By 2003, Reggie had found an unexpected new line of work: advertising sales.

According to a job application he wrote in June 2005, Reggie worked for Phone Directories Company during 2003 and 2004. He later joined Metroland, the community newspaper division of the Toronto Star, where he worked in directory advertising and on specialty publications for about a year and a half.

For those of us who knew Reggie, this was surprising. He was a very quiet guy, and sales was about the last kind of work we would have imagined him doing. But apparently, he was doing okay at it.

Reggie was living in Oshawa and supporting himself. Unlike his earlier boarding-house experience in Toronto, he had a good relationship with his landlady. Our family spoke with her a few times and came away with the impression that she genuinely cared about his well-being.

She also helped him solve another problem. Reggie didn’t have particularly good credit, but through a friend who owned a GM dealership, she helped him obtain a 1995 Pontiac.

The car became important to him, particularly as his circumstances later became more difficult. At some point, Reggie was involved in an accident on Highway 401 that damaged the right front fender. In typical Reggie fashion, he hammered the damaged fender out himself and kept driving it.

Things Become More Difficult

Reggie left Metroland on good terms early in 2005. By then, however, other problems were accumulating.

He had been living with Hepatitis C for years, and his health remained a concern. His financial problems were also becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

During the second week of May, Reggie lost his driving privileges because of unpaid fines accumulated over the preceding years. According to our family’s records, the outstanding fines had grown to more than $8,000, and Reggie was worried that they could eventually result in him going to jail.

He called our mother and, less than 24 hours later, was on his way back to Prince Edward Island. Despite no longer having a valid licence, he drove home, arriving on May 17.

In a job application written two weeks later, Reggie said he had returned to PEI to spend time with his children. He was already looking for another advertising sales position and hoped to remain in the Maritimes, preferably Halifax.

Reggie had come home, but he was still trying to find a way forward.