J. David Ford was a "native born son," born in the arctic, but he straddled distinct ways of life: white man versus Inuit (Eskimo) and Innu (Indian); the hardships of northern arctic life versus the easier existence of "the outside" world - Newfoundland - where his family had relatives, where they went on leave or for medical attention; the Hudson's Bay Company expectations to conduct astute business practices versus caring for members of the community and taking responsibility for the ongoing needs of the local people. He was a native born son but an outsider, part Inuit but living a white man's life in an HBC employee frame house. His parents, whose ancestors had lived in the arctic for generations, knew that his survival in the north depended on what he learned from his Inuit friends but also thought it was important for him to go to Newfoundland for five years to finish high school. This dichotomy honed his abilities as an observer and recorder of a time in history that was about to perish, the end of an era and a way of life that changed drastically after the war.