Gordon Walsh is the second oldest in a family of eleven children born to John and Bertha Lewis Walsh of Fleur de Lys. He fished with his father out of Fleur de Lys before working in the lumber camps for Bowaters of Corner Brook. He also fished on the Labrador for two years.

He is married to the former Clotilda Quigley, and they have four daughters and one son. After ten years as a heavy equipment operator in the Baie Verte asbestos mine, the author returned to fishing for ten years. He was later employed with the town council of Fleur de Lys.