Wayne Hitchcock

About Wayne Hitchcock

My name is Wayne Hitchcock and I was born at Perth-Andover, New Brunswick on May 7, 1954. I was raised and went to school there graduating from Southern Victoria High School in 1972. I then attended the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton Campus, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1976.

My father was a school teacher for the Province of New Brunswick his entire career and my mother worked at several jobs, the last of which was as a receptionist/assistant at the local medical clinic. My paternal grandfather was a potato farmer/potato broker who grew his own crop but also bought his neighbors crops and sold them in foreign markets. My maternal grandfather was a carpenter in the Salisbury area. As you can see my family has been working class New Brunswick for a long while.

I began my working career at the age of 15 as a janitor’s assistant. During university I worked summers in northern Quebec as a railway worker building and repairing track for the iron ore railroads in the north. I also did a stint as a mechanic stores clerk for Johns Manville in Asbestos, Quebec. After university I worked for seven years with an investment firm in Montreal buying and selling stocks on the U.S. and Canadian markets. I was also a registered trader on the Midwest Stock Exchange in Chicago as a commodities trader.  In 1983 I moved my family back to New Brunswick and did a six-month stint as a corrections officer in the provincial jail system. My six-year-old daughter, when asked what her Daddy did proudly said, “My Daddy’s in jail”. In 1984 I was successful at a federal competition and received a job with Canada Customs and Excise which I held for the next thirty years and now I am enjoying retirement.

My basic skill set includes the ability to teach, to speak in public, to research, to interpret and apply legislation, and to play music and entertain. My wife and I currently play two shows a month (sometimes more) in the St. Stephen area for the retirement homes. We also donate time to the local Wellness group and enjoy and sing in the choir at the Kirk McColl Church.

My wife, Audrey, and I now live in the St. Stephen area. Our two middle aged daughters and our eleven-year-old granddaughter all live in Ottawa.

My personal motto has been and continues to be, “No job is too big to be done and no job is too small to be ignored”.