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Note: He was originally named Allan Stephens Findlay. His birth on a hot, dusty 17th day of August increased the population of Watson from 211 to 212. His family soon moved to Bassano, Alberta in the fall of 1915 and later to Owen Sound in the summer of 1919 where he spent most of his high school years. He and his siblings attended Ryerson Elementary School and we have records of all three children's being on the honour roll there in 1923 and 1924. Allan went to Owen Sound Collegiate- Vocational Institute for high school. He stood first and second during his grade nine terms, standing first in his class in composition, art, biology/zoology, Latin, French, and algebra. In grade 10, he also stood first in the class and ranked first in arithmetic. That year, in 1928 at age 14, he also earned his cadet signalling certificate, the Royal Life Saving Society elementary certificate ("Including the test of Life Saving and Resuscitation of the Apparently Drowned"), and the R.L.S.S. certificate for Rescue ("Releasing oneself from the Clutch of the Drowning"). That same year he wrote an essay called What the League of Nations Can Do for Canada, which we have. The children were fond of their dog, Buddy. Roy moved to Sydney, Nova Scotia in November 1929, and the rest followed after Christmas.
In Sydney he attended Sydney Academy for grade 11 and 12. In grade 11 he received the highest marks in the school for the grade 11 provincial examinations, his best subjects being history and geometry. He won two medals, one for the highest aggregate, and one for the highest marks in mathematics. In grade 12, he again placed first in the provincial examinations, winning the McConnell Scholarship of $125 per year for three years for university tuition in the Maritime Provinces. He also won the Burchell Medal for the highest average (88.5%) at Sydney Academy, the Father Macadam Medal for highest standing in mathematics, the Ross Medal for the highest marks in French, and the Midley Medal for the highest marks in history. That year he was also a member of the Academy basketball team, the Sydney Badminton Club, the Sydney Tennis Club, and was the Junior Champion of the Lingan Country Club for four years.
In September of 1931 he entered King's College, Dalhousie University, having just turned 16. He won the George H. Campbell Memorial Entrance Scholarship to Dalhousie. At Dalhousie, he was the assistant manager of the rugby (football) team, captain of the class basketball team, winner of the Cogswell Prize for physical training and gym member of the Radical Bay, historian of the Haliburton Club, on the decorating committee for dances, Secretary Treasurer of the Dalhousie/King's Round Table Club, member of the model assembly of the League of Nations, Secretary Treasurer of the King's College Athletic Association, on the badminton team (ranked in the top 3 at Dalhousie, and Singles Champion in 1934), Associate Editor of the King's Record newspaper and on the Encaenia committee. Academically, his main interests were economics and political science. In the summer of 1932 and again in 1933 (also in 1936) he won the Cape Breton Championship Golf Tournament. In August of 1933 he won the Maritime Provincial Golf Association Championship in Charlottetown, PEI at age 18. (We have the 40 congratulatory telegrams from that time: "Great joy in Sydney tonight".) He was the youngest player in the tournament, the youngest to win the maritime title, and the youngest golfer in the Dominion to win a provincial championship. He had reduced his handicap from 24 to 7 in two years. His father also competed in the same tournament and lost in the quarter finals. In 1934 he was one of only two who graduated with high honours in economics and political science.
In the fall of 1934, he entered Dalhousie Law School and stood first in his year. The next fall he became a teacher at King's Collegiate School, in Windsor, N.S., where he lived at the school. In December 1935, he won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University for the three years beginning in the fall of 1936. At Oxford he was captain of the badminton team, and was on the university team in lacrosse, golf, and tennis, and graduated with a double first with a bachelor of arts in jurisprudence (1938) and a bachelor of civil law (1939), placing in first class in both. In 1939 he was appointed to the staff of Dalhousie Law School, the youngest man in Canada to hold such position. In late 1940 he joined the Confederation Life Association. In 1941 he began training in radar with the RCAF and was posted overseas that fall. During his four years in the service, he spent most of his time in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Palestine, and held the office of Flight Lieutenant.
In 1946, he joined the Toronto law firm Tilley, Carson, Morlock, & McCrimmon, where he stayed until his death in 1982. (In 1959 his name was added to the firm, now Tilley, Carson, Findlay, & Wedd.) Over the years he practised corporate law. His interests included golf, spending time in Muskoka in the summer, golf trips, and family activities. In 1960 and again in 1970 he organized Findlay family reunions. He died suddenly in September 1982 of a stroke caused by acute leukemia after two days of illness, never having had the chance to retire. His firm established the Allan Findlay Memorial Entrance Scholarship for a first year law student and the family started sponsoring the Allan Findlay Trophy parent and child golf tournament in Sept. 1985 at Rosedale Golf Club, Toronto.
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