Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

Page 8 text:

Mr. Mac -FILION Mr. Mcintosh Except for a year ' s sabbatical leave, Mr. Hector Mcintosh has been part of the Shawnigan scene since 1946. Thro ughout this time his room has always been one of the first ports of call for Old Boys re-visiting the School, a sure token of the esteem in which he is held by students grateful for his genuine interest in their welfare, both as pupils and as developing personalities.

Page 7 text:

THE SCHOOL 29 FOUNDER The late C. W. Lonsdale VISITOR The Most Reverend the Archbishop of British Columbia H. E. Sexton, d.d. HONORARY BOARD OF GOVERNORS The Honourable Major-General G. R. Pearkes, v.C, P.C., C.B., D.S.O., M.c. Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia The Honourable Mr. Justice H. I. Bird Gordon Farrell, Esq. Dr. H. Hickman, Principal of Victoria College Dr. M. McGregor, Head of the Classics Department of the University of British Columbia D. K. Macrea, Esq. A B. Robertson, q.c. BOARD OF GOVERNORS W. G. H. Roaf, O.B.E., (Chairman) Harry M. Boyce, Esq. (Vice-Chairman) R. H. Angus, Esq. J. M. Cross, Esq. H. A. Dunlop, Esq. J. L. Gibson, Esq. Dr. K. Greenwood, m.b.b.s., m.r.c.r, m.r.c.S., L.M.C.C. G. Peter Kaye, c.A. J. M. McAvity, Esq. C. E. Morris, Esq. W. E. Murdoch, Esq. R. B. O ' Callaghan, Esq. C. E. Pratt, F.R.A.I.C., B.Arch. Frank Read, Esq. J. H. Wade, F.R.A.I.C., RR.I.B.A., A.A.Dip. G. H. Wheaton, Esq. J. W. Whittall, Esq. J. B. Williams, Esq. President of the Old Boys ' Society— J. I. Bird, Esq., for 1963-64. Indicates Old Boy of Shawniqan Lake School

Page 9 text:

He was born in the North West Territories, near the shores of Mcintosh Lake, on the fringe of a large Indian reservation. His early education was re- ceived at the local little red school house some three miles away and, while he attended that school, he played baseball for junior and senior teams in the area and he was engaged also as a part-time jockey. During the First World War he left school to become an S.O.S. (Soldier of the Soil)— owing to the shortage of manpower, boys were employed exten- sively in this activity. He occasionally tells his classes when they become un- co-operative that, You can lead a horse to water, but you can ' t make a mule drink. No doubt this stems from his early experience driving four horses and two mules on a plough. Some years later he was able to return to school with his sights set on the medical profession. In fact, in the late twenties he graduated from the Regina Teacher Training School and he took up teaching to provide the wherewithal for the medical course. However, the depression upset these plans and thus teaching became a career rather than a stop-gap. When he is asked by some of his students what universities he attended he says, Oh, I only completed Grade Five. Then how did you become a teacher? , is the inevitable question. To which he replies, Well, of course, standards were so much higher in those days. After teaching in the Prince Albert and Swift Current areas for twelve years he was employed, during the Second War, by the Dockyard, Esquimalt, by Boeing ' s, and by the Consolidated Mining Smelting Company, as hardware clerk, rivetter, and Ration Administrator, respectively. However, in the fall of 1944, after this variety of experience, he returned to teaching. He spent a year at Brentwood College, a year at the Parksville Public School and, in 1946, he was bitten by the Shawnigan bug. Arch-discoverer of the dark horse , Hector Mcintosh has repeatedly sur- prised the community— to say nothing of the individual— by bringing un- suspected talent to light in public speaking contests in and beyond the Cowichan area. If the boy lacks the gift of a ready invention, Mr. Mcintosh can always supply the deficiency and whether it be on the side of the angels or as oratory for the devil ' s advocate, the material he provides invariably has the resounding ring of authority. Painstaking coaching does the rest, and many a young speaker returns victorious from the fray. Boys who seek assistance with their studies have learnt to benefit by Mr. Mcintosh ' s patience and unflagging readiness— in season and out of season- to give them every attention. His colleagues know him as a canny observer, a no-nonsense man— unobtrusively non-conformist— whose mastery of the gentle leg-pull only serves to increase their affection for him as co-worker and friend.