Ronald Formanger was born April 21, 1925, in Lourdes, on the Port au Port Peninsula, and lived most of his life between there and Stephenville. His father, Francis Formanger, immigrated to Newfoundland from France to pursue the inshore fishery. Ron joined him in the boat at the age of 12. As an adult, Ron was a guard on the American base in Stephenville. Ron’s father played the fiddle, and Ron and his younger brother Johnny learned to play.

Collector’s Note: I met and recorded Ron one Sunday afternoon in the lounge at White’s Hotel in Stephenville, where it was customary for a few local musicians to gather and play music on weekends. We had a grand afternoon, and many tunes were played. An excellent fiddler, most of Ron’s tunes were of  Irish and Scottish origin, with some old local tunes and tunes heard on radio shows or records by Sean Maguire and Winston Scotty Fitzgerald.