drive, and I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve come to the right place.’
“It wasn’t like going to a strange city for me.”
Ogden travelled northwards from Vancouver and did odd jobs until he gathered enough money to return to university and study business administration. Once he completed his courses, he found a stable job as an investment advisor.
“I went into the brokerage business. I became a stockbroker because I didn’t want to be moved around,” he explained.
“If you go into marketing, the bank shifts you around. I wanted to stay in British Columbia.”
From then on, Ogden led a successful career in the business and eventually put down roots in Richmond.
In 2003, Ogden wrote Trading, Speculating and Investing in North American Gold and Precious Metal Stocks, a book on trading gold stocks.
Currently, Ogden is working on another book named The Affluent Retiree, which is centred around the issue of earning enough money to be wealthy after retirement.
In spite of all the challenges Ogden faced in his life, he remains optimistic and stays true to his belief that hard work can propel you to greater heights.
“You can work your way out of your situation in most cases,” said Ogden.
He certainly did.
Hedy Ng is a Grade 11 student at Steveston-London Secondary School
