While a full chronology of Tom Kines’ life and achievements is included in the Tom Kines Collection at Carleton University, here is a summary of Kines’ highlights:
| 1922 Aug 3 | Kines was born |
| 1927 | Kines first performed at the age of five |
| 1929 | Kines began taking piano lessons |
| Ca 1936-39 | Attended Goose Lake Consolidated School, Roblin, MB |
| Ca 1940-42 | Attended the University of Manitoba; performed leading roles in musical productions including The Mikado and Ruddigore |
| 1942-46 | Entered the Royal Canadian Navy as Probationary Sub-Lieutenant; while serving in Ireland, collected some 500 Irish songs |
| 1943 Oct | Married Mavis MacPhail Lauder in Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| 1945 Nov | Discharged from Canadian Navy at rank of Lieutenant Commander |
| 1946 | Settled in Ottawa; took church soloist positions at Erskine Presbyterian, then McLeod Street United Church and later at Chalmers United Church |
| 1946-66 | Employed by the Royal Canadian Legion; hired as executive assistant officer (working in rehabilitation), gradually became involved in administrative areas such as directing National Poppy Campaign; rose to become Director of Administration of the National Headquarters and finally Assistant National Director |
| 1946-47 | Kines performed in various shows as a part of the Orpheus Operatic Society |
| 1949 | Researching Irish traditional music, Kines wrote to various publishers in the UK as well as The English Folk Dance and Song Society and the Irish Folk-lore Commission, searching for music and reference material for background on the songs. |
| 1949-61 | Founding member of the Tudor Singers of Ottawa. The group performed in period costume in Ottawa, Brockville, Stratford and Montreal. Kines not only sang but performed on recorder and lute in this group. |
| 1950 | Corresponding with folklorist Edith Fowke, Kines said he was expanding into the field of Celtic song, including not only the 100 or so Irish songs in his repertoire, but also Gaelic, Welsh, Manx, Cornish and British. |
| 1951 | In addition to solo church work and the Tudor Singers, Kines had leading roles in various productions: Little Theatre productions, lead roles in four Crawley Films and one NFB; Robert Fleming had arranged seven songs for Kines and William France one. Irish Poet Padraic Colum gave Kines three poems to have set to music. Kines also stated he had collected over 200 Irish songs from libraries, manuscripts, folk song societies and archives. |
| 1952 | Kines appeared in the TV show “The Magic of Music” |
| 1952 Mar 13 | There is an article in the Ottawa Citizen about Kines winning the Ottawa Temple Choir Trophy, which quotes music festival adjudicator as saying, “In Ottawa there is a Bach tenor! And I’m going to tell the people across Canada that you have a Bach tenor in Ottawa.” |
| 1954 Mar 12 | Kines was a soloist in broadcast of the CBC program, “Songs of My People,” singing a program of Irish folk song in English. A bio sketch prepared for the program mentions he had by this time collected some 500 songs, “…and a study which eventually embraces the songs of all the Celtic nations and the singing of their songs in Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish and Scotch and Irish Gaelic.” |
| 1956 | Kines performed multiple times with the Carletones of Carleton College |
| 1957 Jan 25 | Kines received a report from the new Canadian Folk Music Society signed by Marius Barbeau and Carmen Roy. It appears that a handwritten note, “To Thomas Kines[:] Would you join us?” written in Barbeau’s hand. |
| 1957 Feb | Kines performed for the Lakeshore Music for Young People Concert at John Rennie High School, Pointe Claire, Quebec. Robert Fleming emceed the program. |
| 1957 June | Kines recorded Of Maids and Mistresses on Elektra Records (EKL 137) |
| 1958 | Kines was the “shopkeeper” in the CBC TV summer series for children, “The Song Shop” |
| 1958 Aug 12 | An article in the Ottawa Journal notes, “Ottawa’s Tom Kines, rapidly acquiring a country-wide reputation as one of our leading folk singers….” Kines also appeared on CBC TV’s “Rhapsody,” produced by Norman Campbell. |
| 1959-60 | Under Robert Fleming’s guidance, Kines made two records for use with the NFB. The film strips were to be used in teaching songs to children. |
| 1959 Mar 4 | Kines was tenor soloist for the Carletones annual concert, performing excerpts from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, Bach’s Easter Cantata, Vaughan Williams (two of) Four Hymns for Tenor and Viola |
| 1960 | Kines records a twelve-program series for CBO under the title “A-Roving,” in the form of a travelogue, “visiting” countries on the North Atlantic and singing their folk songs. |
| 1961-62 | Kines was president of the Ottawa Music Festival |
| 1961 Apr | Replacing one of the choristers in the Montreal Bach Choir under George Little, Kines toured Japan, appeared at the Osaka International Festival. The CBO TV show “Jubilee” by Kines’ and Russ Thomas debuted. |
| 1961 Aug 18 | Tom Kines performed Irish and Canadian folk songs at the first Mariposa Folk Festival. (He also played the Festival in ’62, ’64, ’66, ’68 and ’71.) |
| 1961 Sep | Folkways Recordings (#8767) released Songs from Shakespeare’s Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare’s Time |
| 1961 Dec 25 | CBC Radio pays a fireside visit to the Kines family for a program of traditional Christmas songs and rounds. |
| 1961-62 | Kines worked 26 weeks on CBOT program “Folderol,” which also included performers Rich Little and Jim Terrell |
| 1962 Aug 11-12 | Kines appeared in three concerts at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia. |
| 1962 Oct 20 | Following a New York Town Hall concert sponsored by Folkways, Robert Shelton of the New York Times wrote: “Tom Kines was thoroughly delightful in Irish songs that have entered the Canadian folk stream. He has a trained tenor or high baritone voice, plays lute skillfully and above all, conveys an air of ease and familiarity with his material.” |
| 1962 | Kines was the lead singer in the “Song Pedlar,” along with Russ Thomas, Jean Price, and Ed Honeywell |
| 1964 | Ron McGee joins the Song Pedlar’s Pack |
| 1964 | Publication of Songs from Shakespeare’s Plays and Popular Songs of Shakespeare’s Time by Oak Press |
| 1964 Feb 29 | Kines was invited by Alan Mills to tape a radio program together. |
| 1964 Aug 8-9 | Kines performed at the Mariposa Folk Festival. On Aug 8, Kines performed and on Aug 9 he hosted a concert on Religious Folk Music with Sammy Terry, Broiwnie McGee, Mississippi John Hurt and Gordon Lightfoot.Described by Marvin Schiff of the Toronto Globe & Mail: “Another shining light of the week-end was Tom Kines, a silver-haired lute-player and singer from Ottawa who is one of the deans of Canadian folk music.” |
| 1964 Oct 2-23 | Invited by Barbara Cass-Beggs, Kines performed 32 recitals for the Saskatchewan Junior Concert Society, singing to 18,000 school children. Max Laidlaw of the Regina Leader Post commented: “Any singer with Tom Kines’ quality of voice, good looks and easy relaxed manner has an instant appeal to children. When this is coupled with good diction and an original and interesting choice of music, and the ability to get his young audience participating without any loss of controlled listening, you have what the Provincial Junior Concert Society would call, ‘the perfect Junior concert.’” |
| 1965 | Folk Songs of Canada, recorded by RCA Victor (PCS 1014) was released. Reviewed in Winnipeg Free Press: “Tom Kines of Ottawa is a ballad singer who deserves, but has yet to receive international fame. He is, in fact, the best ballad singer Canada has yet produced and this splendid collection of his music is long overdue. Mr. Kines, it need hardly be added, sings the songs like an angel. His delivery is crisp, intelligent and melodious. The flute, guitar and clarinet accompaniments are of the first order. Victor is to be congratulated for having the good sense to put Mr. Kines on records. It is a major folk effort.” |
| 1966 | Kines resigned from the Legion to become National Director of CARE Canada.Between 1966 and 1987, he presided over a twenty-fold increase in Canadian contributions. He inspected CARE operations in Afghanistan, Belize,Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Peru, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tunisia. |
| 1967 | Kines performed on the CBC TV program “Chansons” with Monique Leyrac, singing in front of several Quebec City landmarks |
| 1969 Nov 11 | Kines performed in the role of the First Sailor in the Britten/Holst version of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, performed in concert version by the National Arts Centre Orchestra |
| 1970 Aug 5 | Kines sang several songs for the taping of a show in the new CBC TV series “This Land” in Toronto. Other guests on the program included Alan Mills, Jacques Labrecque and The Travellers. The program, called “Music of the Land” was broadcast on Dec 30. |
| 1970 Aug 19 | Performance of Prairie Sailor at the NAC, for which Kines wrote the story line and selected the songs, with musical arrangements by Robert Fleming; it included a 16-piece orchestra, a 12-man male chorus, and six soloists. The program included “The Sailor’s Alphabet,” a song with the same tune and refrain that Kines’ grandfather, Dan McNeill, sang to Tom 50 years earlier. |
| 1971 May | Kines was on the cover of The Canadian Composer, No. 60, with article by Joan Meredith. |
| 1974 Apr | Kines was notified that he had been approved for a Canada Council travel grant to pursue folk music research at the National Library of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, School of Scottish Studies, Mitchell Library in Glasgow, the British Museum, Burns’ Museums in Ayr, Allowway and Dumfries, Tarbolton and Mauchline. At the Cecil Sharp House in London, he intensified his search for the authentic tunes of Robert Burns’ Merry Muses; he subsequently produced an edition of the ballads, the first to include musical notation, but it was never published. |
| 1976 Sep 23 | Alan Mills wrote to Kines and said he thought it was high time he nominated him for a “medal,” “not only for your work as a singer of folksongs and other works, but for your “humanitarian” efforts for the VETS and CARE…” |
| 1976-77 | Kines broadcasted “Folk Fair,” a program Kines described as “designed to explore the field of traditional folk music through collectors, editors, performers, musicologists ….” |
| 1977 Jan 27 | Kines wrote to Helen Creighton (author of weekly “Folk Fair” fan letters to Kines) and remarked about the show taking most of his time away from the office. He also told her about his upcoming trip to Africa, during which Aidan O’Hara would host four “Folk Fair” shows. |
| 1977 Oct | Kines was principal performer for a CBC TV variety special filmed on the Quyon River in Quebec. |
| 1977 Nov 30 | Sharing the stage with Jean Carignan and Alanis Obomsawin in a CBC sponsored concert at the National Gallery was “Tom Kines, the patriarch of Canadian folksingers….” The program was to be broadcast Dec 10, 1977 on “On the Music Scene.” |
| 1979 Jul 2 | Kines wrote to Hamish Henderson (Scottish poet, folklorist) that he had been collecting (about 100) lumbering songs in Quyon, the Madawaska district and at Ennismore, north Of Peterborough – old Irish settlements. Edith Fowke had collected twenty years before in Quyon and Ennismore, but did not spend much time with Irish narrative ballads. |
| 1982 Aug 30 | In a letter to Helen Creighton, Kines said he was doing very little performing. He was hospitalized twice and was busy with the formation of CARE International. |
| 1986 Oct 15 | Kines wrote to Helen Creighton that he and Mavis (now retired from nursery school) would be going to Rome for a meeting of CARE International and then touring Northern Italy for a week. He said that he hoped to retire in the summer of 1987, then 65. |
| 1987 Aug 1 | Kines retired as Director of CARE Canada, but would serve as a consultant for a further three years. |
| 1991 Dec 4 | The first of a three-part series of articles on Tom Kines life appeared in the Post (serving West Quebec): Laurin, Victor. “The ‘Herald Angel of Heaven’, a loyal Orangeman’s grandson,” The Post (West Quebec), Dec 4, 1991 |
| 1991 Dec 11 | Second part of the series: “From the Royal Canadian Navy grew a love for folk music” |
| 1991 Dec 18 | Third and final article in series: “Divine intervention decided the fate of “uncomfortable” pageant””The article brought the reader up to date and stated that, as a 69 year old in excellent physical condition, Kines was playing tennis every Sunday of the year and was an avid tennis fan. Married to Mavis Lauder for 48 years, the couple had two daughters and two grand daughters. |