Circumstance
How One Woman Defied Convention to Succeed in Business and Life
by Earla Burke

---

This memoir is the journey of a girl who found the public library and the Baptist Church in the railway town in Northern Ontario at the age of eight. The library books gave her the knowledge she needed and Jesus gave her the strength to endure the journey. Her father who believed in spare the rod and spoil the child, taught her how to work. Her mother softened the hard lessons she had to learn. Independent at age fourteen, after repeating grade nine three times, she travelled to Toronto and began a new life where she met new friends and challenges. Her first home was a bed in a hostel at the YWCA where she lived until she moved in with a family of 14 the following year. Her father died when she was 18 and the events that followed gave her the determination and endurance to succeed. Her first job in Toronto was as a file clerk. Through night school and hard work, she progressed through corporations to college professor to president of a financial planning company. Her ultimate dream was to be a writer and this is her story.

---

The author left Northern Ontario and boarded a train to Toronto with her father’s permission at age 14. She purchased her first house at age 18 with a $1500 down payment and four mortgages. She never looked back. She worked her way up the ladder in enduring great companies at a time when it was not fashionable, taught business at Seneca College and started a financial planning company in 1983 that continues to thrive in Toronto.

---

Contributors

Author

Earla Burke

---

Other eBook Editions

This book is also available in eBook format from these sites.

• Amazon Kindle Store
• Apple Books
• Google Play