Charles (Bill) Shirriff was born and raised in Saskatchewan during the Great Depression years of the 1930's. After graduation from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, his love of learning and a penchant for new experiences led him to obtain a Master of Science in counseling psychology from the University of North Dakota and a B.A. degree from the State of New York. Over the years, he took additional courses in a variety of subjects at the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, University of Connecticut (Storrs) and Stanford University in California.

His teaching career spanned 35 years, mostly spent near Winnipeg in the city of Portage la Prairie, where he held positions as teacher, counselor, Special Education coordinator, and consultant for the Gifted & Talented for the School Division. Travel related to his vocation of teaching has taken him north to Swan River, Cranberry Portage, Flin Flon and Norway House.

A brief foray into the field of meteorology provided him with the opportunity to live in Moosonee, on the tip of James Bay, doing upper ozone atmosphere research.

In the early years of personal computers, Charles worked on the development of a pressure sensitive keyboard for use by physically handicapped people. Charles started a small company to manufacture and sell the keyboards across Canada and in the United States.

He has presented papers on computer-assisted learning provincially for Exceptional Children Conferences in Winnipeg; nationally at the National Research Council Symposium on Computer Technology in Vancouver; and internationally at the Association for the Development of Computer-Based Instructional Conference in Washington, D.C.

Charles resides with his wife, Wilma, in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, in their home overlooking beautiful Crescent Lake.

Their son, Ken, is a computer engineer with Google. He lives in California with his wife Kathryn and their daughter Sydney.

Their daughter, Anita, is married to Henry Borger. They live in Winnipeg with their daughters Emma and Lillian.

Email:  shirriff.gmail.com

Web site: www.shirriff.org