Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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4 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD would remember to evaluate objectively any issue before you decide to toss in the sponge. The results will probably be shocking! W. I. C. B. Ik IF it if Working on the time-proven assumption that many minds are better than a few, the editors of the Record would really welcome all letters of suggestion and construc- tive criticism from any of our three thousand addicted readers. -T1- J. W. LANGMUIR C06-'0'7J The death on September 16 of Colonel John Langmuir removed one of the most faithful workers for T.C.S. in the past twenty years. John Langmuir became a member of the Governing Body in 1933 and he succeeded Mr. R. C. H. Cassels as Secretary of the Board in 1937. In those days the Secretary did much of the work which the Chairman and the Executive Committee do today. For thirteen years he carried this heavy load and when Mr. G. B. Strathy re- signed as Chairman of the Board he succeeded him and remained as Chairman until January 1952. Thus for sixteen years, and throughout the difficult war years, Colonel Lang- muir acted as Secretary, as Chairman and Secretary, and as Chairman of the Governing Body, shouldering respon- sibilities and burdens for T.C.S. seldom borne by one man. In 1937, under Mr. Cassels' leadership, the School was rejoicing in completely new buildings but the debt had been a staggering one. We had been saved from bankruptcy by the magnificent generosity of Mr. Britton Osler and by the whole-hearted response of the Governors and other friends, organized by Mr. Cassels and Mr. Jellett. But we still had a bonded indebtedness and when Colonel Langmuir suc- ceeded to the Secretaryship he directed the clearing off of this heavy obligation. Then came the memorable seventy- fifth anniversary reunion at the School in 1940 which seemed

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 3 There is a more modern if less stirring example of fatalism with which I am sure you are all familiar. I refer of course to that drivel set to music entitled Que sera, sera . CWhatever will be will be.J However, so much for examples. Now let us resolve the main problem. What causes these moods of fatalism and defeatism? Sometimes, of course, it is the result of trying to combat the uncombatable. More often, though, it seems to be one's admission of inadequacy to master any given situation or obstacle, as in the case of those Senior Matric exams. What the attitudes really amount to is retiring and allowing the situation to follow its self-chosen course, without the benetit of your own mental or physical effort. fWhat- ever will be, will be.J In addition, if you have reached the defeatist stage, you probably expect its course to terminate in wholesale disaster! A slightly pathetic and definitely wasteful philosophy certainly. In this same vein, a striking contrast was apparent in the early stages of the Second World War. France and Great Britain faced Germany under approximately similar conditions. Before I-Iitler's hordes had even begun their dastardly march, most of the French nation was already defeated by clever German propaganda. The actual battle of France was almost a mere follow-through . On the other hand, the British, led by Sir Winston, rejected defeat in commendable style, fought the Battle of Britain certain of their eventual success, and halted Adolph's war machine in its tracks. It was as much a mental victory as a physical one. So you see that fatalism and defeatism reap their plunder in everyday life as well as in times of bitter crisis. Unfortunately, the fault lies usually with the victim, for it was he who ascribed the qualities of the invincible to that which did not warrant it. Finally, as a parting gesture, allow me to thrust upon you a thought-provoking suggestion. I believe that you would be doing yourself a definite favour in future if you

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 5 to be a turning point in our story. It was during Colonel Langmuir's term of office that Petry House was recon- structed into two masters' apartments, the Hospital was completely re-built, the Farm house re-modelled and recon- structed. Then came the wonderful gift by Mr. George Mc- Cullagh of the Peter Campbell Memorial Rink, and the Hugh Russel Memorial Tuck building given by Mr. and Mrs. Blair Russel. Finally the Memorial Fund, instituted at the end of the war and directed by Mr. Charles Burns, enabled us to build the beautiful Chapel. Colonel Langmuir was Chair- man or Secretary or both during these all-important years and he gave himself unsparingly to all these undertakings. No man could have been more generous of his time, no one could have been more painstaking, more wise and calm in his approach to the many problems which confronted him. In all the multifarious matters which need attention at a boarding school from day to day he was patience personified and always a wise and sympathetic counsellor. We remember his many visits to the School, the days he spent walking about the property and examining the buildings, the very courteous and pleasing way he met the masters and many employees, the hours he gave in his office in Toronto to School business and discussions with repre- sentatives of the School, the plans he made for future developmentg in all these and many other ways Colonel Langmuir gave complete and wholehearted service to his old School and we shall always be in his debt. Before he retired in 1949 he was General Manager of the Toronto General Trusts Corporation, and he had been President of the Toronto branch of the Red Cross Society during the Second World War. His Majesty the King ap- pointed him a member of the Order of the British Empire for his many contributions to the war effort. In the First World War he went overseas in 1915 with the Eaton Machine Gun battery of the Queen's Own Rifles. A year later he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, see- ing much action in those early days of flying. After the