Brentwood College School - Brentonian Yearbook (Mill Bay, British Columbia Canada)

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that we have met and can no more really leave this school and our friends than we can leave our very selves. But still, perhaps, we hear in our minds an inevitable word with a touch of sorrow. Have faith, you ' ll remember those feelings as some of your most beautiful: a parting is the richest fullest bittersweet. And now, the word you will long to feel again, Goodbye. So, the luncheon ended, and everyone repaired to the field for the Awards Day ceremonies, there joining the many families now seated in bright sunshine. The Headmaster, Mr. Ross, acted as Chairman of the ceremonies and began by introducing the platform party who included Mr. John McLernon, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr. T. Gil Bunch, the Guest of Honour, and Mrs. Bunch, who was to present the awards. That a most pleasant surprise was in store for Mr. Bunch became evident when, following some congratulatory remarks to the Headmaster and Faculty of the School, Mr. McLernon introduced Hugh Stephen, a former Chairman of the Board. In a speech which was a fine model of the effective use of our language Mr. Stephen said: When, some six years ago, the Board of Governors was generous enough to establish an award carrying my name, they stipulated that it would be awarded not on an annual basis but only in the case of someone whose services to the school were of such significance that he or she might be said to have become a part of the Brentwood story for all time. For this reason the award has only been made twice since its inception, first to David Mackenzie, our founding Headmaster and secondly to Maurice Young whose work for the Old Brentonians Association is so well known. Today, for the third time, we are making the award to one who for 25 years has been in so many ways the dominant presence on this campus. And 1 refer, of course, to Gil Bunch. Those of you who are graduating today will be taking away with you a mountain of memories of your lives here. But as the years go by and other, newer experiences crowd in upon you, many of today ' s memories will be supplanted and fade away. But this I can guarantee, that to the end of your days you will recall with mountain affection and gratitude the influence upon your lives of this brilliant, dynamic, endlessly creative teacher and friend. Oh yes, I am sure that sometimes Gil scared the daylight out of you. But if you are honest with yourselves I think you will admit that at the time you probably deserved to be scared; because, for the moment anyway, you had departed from those same high standards of professionalism, self-discipline and integrity which Gil has always imposed on his own life and which he wanted, wanted desperately, to pass on to you. Because, Gil has always understood, and wanted you to understand, that when the going gets tough, as it always does sooner or later, the glue which holds one together is made up of self-discipline and total dedication and a determination to be true to the highest standards of which you are capable, whether physical, mental or spiritual. And Gil cared enough about all of you to want you to learn this lesson here in the kindlier environment of Brentwood rather than having to learn it in the more unfeeling world that awaits you on the outside. And so today we honour Gil for so much — for the excitement, the electricity he gives to everything he touches, whether the teaching of English or drama or simply the requirements of good citizenship around this campus; above all for making this small world of ours at Brentwood expand suddenly and magically into a universe of infinite wonder and challenge and beauty and of possibilities untold. Lastly we honour him for being a compassionate, caring teacher and friend who has never counted the hours or the cost to his own health if spent on our behalf. The American historian, Henry Adams, wrote this: A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops. During the past 25 years probably upwards of two thousand young men and women have left this campus and gone out into the stream of our national life. Everyone of them to a greater or lesser extent has been influenced by the magic of Gil ' s presence and his devotion to Man ' s highest and best standards. In this way his contribution to our Canadian life is well nigh incalculable. And so we honour him today. But there is one more thing I would wish to say, and in doing so I am departing somewhat from the instructions I received from the Board of Governors. But I am sure, Mr. Chairman, they will agree with me. It must be apparent to all who know Gil that he could not have lived these past 25 years with the intensity he gives to everything he touches without having been able to draw upon a reservoir of strength, encouragement, understanding and love. Fortunately for us he has had such a reservoir in Jean Bunch, our honoured guest today. And because she has given so much to Gil it is that he has been able to give so much to us. Therefore I propose to make this a joint award to this splendid partnership of Jean and Gil. Thank you so much for everything. We love you. Clearly moved by these sentiments, Mr. Bunch, speaking also on his wife ' s behalf, briefly thanked all those who had felt him worthy of this honor. The headmaster then delivered his report on the School Year. Following Mr. Ross ' s report, the awards were announced and presented. Awards Day concluded with an excellent tea, before the campus suddenly, and a trifle traumatically for those who must remain, fell silent and began its long sonorous summer.

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couldn ' t have stayed to listen to anyone, yourself or any other student, saying a word about that poem. It had to stay with me, as that moment, when I heard it, untouched, whole. The years between then and now have seen contact, irregular, eccentric, always fascinating contact, with Wade. Letters, postca rds, telephone calls, visits, pictures of the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Amazon, Buenos Aires, letters from the headwaters of the Orinoco, Harvard, Boston, always a delight when in some way Wade would stride into our lives for by now he had become a close friend of both my wife and myself. You can imagine my pleasure when early in this year Wade published his first major book. The Serpent and the Rainbow, a report of an exploratory visit to Haiti, sponsored by American medical research teams to investigate documented cases of zombies and the voodoo culture itself. I saw the book beginning to appear on the bookstands. I read very favourable reviews of it and was just about to send a note of congratulations or phone when suddenly Wade was called back to Victoria, by token of his father ' s death. I must have been rehearsing, trying to teach Doug MacLaren or Hew Crooks how to do the Charleston, because I was very late home that night, and as I went in, my wife said, Wade is home, his Dad has died, he phoned you at about seven. He has just arrived from France. He would like you to phone him. Well, it was midnight and I phoned and didn ' t get any answer I couldn ' t reach him. It wasn ' t until some four or five nights later that I found myself having a very quiet dinner with Wade, generally enjoying a couple of hours together, although the hours were very difficult ones, very emotional ones naturally for Wade. We had a fine meal, and drank far too much good French wine — chosen by Wade, of course, I can ' t tell one wine from another and I am always surprised when people can. At any event we left the restaurant at about one o ' clock in the morning and we proceeded towards where I had parked my car in a circular civic parkade. We clambered up to where the car was, and of course it was completely deserted, hollow, bleak, forbidding. The lighting was harsh. metallic, the light too cold, shadows too dark, and I got into my side of the car and reached over to let Wade in. I was just about to put my key in the ignition, when Wade said May I read to you? I didn ' t know how to answer, but before I could do so he had reached over into the back seat of my car where he had placed his book that he had autographed earlier in the evening, and he began to read. As I tell you now, I see the scene, I feel the scene, I can quite readily transplant myself from this room and replace myself in that deserted car park. Of course, I didn ' t know how to reply when Wade came to the end of his reading which was just simply a description that he had written of a hotel and its grounds in Haiti. But before I cold say anything — I was going to say something about his skill as a writer, the weaknesses, the strengths — but before I could say one word. Wade had plunged into reading a second paragraph and I sat. I simply became a listener, I was in no sense a participant. I didn ' t know why I was being used as a listener, I simply was. And the second reading gave place to the third, and he closed the book at the end of the third paragraph, and then he said I had to do that, I had to read to you, and then for the first time there began to dawn on me what was taking place, the nature of the ritual that I was taking part in. I turned towards Wade and he said You do understand, don ' t you, and extended his hand. I took it and he simply said, Thank you for reading to me, and nineteen years fell away, the circle was joined, I was back in the classroom with Coleridge, the totem was being returned in the handshake. The energy link was being made. It was a moment of mystery, of dignity, but most of all, 1 felt it was a moment of returning the totem where it belonged. And in essence, members of the 1986 class, together with my thanks for all your kindness, that is what I wish to say to you today. It really is in the form of a request to each one of you to return your totems, with grace, love and dignity. The last chapter of the story sees me returning home that same night, taking down my Coleridge, turning to the Dejection Ode, and reading the line: We receive but what we give. Thank you. It is difficult at any time for a student to have to speak following an adult, then it must be doubly difficult to have to follow such a speaker as Mr Bunch. Nicholas Spicer, the elected Valedictorian rose superbly to the occasion by saying: Guests of Honour, Parents, Staff and Classmates. What a distinguished audience this is! I thank my fellow graduates for allowing me the honour of addressing you. I can, however, make no apologies if in doing so they have cast a swine before pearls. The task of saying 90 goodbyes could be so awkwardly performed that I will be grateful if I merely prevent this auspicious occasion from becoming a trite one. I ask my friends in the graduating class for their understanding if my remarks do not fulfill their wishes; but no unified voice could tell me what to say. On the one hand the ladies begged me to bring tears for some cataclysmic heart-rendering they expect in leaving, while on the other the gentlemen wanted largely to chuckle at a retelling of their nefarious exploits. Neither request is suitable, however, because today should not be a forum either for gross sentiment or boasting; it is a simple day of parting. We graduates are about to see the end of our days here at Brentwood. We ' ve spent years here, growing tree-like in soil tendered and enriched by our teachers and taking such growth from this earth that the school has naturally become part of us. We have sent our thirsty roots deep here, but have not only taken — for as leaves fall the boughs above do renew the forest floor — so have we given of ourselves to those who stay on for the years ahead. If this is true, then today is a sharing; and a transplantation too, because wherever we go from today we shall take with us some of this school, and thus of each other. Today is not an uprooting, however; we will likely always hold these bonds; and so therefore we can be as sure of our origins and identities just as we can be certain that the latticework of friendships here today will never fade into decay until we ourselves do. So to bid farewell would seem shortsighted, as we are parts of all

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26th ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF AWARDS AND PRIZES JUNE 21st, 1986 GEOGRAPHY and CONSUMER EDUCATION GEOGRAPHY 10 GEOGRAPHY 11 GEOGRAPHY 12 CONSUMER FUNDAMENTALS 9 CONSUMER FUNDAMENTALS 10 HISTORY, LAW, ECONOMICS and CIVILISATION SOCIAL STUDIES 8 SOCIAL STUDIES 9 HISTORY 10 HISTORY 11 HISTORY 12 LAW 11 WESTERN CIVILISATION 12 ACADEMIC AWARDS — Mr. H.J. Martin ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGES LATIN 8 SPANISH 10 FRENCH 8 FRENCH 9 FRENCH 10 FRENCH 11 FRENCH 12 SCIENCE SCIENCE 8 SCIENCE 9 SCIENCE 10 BIOLOGY 11 BIOLOGY 12 Joint Award CHEMISTRY 11 CHEMISTRY 12 PHYSICS 11 PHYSICS 12 SICENCE COUNCIL OF B.C. AWARD MATHEMATICS MATHEMATICS 8 MATHEMATICS 9 MATHEMATICS 10 ALGEBRA 11 ALGEBRA 12 COMPUTER SCIENCE 9 COMPUTER SCIENCE 11 COMPUTER SCIENCE 12 CALCULUS 12 Trish DOLMAN Anita BRIGHT Georg PFAFFE Kevin SMITH Damon WRIGHT Mr. R.B. MacLean Eldon ASP Andrew DUFFY Trish DOLMAN Sean MISFELDT Gerald RISK Betsy ERASER Mark HUNTER Mrs. N.R Arthurs John KARLSSON Amanda JACKSON David LOEWEN Aaron ASP Amanda JACKSON Megan ZENS Stacey REYNHOUDT Mr. G.C.L. Pennells Eric SEATON Samuel YIP Shaun SMILLIE Anita BRIGHT Myrna CHORNEY Joanna MACKENZIE Signe GOTFREDSEN Howard CHEUNG Trevor MISFELDT Gerald RISK Howard CHEUNG A Book Prize to be awarded to the top Science student in the Graduating Class based upon his her performance in all Grade 1 1 and 12 Sciences Mr. J.B. Garvey David LOEWEN Samuel YIP Shaun SMILLIE Kirk LO Howard CHEUNG Bryce EVANS Shaen CHAMBERS Howard CHEUNG Doug MacLAREN ENGLISH 8 ENGLISH 9 ENGLISH 10 CREATIVE WRITING Frances Scott Memorial Award ENGLISH 11 ENGLISH 12 Arthur C. Privett Memorial Award ENGLISH LITERATURE Ruth Bull Award Mr. G.M. Baldwin Eldon ASP Andrew DUFFY Damon WRIGHT Matthew CARRINGTON Kim FARLEY Hew CROOKS Nick SPICER Mike KORBIN Joint Award — SPECIAL AWARDS — Announced by Mr J.B. Garvey Presented by Mr T. Gil Bunch DAVIS AWARD for the most impressive academic improvement in the Junior School. WINNER Wade PITTS Also nominated with strong support: Colin KEEN Justin KING to the superior academic student in the Junior School. WINNER: Shaun SMILLIE Also nominated with strong support: Don McGOWAN Trish DOLMAN HONOURS GRADUATES Members of the Graduating Class MACKENZIE AWARD who have achieved an average of 80% or more in their Grade 12 year. Jill BODIE Ian BULLEN Howard CHEUNG Myrne CHORNEY Hew CROOKS Corinne GHITTER Sue GILLESPIE Kerr HSU Mark HUNTER Rachael JONES Melanie JORDAN Michael KORBIN Georg PFAFFE James QUINN Stacey REYNHOUDT Gerald RISK Joanna MACKENZIE Nick SPICER Douglas MacLAREN Chris THRALL David MEDLER Paul WHIDDEN Kristi MORRISON Andrea WILSON LOEWEN ONDAATJE McCUTCHEON EDUCATION AWARD $500 Bursary to a Grade 12 student who has done the most while at the school to encourage love of scholarship, through either personal attitude and achievement or through assistance to others. WINNER: Also nominated with strong support: Myrna CHORNEY Ian BULLEN Howard CHEUNG Hew CROOKS Andrea WILSON