Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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A Personal Word from the Headmaster

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THE VDYAG EUR SS F vot eo Julvf 1986 TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ............................ ......... I Headmasters Message ................ ......... 4 ln Memorium: Harry M. Beer ......... .....,... 6 Graduates ................................. ......... 9 The Grades ........................... .....,. I 8 The Faculty ......... ....... 3 I The Staff ............. .......... 3 8 School Sports .......... .......... 4 4 Student Life ............. ....... 6 4 Junior School .............. .......... 8 6 Pickering People ......... ........ I OO Literary Section ....... ........ I O6 Awards ................ ........ I I2 Leaving Class ........................ ........ I I8 Front Cover: Jamie MacRae. Student Contributors: Eric Breton, Jonathan Knaul, David White, Naushad Hirji, David Drain, Frank Nardi, Noel McCahon, Miguel Mansilla. Andrew Skafel and Tony Rinomato. Staff Contributors: Lu Taskey, Jonathan Greenbaum, Don Menard. Co-ordinator: Cyril A. Howarth.

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Harry M. Beer Harry Beer planned for life. He pursued the Good, the True and the Beautiful in classical fashion. The pursuit of the Good led him to discover for himself and, therefore, for others, the living potential for improve- ment in all with whom he came into con- tact. He was the first to realize that worthwhile challenges, translated into ac- tive goals for young people, would help build their character and help to make them good human beings. Harry could make extremely strong demands upon students, colleagues, friends and loved ones, and simultaneously communicate an ovenvhelming and abiding affection that made people incapable of refusing his requests. This ability to inspire the good potential within never failed to lift the spirits to new endeavours. Pursuit of Truth, although at first glimpse idealistic and utopian, Harry rendered as everyday and practical. In Harry's terms, Truth was seen as the quality of the relationships he shared on an individual basis. Truth was the recognition that fallible human beings were struggling for survival on the same lifeboat planet and necessarily needed to co-operate for mutual benefit. To him, the quality of a relationship was a sacred trust. A sleepless night might be spent because a relationship had gone awry. During his later years, he spent many peaceful nights because he knew in his heart that his relationships honoured the same sacred trust reciprocally. Harry went into great detail to assure that his living relationships were express- ed by compassion and understanding and, when called upon to honour the memories of deceased friends, would ap- ply the same attention to details so that all could enjoy and celebrate the lives of the people he chose to honour in a special way - Don Stewart, Rick Veale, GR. Blackstock, Joe McCulley. Harry's pursuit of Truth led him to direct his energies in three specific direc- tions: to his family, and especially his wife, Betty: to Pickering Colleges and, to the Religious Society of Friends. He knew that family and friends, school and even religious orthodoxy, can sometimes fall short of meeting any of life's demands. He infused a spirit of forgiveness that dif- fused anger and permitted everyone to recover their composure and once again walk confidently into the future. ln the pursuit of Beauty, Harry simply loved the elegant, the uplifting, the im- aginative twists that ceremoniously per- mitted Grace to infuse time and place. Harry felt tremendous empathy with parents, particularly mothers. He found great beauty in the role of motherhood. He enjoyed a very strong relationship with his own mother and recognized from his formative years the need to support other mothers as they watched their sons go through the adolescent years. Very often ladies would identify quite quickly this empathetic quality and com- municate with Harry about their sons in a way that enabled him to help those children grow up and learn to respect the sacrifices that had been made for them. Dinner parties or just quiet times with friends or school functions carried the stamp of Harry's attention to the details and as a result, the aesthetic sense that he developed would emerge through careful planning. The academic year l986!l987 car- ried with it, for the students, staff and faculty of Pickering, all of the changing elements that any year encompasses. This particular year was marked by Harry's death on March 23 and it is in honouring his life that we celebrate the values he strove so hard to exemplify by convince- ment and conviction at our school. It is, therefore, fitting that on this occa- sion A Personal Word from the Head- master be directed to the memory of Harry McWaters Beer. Sheldon H. Clark KXQLQ N