Everybody asks Len Read why he spends his days just sitting around and watching baseball games.
The Cambridge senior citizen simply says, "It's time to sit down and watch a game."
The 70-year-old has spent a busy life farming, playing hockey and baseball, playing in a band, and coaching sports teams in neighbouring Ayr.
"I've been a busy boy my whole life," said Read, talking to CambridgeToday about his life experiences.
At 10, he started helping out at his uncle's 100-acre cattle farm on Whistle Bear Road.
"I would run the farm, even when the family would go off on vacation for two weeks," recalled Read. "I was a pretty responsible kid. It was very difficult because we didn't have any modernized equipment; it was all manual labour."
He took over the farm once again after his uncle died and his mother inherited the farm. Read would help his father run affairs on the property.
Read said he loved working with the animals.
"I've always been partial to cattle," he said. "They've always been partial to me. The animals depend on you.
"If you treat them nice, they'll be nice to you," Read said. "That's not always true with the human race. Animals you can depend on to be like that."
That wasn't the only activity he was involved in while growing up. As a teenager, he was also part of a local band called 6 Man Band. He played the guitar and sang.
"I would have somebody waiting for me in the driveway when I finished the last bale of hay and I'd jump into the car and go off to play in a concert somewhere," he recalled. "We once played at Guelph university to 10,000 people there."
As well, Read said, he played at the El Mocambo in Toronto, where he met stars like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
"At that age, you just sit and talk about music," he said reminiscing about the conversations he and his bandmates had with all the other musicians they met.
This shared talent is now one the of ways he connects with his grandkids.
"My grandson took guitar lessons during the pandemic and every morning the first thing I do is watch my grandsons play the guitar on YouTube," he said.
Two of his other grandsons play baseball in Cambridge, and one of them wears a number 10 shirt, which was Read's number too when he played minor hardball in Galt for three years and Intermediate A baseball with Ayr Vics, for which he went all over Ontario and won championships.
While living in Ayr, he also played and coached hockey teams his sons played on.
"My father-in-law, in 1972, was trying to start a couple of female hockey teams, one from Oshwegan Six Nations, Tavistock, and New Hamburg," Read said. "They were playing exhibition games against each other and then they decided to start a league. I was responsible, with my father-in-law, to go to different meetings and set up a league."
The Southwestern Ontario Women's Hockey League had 12 teams to compete against each other.
The interest in hockey, Read said, exploded after that.
"After that league started, kids started watching the ladies play in Ayr, all of a sudden, half the kids skating were young girls," he said.
Read said he loved coaching the young, up and coming players.
"It didn't matter what age, but I seemed to be able to interact with any age of kids," he said. "The pride of seeing them grow as players, as kids, as young men. It was a very important part of that job (coaching). If you can't enjoy that, you shouldn't be coaching."
Due to health problems last year, Read had to move to Seasons Retirement Communities Cambridge from his Hespeler condo.
"My sons moved me in here in a day," he said. "Then my daughters-in-law came by and helped unpack and set up everything."
The lockdown had prevented him from seeing his 10 grandkids until the restrictions eased up a bit recently.
"I finally got to see them this week," said Read. "Seeing them was joyous, and not being able to see them was very hard."
He said technology had been of great help in keeping him connected with his family.
The first thing his family did was get him an iPad so they could send him photos and his grandson could share his guitar performances with him.
Read said he's spent a busy life but he's now ready to relax and enjoy retirement.
"If you work hard, you'll be blessed," he said.
Read said when he thinks back, it seems he had a lot on his plate. But it was great coaching all those young players.
"I never regretted doing it," said Read. "I would do it again in a minute."
