TRADITIONTRADITIONCONTINUING THECONTINUING THE

A SAINT IN NE W ORLEANS • THE YEAR THAT WAS

Fall 2006St. George’s School

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT 75 YEARS AT ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL

MANAGING EDITORGordon Allan

GRAPHIC DESIGNERBruce Elbeblawy

EDITORChristine Moore

GEORGIANS’ PRESIDENTBrian Soregaroli '84

PHOTOGRAPHERSGordon AllanDouglas Hamilton '75Kyla Brown Photography www.kylabrown.com

Sam Leung, The Province NewspaperSteffen Tweedle

The Dragon is published twice per year,expressly for Georgians, parents,and friends of St. George’s School.It is also distributed to other Canadianindependent schools and selected publicor private institutions. Comments aboutany of the articles are always welcome.Publications Mail Agreement #40580507.Address all correspondence to:

Gordon AllanManaging Editor, The DragonSt. George’s School3851 West 29th AvenueVancouver, BC, V6S 1T6 CANADA

Phone: (604) 222-5817Fax: (604) 224-4366e-mail: thedragon@stgeorges.bc.ca

Please contact our office to be added tothe mailing list.

The Dragon is copyright © 2006,St. George’s School, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Reproduction rights: We encourage you to circulate orcopy this material unmodified for your own privateuse. You may quote any article or portion of articlewith attribution. Quotation of any article or portion ofarticle without attribution is prohibited.The Dragon, its contents or material may not be sold,intact or modified, nor included in any package orproduct offered for sale.

St. George’s School is proud to be associated with:

Independent SchoolsAssociation of

British Columbia (ISA)

SCHOOL LIFE

3 Great Expectations by Nigel R.L.Toy

4 Providing The Best by Peter Armstrong ‘72

5 Our Report Card by Bill Collins

6 2005–2006: The Year In Athletics by Richard Cohee

8 The Junior School by Gregory C. Devenish

10 Connecting by Don Livingston

COMMUNITY LIFE

11 The Auxiliary by Jaymie Ho

12 Fresh Brew by Gordon Allan

15 Our New Boathouse by Staff

A LOOK BACK / OUR STORIED PAST

16 The Re-Birth of Rowing by David Darling

20 The Great Move by Brian Lecky '65

GEORGIANS

24 A Message From The President by Brian Soregaroli '84

25 Annual Georgians’ Dinner by Peter Weddigen '82

26 A New Georgian Advocate by Bryan Ide '99

27 Reunion Homecoming by Staff

28 When The Saint Goes Marching In by Dr. Douglas Hamilton '75

32 Saints Notes compiled by Elizabeth Knox

In 2005, as part of theSchool's 75th Anniver-sary, former AssistantHeadmaster John Law-rence released a historyof St. George's Schoolentitled Without Fear orFavour. Recently, the bookreceived a ‘Best of VisualCommunication inCanada’ award. Copies ofJohn Lawrence's book areavailable for sale throughthe School Store.

DRAGONTHE

DRAGONTHE

Fall 2006

Cover Photo: Kyla Brown Photography

St. George’s School

Fall 2006 • 3

SCHOOL LIFE

Mr. Toy addresses

students in the

Great Hall

Great ExpectationsFor Another New Year

by Nigel R.L. Toy, Headmaster

Great schools exude a confidence and asense of tradition that underpins all

they strive to do.“ “Theofficial opening of School onSeptember 6, 2006 saw many hun-dreds of boys arriving back to St.George’s—the School roll recorded1,151 of them. It was apparent that thereturning students anticipated thereunions with friends and teachersand the new boys came with someapprehension, yet not without, Ibelieve, feelings of high expectationsand genuine pride.

All this took me back to my first dayentering boarding at a new privateschool far from home in New Zealand.The same thoughts and outward mani-festation crowded in on me. It was anearlier time and I vividly recall a newadventure, just like all those schoolboyyarns. The one that stands out is TomBrown’s School Days, and there is a partwhere Squire Brown, Tom’s father, bidshis son farewell prior to his enteringthe great School of Rugby in the UK.

As I recall, he said to Tom:

Though it be of another age, Tom’sthoughts, expectations, and experi-ences in those initial weeks resonatewith me. I believe it is as relevanttoday, as it was two centuries ago tothe author Thomas Hughes. What values then can the 21st century inde-pendent school bring to the newentrant and his family? It is somethingwe constantly ponder and inevitably itcomes down to those key words ofexpectation and experience.

Great schools exude a confidence anda sense of tradition that underpins allthey strive to do.We sense the pride intheir past and the positive approachto the years ahead. Boys are cautious-ly drawn into, not only having highexpectations of what the School willyield, but also that every studentbecomes soaked in the School’s trad-itions. I believe they want to do well,they are encouraged to do well, and

they will do well. Call it a self-fulfillingprophecy, but it does become theexperience in the years ahead andthere is that sense of challenge, fulfill-ment, and ultimate success that ismeasured in their personal terms.

During my decade at St. George’sSchool, I am deeply moved by whatthe faculty aspires to do and by whatthe boys achieve. Assembly is alwaysfull of examples of praiseworthyendeavours and outstanding perform-ances. A new boy enters into this ‘com-monwealth of souls’and is moved on adaily basis by the power of theSchool’s intrinsic heart and by itsdetermination to derive the very bestfrom him, to provide a true sense ofthat quiet self-confidence, which Ihave come to believe is the character-istic of a young man of St. George'sSchool. All this is part of the vision andI am thankful for a Board, Faculty, andCommunity that share those aspira-tions.

Without Fear or FavourSine Timore Aut Favore

… be honest, be brave and neversay anything your mother would beashamed of!

SCHOOL LIFE

4 • The Dragon

The new two-storey

front of the Senior

School under

construction

Providing The BestBuilding For Tomorrow

by Peter R. Armstrong '72, Chairman

We are consistently ranked as the premier academic and athletic

school in the Province and are able to boastof students, who are engaged in award-winning artistic and musical activities.

“ “

Inthe fall of last year,former AssistantHeadmaster JohnLawrence released hishistory of St. George’s

School, Without Fear or Favour. Thislively account of the growth of St.George’s School since its founding in1930 documents a series of stories ofpeople who shared one thing in com-mon—vision. This vision was of anoutstanding day and boarding schoolfor boys; a place of learning in whichthe needs of the whole child could beaddressed.

Today, we can look back at those earlyvisionaries and say, with confidence,that their dreams have been realized.After 75 years, we are a school of 1,150boys, 125 of whom are boarders. We

are consistently ranked as the premieracademic and athletic school in theProvince and are able to boast of stu-dents, who are engaged in award-winning artistic and musical activities.We are now a school of which we canall be tremendously proud.

As those previous visionaries quicklyrealized, we can never rest on our laurels. Our current facilities are inneed of constant modernization inorder to keep us competitive withother independent schools. The open-ing of our Great Hall last October setthe benchmark for future develop-ment and, in June, construction beganon a two-storey school and officeblock to be the grand new entrance tothe Senior campus.

All of this is about staying true to ourcore values and ensuring that we pro-vide the very best for our existing stu-dents, so that they, in turn, can contin-ue to achieve their personal best. Yes,there are costs involved in these plansfor renewal and these costs cannot becovered by tuition. Funds for projectslike these come from those membersof the St. George’s School Communitywho believe that, through ongoingsupport, we can respect and sustainthe wonderful legacy that has beenleft to us. If you share in this vision, welook forward to hearing from you anddiscussing our plans as we move intothe next 75 years.

Without Fear or FavourSine Timore aut Favore

Fall 2006 • 5

SCHOOL LIFE

Subject # of SGS papers # of BC papers St. George's Avg. BC Avg.

Biology 12 80 12,372 82.3% 68.2%Chemistry 12 84 9,994 80.1% 71.3%English 12 158 27,027 82.6% 68.7%French 12 53 4,644 76.7% 76.4%German 12 11 284 87.1% 86.0%Geography 12 94 7,473 85.6% 71.0%Geology 12 41 1,478 81.0% 68.7%History 12 38 7,036 85.1% 73.2%Literature 12 10 3,459 80.7% 75.3%Mandarin 12 19 3,069 88.1% 87.5%Mathematics (Principles) 12 116 14,600 79.7% 70.5%Physics 12 57 6,605 85.2% 74.1%

Average Grade 12 Provincial Exam score (weighted) 82.2% 71.3%

English 10 143 34,518 85.5% 70.6%Mathematics (Principles) 10 134 26,563 82.6% 65.6%Science 10 144 33,008 81.8% 62.7%Social Studies 11 150 27,016 83.6% 68.1%

Average Grade 10-11 Provincial Exam score (weighted) 83.4% 66.8%

Based ontheir

results on theGrade 12Provincial examsand in DistrictScholarshippresentations,59 per cent of St. George'sgraduatesearnedscholarships for$1,000 from theProvincialgovernment.

“

“

Our Report CardA Year of Academic Success

by Bill Collins, Director of Studies

St.George's stu-dents continueto perform verywell on year-endexternal exams.

The charts below show that St. George's averages are above over-all Provincial averages for every Prov-incial exam in Grades 10 to 12. InGrade 12 Provincial exams, the aver-age St. George's result is 11 per centhigher than the average result in therest of the Province. In Provincial

exams for Grades 10 to 11, the averageSt. George's result is 16 per cent high-er than the average result in the rest ofthe Province. Based on their results onthe Grade 12 Provincial exams and inDistrict Scholarship presentations, 59per cent of St. George's graduatesearned scholarships for $1,000 fromthe Provincial government. Includedin the 59 per cent were two St.George's students who earned schol-arships of $2,000 for being among thetop 20 students in the Province.

Jonathan Goh was actually acknowl-edged for being in the top 6.

In the very challenging AdvancedPlacement exams, St. George's stu-dents achieved excellent results.These exams represent work at thelevel of first year university. Many St.George's students scored a perfectfive out of five; a high percentagereceived either four or five; and almostall students achieved at a level of threeor above.

6 • The Dragon

SCHOOL LIFE

The2005–2006 academic yearwas certainly among themost successful for St. George’s SchoolAthletics in its 75-

year history. Nearly 1,100 student-athletes madean impact on the local, regional, provincial, andeven national scenes, both on and off the play-ing fields.

Even before the students returned, the enthusiasmcould be felt in the community. The Varsity basket-ball team was invited to compete in one of theNation’s premier tournament—The Silver FoxInvitational. Many teams were preparing internation-al tours including the 1st XV rugby squad. They hadstarted to plan their trip to Australia and NewZealand.The new u-14 development squad expand-ed the ice hockey program and also toured toMontreal. All in all, it was a marvellous way to beginthe year.

By the time last year was complete, nine teams—aquatics, bantam and juvenile basketball, cross-country, Senior and Junior ice hockey, skiing, ten-nis, and track and field—won their respectiveProvincial championships. In addition, the rowingprogram added four National Championshipawards.

The new boathouse, which opened in September2007, is the first building in St. George’s history located

ATHLETICS2005–2006: THE YEAR OF

by Richard C. Cohee, Director of Athletics

Justin Marpole-Bird

SCHOOL LIFE

2005/2006 CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Fall 2006 • 7

BCSS SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS (OFFICIAL) – AAA• Aquatics (aggregate) 1st• Badminton DNQ• Basketball (boy’s) 3rd• Cross Country 1st• Golf 10th• Rugby 5th • Skiing (boy’s) 1st• Snowboard 3rd• Soccer (boy’s) 6th • Tennis ¸ 1st• Track & Field (aggregate) 2nd• Track & Field (boy’s) 1st• Volleyball DNQ

BCSS (SGS NOT PARTICIPATING IN)Football, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Curling

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS• Rowing: Senior Lightweight Pair 1st

Senior Heavy 4x 1stSenior Lightweight 8+ 1stSenior Lightweight 4+ 1st

• CAIS National Volleyball Championship (Invitational) 1st

ADDITIONAL AAA CHAMPIONSHIPS• Rugby – Invitational Sevens 1st• Rugby – Lower Mainland League 1st• Ultimate – Provincials 2nd• Junior Ultimate – Provincials 2nd• Hockey – Ross Cup, Provincial Championships 1st• Hockey, Junior – Ross Cup, Provincial Championships 1st• Basketball, Bantam – Provincial Championships 1st• Basketball, Junior – Provincial Championships 1st• Field Hockey, Senior – Provincial Championship 3rd

ISA CHAMPIONSHIPS• Aquatics 1st• Cross Country 1st• Golf Championship 1st• Junior Hockey 1st• Senior Hockey 1st• Tennis 1st• Bantam Rugby 1st• Squash 2nd• Track & Field Championship 1st

JUNIOR SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS (Grade 7)• ISEA – Cross Country Championship 1st• ISEA – Basketball Championship 1st• ISEA – Swimming Championship 1st• CAIS – National Basketball Championship 1st

OVERALL TOP SCHOOL (BCSS Official Sports only) *• 1st St. George’s School 30 points• 2nd Oak Bay School 19 points• 3rd Carson Graham 15 points• 4th Vancouver College/Semiahmoo 10 points

* 5-3-2-1 St. George’s has been the Number one Athletic School for the past 4years. Top Ten finishes overall 2005-2006 = 14

TOTAL AAA CHAMPIONSHIPS 2002-2006 (five years)• BCSS = 17• BC OTHERS = 10• NATIONAL (Rowing) = 8

Alex Murphy and Bol Kong

off the School campus. This impres-sive new structure includes boat-bays, reception facilities, conferenceand meeting rooms, offices, and lock-er rooms.

In the classroom, St. George’s student-athletes once again produced out-standing grade-point averages andcontributed to the recognition as apremier academic institution by theFraser Institute.

At St. George's Eighth Annual AthleticAwards Banquet, rowing standout

Ben Tuyp, cross-country and trackstandout Justin Marpole-Bird, cross-country and triathlete JordanMaynard, and multi-sport Varsity ath-lete Alex Murphy were recognized asfinalists for St. George’s SchoolOutstanding Sportsman of the Year.Alex Murphy took home the School’stop athletic honour after successfullycompeting for the 1st XI soccer,Varsity basketball, and 1st XV rugbyteams. All in all, a banner year in2005–2006 has set the stage for whatshould be another phenomenal yearat St. George’s School in 2006–2007.

8 • The Dragon

SCHOOL LIFE

The JuniorSchool

maintains a forward-lookingvision thatembraces newcurricular andtechnologicaladvancements.

“

“Mr. Devenish discusses

mutual topics of

interest with students

in Grade 2

The Junior SchoolLooking Back at our 75th

by Greg Devenish, Junior School Principal

The2005–2006 year at the Junior Schoolwas one of success, both inside andoutside the classroom. It was also atime of celebration, during which weall recognized the School’s 75thAnniversary.

The St. George’s community can beextremely proud of the School’saccomplishments since 1930. Its 75years is a significant milestone and thehistory is well documented in JohnLawrence’s book, Without Fear orFavour. He describes the ‘rags to riches’story of a school with a foundation ofhard work and, to some extent, faith.Who, for example, could imagine start-ing a boarding school during theDepression years with little fundingand not even the certainty of enroll-ment? But the risk paid off, and fromthose early years emerged the Schoolas we know it today. St. George’sSchool has grown from an enrollmentof 24 to 1,150 boys; from an originalwood-framed farm house to modernfacilities that span two campuses.

There have always been elementaryschool boys at St. George’s School and,from 1947 to 1958, Basil Robinson, thefirst Head of the Junior School, served

a pivotal role in setting the foundationfor the outstanding program we havetoday. Mr. Robinson would surely bepleased to know what was accom-plished this past year. We began withthe presentation of 75th Anniversarypins to all of our boys.These were wornproudly and were a constant reminderof the importance of the 2005–2006year. In addition, the staff and studentsgenerated a list of 75 ways to save theplanet. The goal was for each of the 16classes to select a cause and develop aprogram, which either raised aware-ness or funds to make our planet a lit-tle better. There were numerous bakesales and walkathons, the proceeds ofwhich helped to support organizationslike the Liver Foundation, The Cana-dian Red Cross, and the CanadianCancer Society. The Grade 7 class rais-ed the necessary funds to build a wellin Swaziland, which can now providefresh water to a small village. TheGrade 5 class collected clothes andbooks for 58 people who had been dis-placed by fire that swept through theirapartment building in Burnaby. Finally,as a way of documenting their efforts,the Challenge Program prepared atime capsule to be opened in 2030.

The 75th Anniversary year was also atime during which our students hadtime to appreciate the Arts.The Art andMusic departments organized andhosted the Junior School’s first ever

Music Festival. The 100-strong Grade 7Concert Band hosted bands from YorkHouse and Collingwood Schools. Theannual Arts Week was held in April andhas been described as our best ever.There were more individual studentperformances from dance to music.Three Artists-in-Residence visited theSchool and shared their expertise withclay and metal sculpture and painting.In the fall, actors and staff from bothSchools presented an outstandingmusical production of Oliver and offi-cially opened the new theatre.This wasa major undertaking that combinedstudents from both the Junior andSenior Schools.

The 75th Anniversary celebrationsgave all of us an opportunity to reflecton our past and look ahead to our cen-tennial. This fall, change is alreadyunder way as we welcome the additionof a second Grade 1 class, the additionof a new state-of-the-art science lab,and the creation of a committee thatwill look at the feasibility of bringingpre-school programs into the School.

The Junior School maintains a forward-looking vision that embraces new cur-ricular and technological advance-ments. At the same time, we never losesight of our founding principles andthe legacy of previous generations ofstudents, staff, and parents.

Fall 2006 • 9

SCHOOL LIFE

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OURGEORGIANSWHO DISPLAYEDTHEIRARTWORKDURING THE75THANNIVERSARYSTATE OF THE ARTEXHIBITION.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OURGEORGIANSWHO DISPLAYEDTHEIRARTWORKDURING THE75THANNIVERSARYSTATE OF THE ARTEXHIBITION.

10 • The Dragon

SCHOOL LIFE

Georgians at the

2006 Homecoming

Reunion

ConnectingAlumni and the School

by Don Livingston, Chief Advancement Officer

We look forward as well to staying inmore regular contact with you. Through

The Dragon twice a year, by email to individualGeorgians, through your class rep, and via oursoon to be launched revamped website.

“ “No

matter whereyou are in theworld, orw h a t e v e ryou may be

doing in your studies, with your family,in your career or retirement, the fallseason always brings back memoriesof days gone by spent in classrooms,on the sports field, preparing for adrama production, or involvement insome extra-curricular clubs and activi-ties with friends from school. Our rec-ollections of the good times usuallyimprove with age, and we tend to for-get (or maybe just ignore) all thetough challenges, the difficult examsand the occasional disciplinary action(did you really get caned threetimes??)

2006–2007 promises to be anotherterrific year for St. George’s School. Onthe heels of our much celebrated 75thAnniversary, we continue to build andimprove both the facilities and theprograms in order to provide the boysthe best possible education and ex-perience we can. The Senior School isin Phase IV of a building program thatwill see the addition of new class-

rooms and necessary improvementsto administrative and meeting space.This will be complete next spring. Ifyou haven’t been back to campus forseveral years, please do so—we’d behappy to show you around. The newGreat Hall is a fantastic meeting spotfor students and Georgians, and thecompletely renovated and improvedtheatre is magnificent. The justopened boathouse on the Fraser Riverin Richmond, which we share withUBC, provides a tremendous facilityfor our rowers. And, there are otherimprovements at the School—newscience labs, updated gymnasium—the list goes on.

On the Georgian front. I’m delightedto welcome our first Manager ofGeorgian Relations. Bryan Ide ’99 (seestory inset) who joined us in Augustand is dedicated to providing servicesto the more than 4,500 Georgiansaround the world. We’ll have muchmore to tell you about those servicesand programs that are being devel-oped in the next Dragon. In the mean-time, please give Bryan a call or drophim an email and see how you can beinvolved in the School!

We look forward as well to staying inmore regular contact with you.Through The Dragon twice a year, byemail to individual Georgians, throughyour class rep, and via our soon to belaunched revamped website, we willdo our best to bring you news andinformation about happenings at theSchool, and keeping that network ofGeorgians thriving no matter whereyou may be located. There are manyways and many reasons for Georgiansto stay engaged and we will help facil-itate your interests.

Fundraising of course is a fact of lifefor independent schools.We rely heav-ily on parents and Georgians to sup-port the School in two main areas—capital infrastructure and endow-ment. Much of what has been done torenew the campuses in the past sever-al years is the result of generous dona-tions, mostly from parents of currentstudents. We hope that moreGeorgians will choose to offer theirfinancial support to the School andlook forward to sharing with you theSchool’s current needs, and how youcan help, in future publications.

Fall 2006 • 11

COMMUNITY LIFE

St.George’s 75thAnniversary wasan exciting yearfor the Auxiliary.We were proud to

have two of our past presidents, HelenShim Boyle and Deborah McKeen,involved in the leadership of the 75thAnniversary Committee, and delightedthat so many past presidents came tovisit St. George’s School for a tour of theGreat Hall at our annual Past Presidents’breakfast, hosted in February by LesleyBentley.

In 2006, the Auxiliary substantiallyincreased its support of scholarshipsand financial aid, more than doublingdisbursements to $22,000. We in-creased our scholarships from four tosix awards,by offering one $2,000 schol-arship per grade from Grade 7 to Grade12. We also increased our financial aidbursary from $2,000 to $10,000. At yearend, the Auxiliary endowment totalledclose to $400,000 and was one of theSchool’s largest endowment funds. TheAuxiliary endowment fund was estab-lished in 1997 and its continued growthfrom Fair allocations and other rev-enues, is one of our key objectives.

At our May EGM, we adopted changesto our by-laws which allows an increasein size to the Auxiliary board from 12 to15 members and enable board mem-bers to serve for up to four years,instead of three, subject to annual re-election. Provisions were added toenable officers to serve for an addition-al year in their respective positions,subject to annual re-election. Webelieve these changes will helpstrengthen our board governance aswell as allow for increased volunteerleadership opportunities. Copies of theAuxiliary’s revised by-laws are availableupon request by contacting Tina Chan,our Auxiliary administrative assistant.

The Auxiliary hosted three well-attend-ed Speaker Series in 2006, whichfocused on teen development, drugsand alcohol, and safe driving.Thanks toenthusiastic parent feedback, thisseries will continue in 2007. We whole-heartedly welcome the Georgians inour midst to join us this year at theseevents. Please check our Auxiliary cal-endar for upcoming dates!

During the year, parents enjoyed aunique opportunity to learn about the

School history at Convenor meetings,thanks to Elizabeth Knox, the SchoolArchivist. With photos and numerousanecdotes, Elizabeth highlighted theimportant role of the Auxiliary duringthe past 53 years.

Our annual Fair under the fabulousleadership of Head Convenors, EllenCornelissen and Cecile Vu Wong,incorporated a St. George’s medievalknights’theme. It continued to enjoy itstraditionally strong success andgrossed over $300,000.Thank you to allthe St. George’s families, teachers, staff,students, and Georgians for helping tomake the 2006 Fair such a tremendoussuccess. We are absolutely thrilled thatRita Ireland and Pam Hole have agreedto convene next year’s Fair on May 5,2007. Exciting plans are underway.Expect to have fun!

Please come and join us at our AnnualGeneral Meeting on November 7 at7:30 pm in McLean Hall to learn moreabout the Auxiliary’s activities andplans for the new school year. We lookforward to seeing you there!

Our annual Fair continued to enjoy itstraditionally strong success and grossedover $300,000.

Cecille Wong, Ellen

Cornelissen,

Headmaster Toy, and

Jaymie Ho at the Fair

Volunteers Thank-You

Luncheon

“

“

The AuxiliaryBuilding the Scholarship and Financial Aid Program

by Jaymie Ho, Auxiliary President

12 • The Dragon

BREWBREWFreshFresh

How two St. George’s moms made Kokopeli Dunbar’s favourite Coffee Shop.by Gordon Allan

Hotz, who is parent of Alex in Grade 3and Delgado, who is mother of Xavierin Grade 2 and wife of a Georgian(Marco ’88), met over coffee one dayto conceive their brainchild.

“We saw a real hole in the market-place in that there was nowhere inthe neighbourhood to go and relax ifyou had your kids with you,” saysHotz. She was remembering anembarrassing moment in Starbucks,when her son accidentally upended acup of coffee on a customer becausethere was nowhere for him to play.

“We saw a need for not only a placethat offered the very best coffee,sandwiches, and baked goods, butalso room for young children to playwhile their parents socialize,” says

Delgado. Cindy is originally from thePhilippines and a graduate of MillsCollege in the US.

Before opening the doors to theirlarge coffee shop, which includes agenerous play area with toys, books,and play materials, Hotz and Delgadospent over a year researching theindustry, attending trade shows, andsampling coffees from a number ofVancouver’s choice coffee haunts.

“In an industry in which close to 80per cent of new shops fail, we knewthat we had to make sure we under-stood what the market wanted andthat we found the right location tooffer our product,” says Hotz, whoholds an MBA from the Richard IveySchool of Business.

Itis not very often that you see Starbucks fighting for marketshare of the coffee business. The general consensus is thatthey have had the market cornered for some time. At least,that was until St. George’s School parents, Jessica Hotz,Cindy Delgado, and a third partner, Michelle Herbert, moved

into the Dunbar area. They are the founders of Kokopelli, one of thecountry’s only kid-friendly coffee shops and it is conveniently locatedjust around the corner from St. George’s School.

Fall 2006 • 13

COMMUNITY LIFE

14 • The Dragon

“In the end, our gut told us that our con-cept was right; the clincher was in find-ing store space on Dunbar,” saysDelgado, whose routine at Kokopellialso includes getting up at 5:00 am eachmorning to make all of the baked goodsfor the shop.

“If you go into any coffee shop inVancouver, chances are you will samplethe same pieces of carrot cake, bananabread, and chocolate chip cookiesbecause everyone buys from the samesuppliers,” says Delgado. “We realizedfrom the outset that, with a fully opera-tional kitchen, we had a real opportuni-ty to offer homemade, healthy bakedgoods and sandwiches. What we hadn’tanticipated, was that these productswould become as popular as our coffeeproducts”.

Kokopelli also offers organic baby food,take-out frozen dinners, and cateringwithin the Dunbar area.

“This is a family-centric neigh-bour-hood,” says Hotz.“People know each

other and socialize together. A place likeKokopelli has become a magnet thatdraws the community together.”

But according to Delgado, the time andeffort put into the shop have not beenwithout a price.

“It has been an adjustment for my fami-ly and a balancing act for me.” But, sheadmits, it is more than worth it. “I wantmy children to see me in the workplace.I think it provides a good role model forthem and gives them a good founda-tion in terms of how they see theworld.”

“Both of our husbands have also beenvery supportive,”says Delgado who mether husband, Marco, in the 1980s whenshe was a student at York House Schooland he was a boarder at St. George’s.

“This past Mother’s Day, both of our hus-bands agreed to man the coffee shopfor the first time. Needless to say, therest of our shop’s staff looked on withsome trepidation. But they did okay”,says Delgado with a grin.

Since opening just over a year ago,Kokopelli, whose name refers to afamous American Southwestern fertilitygod, prankster, healer, and storyteller,has received numerous accolades,including praise in the Vancouver Sun,The Province, and the Globe and Mail.And earlier this year, Kokopelli wasvoted ‘Vancouver’s Best Coffee Bar’.

The shop is also becoming a favouritespot for St. George’s students, staff, and

parents. Recently, the whole Grade 1class enjoyed a morning at the shoplearning how it operates.When the classwas asked what they thought made asuccessful business, one lad piped upand said: “you must know your cus-tomer”.

Hotz and Delgado continue to studytheir customers’ needs.“We’re already inthe planning stages of offering newservices,” says Delgado, who shows aplan to deliver breakfasts, lunches, andcoffee to homes and businesses.

“Recently, I was training for a marathonand the organizers of the run providedme with home-delivery breakfasts. Iloved the service and I think they wouldcatch on here too,” says Delgado.

And what of Starbucks, which operatesa coffee shop a block away? Accordingto Hotz, they have gone on the defen-sive.

“We saw an immediate response fromStarbucks soon after we opened.Suddenly, toys started to appear in theirstore and their manager was out andabout in the community flogging freedrinks. It was a real compliment,” sayHotz and Delgado proudly.

While there has been some thought ofexpanding and franchising Kokopelli, atthis point Jessica and Cindy want to stayput. “It’s our new baby”, says Delgado.“We’re not quite ready to let go.”Understandable sentiments from twoSt. George’s mothers, whose passion forbusiness and customer satisfaction isinfectious.

The Saints rowing program continues to grow and establishnew records of achievement. To maintain this fast growingand competitive athletic option, the School is proud toannounce that on September 30, 2006, in partnership withthe University of British Columbia and the City of Richmond, itopened The John M.S. Lecky Boathouse, which will becomehome to our Rowing Program.

Fall 2006 • 15

COMMUNITY LIFE

BOATHOUSEOUR NEW

16 • The Dragon

A LOOK BACK

ROWING AT SAINTSTHE RE-BIRTH OF

THE FIRST TEN YEARS, 1986–1996

by David Darling, Head of Grade 11

Rowing has been a part of St. George’s School since its foun-dation and in 1986 the programgained a permanent spot in the

curriculum. David Darling is currently Headof Grade 11 and has been a teacher ofSocial Studies for 20 years. He has writtenthe first of a two-part history of rowing atthe School and reflects on its growth since1986.

In September 1986, I was hired to teach seniorhistory and set up a rowing program. I hadbeen captain at the Vancouver Rowing Cluband this credential was just as important as,and possibly even more so, than any of my aca-demic qualifications! However, the return of

rowing to Saints was not greeted with auspi-cious support from the School community.Fortunately Headmaster Alan Brown was afirm believer in the democratic principle of‘one man one vote’ and an even firmer believ-er, that he was the man and his was the onlyvote that mattered. Thus, it was in spite ofalmost unanimous opposition from the staff,that rowing made its tentative return to Saints.

The first crew took to the water in the fall of1986 at the Vancouver Rowing Club with bor-rowed equipment and an eclectic mix of lads.From the start, the program attracted a widerange of boys. Some had more enthusiasmthan athletic prowess! Generally speaking, thetop athletes played rugby and rowing tended

to attract many of those who were not consid-ered athletic enough for the other more estab-lished sports. However, there were always significant exceptions. The first captain, JamesMillership, and a few others of the inauguralcrew, such as Peter Black and Geoff Mair hadsolid athletic credentials in rugby but, theywere in the minority.

During the first two years we used the facilitiesat VRC and enjoyed the services of formerCanadian national rower, John Cordonier, whowas our first official Head Coach. As Director ofRowing and armed with my newly acquiredClass 4 licence, I was the designated driver ofthe School bus as well as a coach. I recall anearly trip to Stanley Park, which involved a

Left to right: Boris Klavora, Clarke Olson, Jamie Murphies, Brandon Lee (Cox), Christopher Hoffmeister, Alan Linsley, and David Darling

Fall 2006 • 17

A LOOK BACK

minor altercation between the bus anda car. For the remainder of the week thecrew insisted on wearing crash helmetsand asking if this was ‘the Death Bus’!Part of the ritual on the homeward runduring the second year was to see howlong it took to overtake assistant coachPat Turner on his bicycle. Pat was thebowman in the 1984 Los AngelesOlympic gold medal winning Canadian8+ and he was no slouch. It was not untilhalf way up Dunbar hill that we usuallycaught up with him.

Novices to the sport in those early dayswill remember how disconcerting it wasrowing in Coal Harbour with seaplanessweeping in low as they came in to land.They seemed to be just above headheight. Characters from those earlyformative VRC days that come to mindare Kibben Jackson. If any piece ofequipment could be found to malfunc-tion Kibben would find it. Adrian ‘TheBeast’ Thompson was so named for hisperformance on the erg. CostantineTanno and Matt Grenby went on to rowat Yale and Harvard respectively andwere the first Saints Crew Ivy Leaguers.

In 1988, we competed in the first of theannual Saints College Boat Racesagainst the newly created Fighting IrishCrew of Vancouver College. The racewas modelled on the better knownOxford–Cambridge Boat Race, completewith coin toss for choice of station, butwith a nod to Ivy League tradition of thevictorious crew winning the losers’shirts. The original set of racing rulesspecified that the defeated programdirector should treat his victoriouscounterpart to a few pints of “a darkmalt-based alcoholic beverage of Irishorigin”, which happened to be afavourite tipple of both. For the record,Saints won the inaugural race and thefirst post-race brunch was held atJonathan’s restaurant on GranvilleIsland.

After two years at VRC, the programrelocated to Delta Deas Rowing Club.Mr. David McLean, a St. George’s parent,had very generously donated sufficientfunds to complete the construction of

the boathouse. The Delta Deas RowingClub had been unable to finish on itsown. Now we were proud owners of ourown fleet of shells, and this soon grewto include two 8+s, two 4+s, and two 2-s.Saints rowers spent the next couple ofyears on Deas Slough under the direc-tion of former Upper Canada Collegecoach Peter Mordie. All novices will havefond memories of their first water prac-tices in the 16-seat training barge.Rowing in this contraption brought tomind the slave galley in the film Ben Hur.Eight rowers on each side pulled theirhardest to move what seemed like a 10-ton concrete block, all the while underthe scrutiny of the coxes and coaches,who would wander up and down thecentral walkway critiquing techniqueand dispensing words of encourage-ment and occasional wisdom.

In these early years, we attended regat-tas at Brentwood and Shawnigan, whichthen doubled as the now-defunct BCJunior Rowing Championships, and alsoGreen Lake in Seattle. A number of long-standing traditions began in these earlyyears; for example, the annual dinnerand awards night. The first was held atMother Tucker’s Restaurant in 1988. Thespring training camp was initially atBrentwood College School and wemade annual visits to the CanadianSecondary Schools Rowing Associationregatta in St. Catharines, Ontario.

In 1990 for the first time, Saints crewsheaded off to St. Catharines, Ontario andthe Canadian Secondary SchoolsChampionships and the program beganto establish a respectable reputation.New Head Coach Boris Klavora was aformer strokeman for the YugoslavianOlympic 8+ and was renowned forbeing the coach for the Canadiannational men’s team for the previoustwo Olympics and several world cham-pionships. Boris was an excellent techni-cal coach and always had his feet firmlyon the ground. I remember his commonsense advice to me when I was worryingif our crews were good enough to goback East to the nationals. He said that itdidn’t matter if they weren’t that good.What mattered was that the crews back

East were worse! In the event, many ofthe crews back East were considerablyworse and the Saints contingentreturned with several finals appear-ances and a bronze medal in the juniorlightweight 4+. This proved to be thefirst of many national medals to comeand kept us well ahead of the schedule,called for by 1987’s inaugural Five-Year-Plan.

Those early trips to St. Catherines werevery intense and exciting affairs. It wasstill very much a novelty racing at suchrarefied heights and the sense of occa-sion was deeply felt. There were, ofcourse, the usual boyish pranks to let offsteam (usually involving water balloonsand much mopping up) but, no majorbehavioural problems, at least from theathletes! The same could not be said ofthe parents. After an exciting day of rac-ing, we were asked to leave a veryexpensive Niagara-on-the-Lake restau-rant because of one parent’s tired andemotional behaviour. We adults had towait outside, while the boys finishedtheir meals without incident! Not a sce-nario one would normally imagine!

In 1992, we held spring training in thewarmer waters of San Diego. We cele-brated the first Provincial championshipwin (the senior heavy 4+, which went onto place second in the nationals) andthe first, and so far only visit, to theMecca of the rowing world, the HenleyRoyal Regatta. We moved to False Creekto what we thought would be a short-term temporary home in the BurrardCivic Marina car park.

The Brentwood spring training campswill be remembered for the spectacularsunrises from behind Mount Bakeracross Mill Bay and Boris’ homemademuesli-style breakfast mix. From 1992 to1997, we noted that the Brentwood sun-rises paled by comparison with the sun-sets in San Diego. We also enjoyed theexcursions to Sea World and Disneylandand these became staples of all futurecamps. We also established a last-nighttradition of a themed dinner withhumorous awards and the occasionalskit. Some might still have difficulty for-

18 • The Dragon

getting the impromptu performance ofthe Mexican hat dance by Alex Munroand company no matter how hard theytry.

We stayed right in Mission Bay at theCatamaran Resort Hotel.The boats werestored on the grass by the beach andJim and Gerry, two professional boat-men from Oxford, came over each yearto drive our very temperamental boattrailer, help with some coaching, andkeep all our equipment in top shape. Myexperience driving the trailer back thefirst year was not a very positive one; aleft turn in Sacramento involved closinga six-lane divided highway by the localhighway patrol. On another occasion ashort break for lunch at a truck stopturned into a lengthy exercise of gettingeven larger tow trucks to extract the 60-foot loaded trailer from a trailer park,which refused to give the Suburban’sfour-wheel drive the respect it normallycommanded. (How so?) The Jim andGerry Road Show was not going to get alot of competition for the honour ofdriving that trailer! Those who doremember the Jim and Gerry years willno doubt be saddened to hear ofGerry’s death after a very short illness inFebruary 2005.

Other San Diego memories includeearly morning ‘Chariots of Fire’style runsalong the beach, the unfortunate fasci-nation of some for the doubtful culinarydelights of Taco Bell, the breakout ofdyed green hair, the bruises on the backof Robin ‘black and blue’ Black courtesyof a timing-challenged crewmate, thedisappearance of Ian George just hop-ping out of the boat for a bathroom visit

near the shore in an unexpectedly deep15 feet of water.

The UK visit in 1992 was a memorableaffair with a week in student rooms atSt. Peter’s College followed by a week ofbed and breakfasting in Henley. It didhowever get off to an inauspicious startwhen Olly Linsley arrived at Vancouverairport clutching a heavily bandagedhand, which he had cut with a carvingknife while preparing a last minutesnack. Nevertheless, on the water it wasa successful trip. The heavy 4+ won twoevents (and accompanying tankards) atReading Regatta. At Egham Regatta wedefeated a South African crew in thefinal. In the first round at Reading, it wassurprising to be drawn against local BCrivals Shawnigan Lake School in the firstround. In fact, there were a lot ofCanadian crews in the UK that summerof 1992. The opening day of Henleydespite falling on July 1 was anythingbut successful for Canada. Shawnigan,Brentwood, and Saints went out in thefirst round. The Saints 8+ was notstraight at the start and promptly hitthe log boom lane divider while the pre-viously successful 4+ had the misfor-tune of losing their steering while lead-ing in their heat. However, it would haveto be a far greater disaster than that totake the shine off the three sets ofpewter tankards they had already won.

Off the water in the UK there was someexcitement we could have done with-out. One of our coxswains, Brandon Leein attempting to demonstrate his agilityand leaping prowess, brought down aVictorian cast iron shop awning on tothe head of one of his crewmates,

Graham Zink. Graham subsequentlyenjoyed a far more extensive tour of aBritish hospital than he anticipated orwould have wished. His sympatheticcrewmates made good use of their timepractising their racing strategy with thehelp of vacant wheelchairs before beinginvited to move elsewhere.

Other UK memories include the trip toStratford and the Royal ShakespeareCompany’s production of Measure ForMeasure. Half way through the perform-ance, Drew Hungerford had to seek

KIERAN VAN RIJN

Former Head Coach Boris Klavora

On Wednesday, October 5, 2005, family,friends, and fellow members of the St.George’s Community assembled in McLeanHall to pay tribute to Kiran van Rijn, a formerstudent of the School and an outstandingrowing graduate. Kiran passed awayunexpectedly in late September. He was 29years old. Kiran was stricken with a heartproblem while rowing on Burnaby Lake.

Kiran, a graduate of the University of BritishColumbia, the University of Victoria, and theUniversity of Toronto, continued to achieveremarkable success in rowing in a variety ofélite competitions, eventually becoming amember of the Canadian National RowingTeam and a finalist in the Senior Men’s SingleSculls at the Canadian Henley Regatta in PortDalhousie, Ontario.

In recognition of Kiran’s outstandingaccomplishments and his leadership byexample, the School has established the KiranVan Rijn Memorial Scholarship, which isawarded annually to a student currentlyenrolled in good standing in either Grade 10or 11 at St. George’s School.The recipient mustbe an active member of the School’s rowingprogram as either a rower or a coxswain.

To make a contribution to the fund, pleasecontact the Advancement Office at (604) 222-5889 or email advancement@stgeorges.bc.ca

medical assistance for a nasty case ofhives (a not uncommon effect ofShakespeare on some students). Thenthere was the infamous punting expedi-tion during which coxswain BrandonLee had nefariously schemed to get mein the river; he eventually succeededand I was a rather damp and dishevelledmember of our riverside pub dinnerparty. On the return, our flotilla of puntslost its way and did not arrive back atthe punting station until well after darkand closing time, which cost us a late feenot much less than the total replace-ment value of the punts in the firstplace.

Memories of these early regattasinclude a novice crew running agroundon the way up to the start at Brentwood.Crossing the finish line with the crew ina rescue craft and the shell in towbehind was an unorthodox approach toracing, which thankfully has not beenrepeated (and to save embarrassmentthe unfortunate coxswain’s name willnot be repeated either!). Then, in 1993,also at Brentwood, Kiran van Rijn andOlly Linsley, after winning the seniorheavy pair, picked up the boat to find asubstantial amount of Mill Bay cascad-ing over their heads. In 1990, the BCChampionships at Shawnigan LakeRegatta went down as the most memo-rable arrival of any Saints crew. In orderto accommodate seniors wanting to goto the Crofton Grad the night before,Clark Olson’s father flew them in. Havinghalf the crew delivered to the dock in afloat plane raised more than a few eye-brows. At the end of the regatta, theannouncer had a little fun in announc-ing that the St. George’s crew shouldhead straight to the outdock for checkin, as their flight was about to board!

I am sure that there are many otheranecdotes that former Saints rowersmight like to share. Some I might haveforgotten or simply not recounted here.If that is the case, the Georgians’ pageon the Saints’ Rowing website providesthe perfect venue. I look forward to see-ing some nostalgic reminiscences therein the not too distant future.

TODAY AND IN THE FUTUREIn 1999 Craig Pond, the UBC Women’shead coach, became head coach and aworking relationship with UBC began toevolve. Now, UBC supplies advice anduniversity-student assistant coaches toour program.

By 2000, the number of our studentsinvolved in the rowing program gradu-ally increased, so now we own some 20shells and coach boats and, there are 70boys rowing in both fall and springterms, with up to 50 rowers on the waterafter School on any afternoon!

After a number of years with excellentcompetitive results in the smaller boatsat the national level, we are now havingsuccess at the senior level in the largerboats and are closing in on the moreestablished rowing programs. Our suc-cess in the high school national champi-onships is a true measure of ourprogress. In the last two years we haveachieved tremendous results. As westrive to reach our potential over thenext few years, it is realistic to expecteven better competitive results fromour team at the national champi-onships. Needless to say, our futurelooks bright indeed. In addition, thenumber of Saints rowers who havegone on to row at the university leveland for Canada continues to increasewith every year.

An exciting new chapter in the historyof rowing at Saints is about to begin.Under a partnership agreementbetween St. George’s School, Universityof British Columbia, and the City ofRichmond, a new boathouse has beenconstructed on the middle arm of theFraser River and this facility is ready touse as the home of the Saints’ RowingProgram. This concludes more than adecade of coaching from a False Creekopen-air parking lot, which requiresbeach launching.

One of the measures of how successfulrowing itself has become an establishedSchool sport is how over time a greaternumber of rowers began to be recog-nized as among the School’s top ath-

letes. When this is combined with anunmatched record of placements atprestigious US universities then it canbe seen that the program has reallycome of age.

Fall 2006 • 19

A LOOK BACK

MEMORABLE EVENTS• Saints’ Rowers Strike Gold at Nationals

in 2004, 2005, and 2006Every year in early June a St. George’sSchool rowing team is selected alongwith 2,500 other competitors fromsome 150 schools to spend a week inSt. Catharines, Ontario to compete inthe three-day Canadian SecondarySchools Rowing Championships.

• In 2004, our team of 13 rowers wonone gold, two silver, and two bronzemedals, earning 71 points to placethird nationally in men’s total points.Our seniors won the Senior Doubleevent, finishing six seconds ahead ofthe second place boat, and placedsecond in both the Senior Coxed Fourand Senior Eight events. The latterrace was one of the fastest and closestraces in many years. Our junior rowersplaced third in two events.

• In 2005, our team of 20 rowers wontwo gold and one silver medal alongwith three respectable fourth placefinishes, earning 81 points to placefourth nationally in men’s total points.Our seniors won the Senior Double(again) and the Senior 72 kg eightevent in impressive fashion, finishingfour seconds ahead of second placeUCC. A mere two hours later, five boysfrom this eight placed second to awell-rested E.L. Crossley crew in theSenior 72 kg Coxed Four event.

• In 2006, our team of 29 rowers wongold medals in four Senior Menevents—the Lightweight Eight, theLightweight Coxed Four, the Quad,and the Lightweight Pair. When theteam points were tallied, Saints hadearned 100 points, good enough toplace second nationally in boy’s totalpoints and sixth in combined boy’sand girl’s points.

20 • The Dragon

OUR STORIED PAST

GreatW

hether you call itthe ‘Great Move’,the ‘Trek’, or the‘Big Walk’, it really

does not matter; it was amomentous time in the historyof St. George’s School. How oftendoes the entire membership ofany institution unite at one sin-gle point in time to carry out aspecific task? That is exactlywhat happened over a four-dayperiod in March 1980. BetweenMarch 7 and 10, without the asis-tance of any outside profession-als, the entire Junior School, andall aspects of the boarding pro-gram were moved from theSchool’s original location at 29thand Crown (‘Block 60’) to newfacilities in what was previouslyknown as The Convent of theSacred Heart. Every member ofthe St. George’s School commu-nity was involved in some way. Infact, the move went so smoothlythat the Junior School lost onlyone hour of class time. It was ahuge task and a huge step for-ward for St. George’s School. Asformer Headmaster Alan Brown(1971 to 1989) states, “It was aseminal moment in the historyof the school. Without it we hada very constrained future.”

Everything started with a veryfortuitous phone call from theMother Superior of the Conventto then Headmaster Brown.Knowing that he had shown aninterest in the property at anearlier date, she asked if he wasstill interested in acquiring it.His immediate response was,“Yes”.“Well you should come andview it sometime”, to which Alanresponded, “How about in 30seconds?” The property hadalready been offered to, andturned down by, both the localArchdiocese and VancouverCollege, so a quick decision wasparamount. It would next beoffered to developers who werewilling to pay considerably more

than St. George’s School. TheOrder’s primary desire was thatthe buildings and property remainintact and that they continue tofunction as a learning establish-ment. There was no time for hesi-tation so the School accepted theoffer with little delay. It was 1979,and 9 acres of land in the Dunbarregion were sold for two milliondollars plus 50 thousand for thecontents of the buildings. In any-body’s terms it was a fabulous bargain.

Once the sale had been complet-ed, much had to be done to pre-pare the buildings for occupancy.It had to be trans-formed into afull campus for 250 Junior Schoolstudents and residences for 120boarders; “The Convent was virtu-ally gutted and rebuilt internal-ly…particularly in the upperfloors, very little remained of whatwas there before.”(Alan Brown—The Georgian 1980)

Construction began in the fall of1979 and by March 7 of the follow-

ing year an interim occupancypermit was issued to the Schoolby the Fire Marshall and BuildingInspectors. The Board and FinanceCommittee were very anxious toget on with the move as they werestarting to labour under a signifi-cant debt load.The sale of Block 60(Original school and boardinghouses) could not commenceuntil all the buildings were vacat-ed. Thus, on the evening of Friday,March 7, 1980, while the Old Boys(Georgians) held their AnnualDinner in the old Junior School

TheGreatThe

In March of 1980, the entire School Community helped with the move to the newly-acquired Junior School.

by Brian Lecky '65

Fall 2006 • 21

OUR STORIED PAST

Junior School from one facility to another.Come Monday morning one learning institu-tion, the Convent of the Sacred Heart Schoolfor Girls would pass into history, while another,St. George’s School for Boys—Junior Campus,would begin a new era. 250 students fromGrades 2 to 7 and 120 boarders would nowcall this their home base. Things were dustedand vacuumed, loose items were stowedwherever there was a vacant spot, and planswere finalized for the final thrust. The nextmorning, within a few short hours, this wouldbecome a fully operational school.

At 9:00 am Monday morning the entire SeniorSchool student body and staff became the St.George’s Moving Company.They arrived at theold junior campus and literally carried offeverything that would move. Chairs, desks,office fixtures, staff room paraphernalia, andlibrary books were physically lugged a blockand a half, along 29th Avenue to the newJunior School location. Larger items wereloaded on to two flat bed trucks that had beenrented for the day. To the Dunbar residents, itmust have looked like there was an evacua-tion underway. The junior boys were responsi-ble for all their own personal items and classroom materials, so class by class they col-lected their various bags and totes, wavedgoodbye to the buildings that had been St. George’s School for 50 years, and marcheddown the street to their new facilities.

There was high energy, excitement, loud voices, laughter, and a genuine zeal surround-ing the whole event. Within a few hours,before the break for lunch, the ‘Great Move’was complete, and in fact, the Junior Schoolclassrooms were up and operational before10:00 am. The old campus was an empty shell,save for the stained-glass windows in thechapel, the kitchens, and the dining hall, whichwould remain in operation for a few moreweeks. The new campus was a hive of activity.The spirit and soul of St. George’s, which wasborn in the original old farmhouse structure,was alive and well.

This was an amazing period of time in the his-tory of the School, right from the fortuitousseries of events that lead to the acquisition ofthe Convent property to the actual move thatunited the entire School community. Whetheryou call it ‘The Great Move’, the ‘Trek’, or the ‘BigWalk’, it really does not matter. It was a giantmove forward that propelled the School into anew era as one of the top private schools inWestern Canada.

MoveMovegymnasium, the ‘Great Move’began.

The first stage was to get theBoarders out of the Main House(the original school building)and into the new facilities onthe upper floors of the Convent(fourth and half of third). Withthe help of 200 Senior Schoolvolunteers, the building wasemptied and by nightfall, theJunior Boarders (Grades 4 to 8)were in their new facilities. Allthat remained for them to dowas to put together their new

Ikea beds and storage units.This task was not completeduntil the late evening of the fol-lowing day.

Stage two was to move theremainder of the Boarders andall their belongings from thevarious boarding houses onBlock 60 to the Convent resi-dences. This took place on theSaturday (March 8) and includ-ed the emptying of the numer-ous storage sheds that werescattered about the old proper-ty. Items that could not go

directly into the classrooms ordorms went into temporarystorage in the new gymnasiumor changing rooms. They weresoon filled to capacity and whatwas no longer of use wastossed on to the discard heap atthe back of the new building.This junk pile grew to the size ofa small mountain measuring 40feet wide by 25 feet high.

Sunday was a day of generalclean up and preparation forthe final stage of the move; theactual transition of the entire

GOLD PATRON SAINTA. G. TSAKUMIS GROUP

SILVER PATRON SAINTS

HOLE SPONSORSAlexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP—Michael A. Watt '83

Arbutus Financial Services Ltd.—Neil Menzies '82

Cambie Surgery Centre—Dr. Brian Day

Clarkes Recognition—Peter Clarke '74

Colliers International—Gavin Reynolds '86

Comfort Graphics—Mr. David Jeffs

The Cruickshank Family

Envision Financial—Peter Birks '77

Genus Capital Management—Ms. Leslie Cliff

Haakon Industries—Mr. Bob Hole and Mr. Jack Hole

Havenridge Property Corp

HSBC Capital (Canada) Inc.—Mr. David Mullen

JBA Packaging Co Ltd.—Mr. James B. Ashby

Jimmy Chee—Derby Holdings Ltd

Kapt-al Services (1988) Ltd.—Mr. Michael Adamson

Kerrisdale Lumber—Mark Perry '73

Luk Kwok Hotel—Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Chan

Montridge Financial Group Ltd.—David Kraemer '82

National Bank Financial—Courtesy of Rick Eng '90

Odlum Brown Ltd.—Ryan French '84

Ritchie Bros Auctioneers—Bob Armstrong '81

Shad Valley—Mr. Ross McCutcheon

Take 5 Café Corporation—Ms. Yolanda Friedman

DGBKArchitects

MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2006

OUR SINCERE THANKS TO THOSE WHO GENEROUSLY SPONSORED THIS EVENT

So what are boys at Saints studying these days? Ourdepartment heads were asked to select a few oftheir sample trivia questions for you to try.

Complete this short quiz and send your correct answers to:

Georgian QuizAdvancement Office3851 West 29th Ave

Vancouver, BCV6S 1T6

All correct entries will be placed in a draw to receive a St. George’s Golf Shirt. Make sure you include your contactinformation and shirt size.

The Georgian Quiz

1. Identify the grammatical error in the followingstatement:“The Odyssey was written in the eighth century B.C.,however, it describes events that took place much earlier.”

2. Identify the poetic device in the following lines:“Blow winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow You cararacts and hurricanes, spout Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!”

3. In an office, at various times during the day, the bossgives the secretary a letter to type, each time puttingthe letter at the top of the pile in the secretary's in-box.When there is time, the secretary takes the top letterfrom the pile and types it. If there are five letters in all,and the boss delivers them in the order 1,2,3,4,5 whichof the following could NOT be the order in which thesecretary types them?

A 12345B 24351C 32415D 45231E 54321

4. Describe a "double majority" and how it affectedpolitics in Canada in the mid 1800s.

5. What is Intaglio Printing?

6. Athletic training can be guided by two principlesrepresented by these two acronyms:

F.I.T.S.A.I.D.

What do the above acronyms represent?

7. You are out on a mountain trip and when you go tobed your altimeter reads 5,000'. When you wake up inthe morning, it reads 5,200'. Does this mean theweather is likely going to get better or worse?

8. Why is a compound resveratrol, found in red wine, socalled?

9. Who was the first teacher of English in Japan (1848)and where in Canada was he educated

10. One of the cornerstone pieces of repertoire for ConcertBand is Gustav Holst's 'First Suite'. What is the keysignature (in concert pitch) of all three movements?(Hint: the answer also figures prominently in the fulltitle of this work.)

22 • The Dragon

A SAINT IN NEW ORLEANS

INSIDE:• FROM THE GEORGIANS’ PRESIDENT page 24

• ANNUAL GEORGIANS’ DINNER page 25

• BRIAN IDE: A NEW GEORGIAN ADVOCATE page 26

• SAINTS NOTES page 32

24 • The Dragon

THE GEORGIANS

TheSchool is on the Verge of Greatness

and the Opportunity is Now

Many of us graduated from St. George’s

during an era when there was little to tie

us back to the School. Oh, we kept in

touch with a handful of friends, and

went back to visit favourite teachers

from time to time, check on the updates

and changes to the physical plant of the

School, and perhaps attended an Old

Boys’ Annual Dinner at the School, but

there was no real place for us within the

St. Georges’ community.

All that has changed dramatically over

the past few years. The School, under

Headmaster Nigel Toy, has opened its

arms to us, and the Board of the School

Society has provided tremendous

resources to help welcome us back into

the community. The School’s Office of

Advancement, under the direction of

Don Livingston, has recently hired Bryan

Ide ’99 as Manager of Georgian Rela-

tions, to assist our Association in recon-

necting with the School.

As you may know, our Board has been

reinvigorating the Association over the

past few years, and the School is taking

an active role in that process. They pro-

vide us with resources and venues for

our activities, and they want Georgians

to be an important part of the School’s

future. Today’s students are proud of

the legacy of the School, and we are

that legacy. Now is the time to recon-

nect with the School community. Now

is the time to embrace a School that

wants you to be active in that communi-

ty. (There are any number of ways of

doing so, but listing them is not the

intent of this message. If you want to

know more, contact us through the

School or by email at:

georgianspres@stgeorges.bc.ca.)

My intent is simply to

let you know that the

School has never

been more ready for

involvement from its

alumni. Everything is in place, and the

window of opportunity is open. Now.

The School is run by a Headmaster who

embodies the tradition and character

that we associate with St. George’s, and

he is a strong proponent of active

alumni participation in the School com-

munity. The School is, for the first time in

many years, actively encouraging

Georgians to send their sons to the

School. They realize that this important

link has been under-emphasized in the

past, and they want to increase the num-

ber multi-generational families within

the community as a key part of retaining

the School’s strong sense of legacy and

tradition. The Board of Directors of the

School Society includes several Old Boys,

and they are very much supporting our

initiatives and the School’s initiatives to

become involved in the community.

The stage is set for the School to grow

into a truly great school, on a national

and international scale, and we can fig-

ure prominently in those plans.

So let me tell you something about how

the School is poised to make the transi-

tion to become a truly great school. For

the past five years I have been attending

various events at the School as part of

my involvement as a director of our

alumni association. In my days at the

School, a quarter of a century ago

(ouch!), we had what we considered to

be a ‘great school.’ Our sports teams

dominated, our scholastics were tops,

and our arts programs were enviable.

Fast forward 25 years. The matriculating

class has doubled in size to 150 students,

and as I have sat through several gradu-

ation ceremonies over the past few

years, I have been incredibly impressed

at the achievements of the young men

leaving the School. Not only do the aca-

demics impress (are there ANY gradu-

ates not on the honour roll, I have won-

dered? ), but the achievements in a huge

array of sports and arts and clubs were

overwhelming! And they only mention

the highest honours at the graduation

ceremony; they have separate awards

ceremonies for the Middle and Senior

School classes to cover the rest. It is

truly impressive!

I recall thinking recently when talking to

one of our babysitters that the opportu-

nities she was being offered through her

public school today seemed not far off

what we were offered in the early 1980s.

So where is Saints today? We had

roughly 10 electives to chose from, as I

recall; today it is closer to 40. We had

three main sports and a half-dozen

others to choose from; today there are

close to 40 sports activities to choose

from. Clubs? Pushing 60! This ain’t

yer father’s St. George’s, gentlemen!

At the same time, with this great expan-

sion, the School has not lost its soul.

The same strength of character that has

carried many of us through good times

and bad is still very much a core product

of the St. Georges’ experience. The

School is still building men of character,

and they are proud of their heritage.

The School has exciting plans to move

things forward from this incredibly

strong foundation. The School is on the

verge of greatness. The time to recon-

nect with the School and participate in

this exciting growth is now, gentlemen.

I will look forward to seeing you on

board.

Our Boardhas been

reinvigoratingthe Associationover the pastfew years.

“ “

From The Presidentby Brian Soregaroli '84, Georgians’ President

Fall 2006 • 25

Annual Georgians DinnerCelebrating 75 Years

Nearly 200 Georgians, School staff, and invited VIPs in attendance

Commentary by Peter Weddigen 82, Dinner Captain

In this the 75th year of the School, thedinner saw Georgian graduates fromevery decade of School history attend-ing. We were particularly fortunate to

see classmates from the thirties, forties, andfifties out. These elder statesmen were ofcourse given a prominent table at the frontaptly named the ‘Georgians Antique RoadShow’. Attendees enjoyed a huge feast andhonoured the traditions of grace, an addressfrom the Headmaster, and remembrance forthose students who passed in the year prior.

This year’s keynote speaker was Business inVancouver publisher and current VancouverCity Councillor, Peter Ladner. Peter at one pointattended St. George’s School but, was latershipped to the island where naturally he waselevated to head boy of Shawnigan Lake, com-plete with caning privileges. Peter captivatedthe audience with stories of the illegal boy-scout bonfires, once enjoyed in the endow-ment lands, the joys of caning, and Vancouver’spreparations for the upcoming Olympics. Mr.Ladner also lit up with pride describing howthe city would harness and reuse the heat ofits decomposing sewage.

The evening went on to respect our HonoraryGeorgians, starting with Mark Perry’s 1973address to long-time volunteer rugby coachand belly dancer extraordinaire (or so thevideo that Mark brought suggested) Tim

Shaddick. Then, it was retiring teacher andtrack pant model Ray Stevenson’s turn to facethe roast. Don Anderson ‘77, John Nicolls ‘78,Andrew Bibby ‘75 came appropriately attiredwith eighties-era racquets and form-fittingtrack pants to present Ray with a trophymounted miniature of his yellow Dodge mus-cle car. As if on queue, Ray appropriatelyturned as red as his car was yellow.

The final honorees of the night were Clive andMadeleine Austin, mum and dad to many aboarder, Georgian’s touch point and teacher togenerations. Boarder Justin Rigsby ‘80 gave ustales of midnight bell ringings and miserablyfailed attempts at making home wine underthe boarding house noses of Clive andMadeleine. Clive and youngest daughterFiona, attending in her mother’s stead,beamed as they sat surrounded by JohnArthurs ‘78, Kim Korchinski ‘80, and others whohad lived under the Austins’ care. Clive, whohas moved on to start the successful WestPoint Grey Academy, gave heartfelt thanks andreminders to those attending about just howspecial St. George’s is in the Vancouver educa-tional community.

Yet, it was Fiona who brought the house down.Her mother Madeleine, living through the lastof her fight with cancer, was unable to attendand sent Fiona to deliver her greetings to herboys. Fiona had been born into St. George’s

School and described how her mother perkedup and beamed upon hearing that she andClive were to be honoured. She went on to tellhow her mother, when acting as theGeorgian’s Co-ordinator was always so thrilledto hear of an old boy returning to visit theSchool for Remembrance Day Activities or theAnnual Dinner. Fiona also described her moth-er’s sadness when contact with one of herboys was lost.

A collection of rare stamps, selected by BrianGrant Duff ‘83, was given to Clive the avidstamp collector and Fiona took home for hermother a mounted collage of photographs ofClive and Madeline that had been prepared byElizabeth Knox of the Office of Advancement.

Fiona told me that upon her returning homefrom the dinner that night, Madeleine kept herup late recounting the evening in detail.Madeleine Austin, mum to many a Georgianboarder, passed in late spring 2006 after acourageous battle with cancer. Her thoughtswere not for herself, but for those she wouldleave behind.

Many thanks to Don Livingston’s able team atthe Office of Advancement: Brian Lecky ’65,Elizabeth Knox, and Katie Webster. Thanks tothe presenters and to next year’s DinnerCaptain Alex Tsakumis ‘83 for the support ingift and kind. A sold-out success!

After a brief time away fromSt. George’s, I am delightedto have the opportunity tocontribute once again to

this great School. In my new role, I willbe an advocate for the Georgians (or

Old Boys as we used to be called) inthe greater St. George’s School com-munity. I will also continue theGeorgian traditions from theHomecoming and Reunion Weekendto the Annual Georgians’ Dinner, toname only a few of the activitiesplanned for this year.

In addition, I would welcome anyideas you have for events that youwould like to see take place. Anothergreat development in the works willbe the launch this late fall of theSchool’s new and dynamic website,with a section dedicated to you tokeep you informed and connected. Iam keen to be a resource toGeorgians and encourage you notonly to contact me with questionsand suggestions, but also to make avisit to the School to see just howmuch things have changed.

Last year, the School celebrated its75th Anniversary. This was certainlya milestone and in particular for St.George’s School, it was a time todraw attention to its great successesand impressive growth. One wordcomes to mind: evolution. TheSchool has undergone many dra-matic changes. Today, it is a world-class boarding facility with one ofthe Province’s best maintainedsports fields, now occupying thespace where I fondly recall playinggames of ‘capture the flag’ in theJunior School’s forest.

The construction under way at theSenior School is another testamentto the evolution of Saints. One has tokeep in mind that evolution is aprocess and it is not achievedovernight. St. George’s would not bethe place that is today were it not forthe invaluable contributions of somany individuals over the years, inparticular, the Georgians.

With over 4,500 living alumni, theGeorgians make up the largest con-stituency of the St. George’s commu-nity. In a world where Georgians spanthe globe, St. George’s has soughtways to keep connected not onlywith the School, but also with eachother. Recognizing the important rolethat you play in Saints’ life, and againhighlighting the evolution of thisSchool, my new position was createdto facilitate, manage, and develop allGeorgian activities.

As we look forward to the next 75years, I am excited by the opportunityto work with you and other membersof the St. George’s community as webuild a global Georgian network andstrengthen the ties between theGeorgians and the School.

26 • The Dragon

THE GEORGIANS

A New Georgian AdvocateBryan Ide ’99, appointed Manager of Georgian Relations

WAYS IN WHICH I WILL HELP YOU

• Coordinate all Georgian events

• Take suggestions from Georgianson programs and events that youwould like to see developed

• Strengthen communications withGeorgians through newsletters,the new website, and The Dragon

• Source stories for future issues ofThe Dragon

• Build the School database onGeorgian personnel and contactinformation

• Encourage more Georgians toregister on the Georgian Directory

DON’T FORGET THESE KEYEVENTS AND DATES!

• Remembrance Day and GeorgianGames: November 11, 2006

• School Hamper Drive:December 16, 2006

• Annual Georgians Dinner:Spring of 2007

• Fourth Annual StancombeInvitational Golf Tournament:Spring of 2007

From:Don LivingstonChief Advancement OfficerBrian Soregaroli ’84President of the GeorgiansBrian Lecky ’65Past Georgian Co-ordinator

The Office ofAdvancement and theBoard of Directors of theGeorgians are pleased toannounce theappointment of Bryan Ideas the Manager, GeorgianRelations. Bryan enteredSt. George’s in Grade 4and is part of the Class of’99.While at Saints, he washeavily involved in Schoollife as a prefect in Grade12, a boarding captain,and a member of theSecond XV rugby team.After graduating, hebegan university at McGilland completed his BA atCornell. He then obtainedhis MA from Columbia.Prior to assuming his roleat Saints, he was inbanking. Bryan takes overfrom Brian Lecky ’65, whotaught Bryan in the JuniorSchool. Bryan alsograduated with Mr.Lecky’s youngest son, Alex’99 and is a close friend ofhis older son, Graham ’97.

WEL

CO

ME

BRY

AN

Fall 2006 • 27

The 2006 Homecomingand Reunion Weekend forthe 1s and 6s was a greatsuccess! While only 130Georgians were expectedto attend the reception onFriday night, more than200 showed up, making itthe best turnout at areunion ever! Reunion wasa great opportunity forfriends to reconnect andhopefully spurred them tokeep in touch. Saturday’sactivities saw severalGeorgians bringing theirfamilies back to the Schoolfor tours, a bouncy castleand pony rides for thechildren, and the Grade 10rugby games against ourarchrivals—ShawniganLake, Brentwood, and St.Michael’s. Thank you to theGeorgians who came outReunion Weekend and welook forward to the 2s and7s having theirs next year.

REUNIONHOMECOMING

September 22 and 23, 2006 1s 6s&

Former Headmaster, AlanBrown '54, had some good laughs with School Captain,Rónán Sabo-Walsh

John Lawrence, former Associate Principal, NeilMenzies '82, Past President of the Georgians, andRoger Sweeny '47.

Members of the Class of ‘66 had a strong turnout.

Grads from the Class of ‘56 celebrated their 50th Anniversary.

28 • The Dragon

WHENTHE SAINT GOESMARCHING IN

A Georgian in New Orleans by Dr. Douglas Hamilton '75

Dr. Douglas Hamilton, Class of 1975, is used to taking on multiple responsibilities. He is currently a flight surgeon for theNASA Johnson Space Center, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Baylor College, and an Electrical Engineer. However, hisreal test at multi-tasking came in late August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest hurricanes in US histo-ry, tore through the Gulf Coast of the United States.With very little notice, Dr. Hamilton, was thrust into the role of the lead-ing night-time physician of the Astrodome and Reliant Park Center for the Houston Katrina evacuation. Here is his ownaccount of his experience.

We had only been given 12 hours’ notice before 500buses carrying over 30,000 evacuees started arrivingin Reliant Park. The scenes on the buses werehideous.The rashes, the sores, the cuts, the vomit, and

evidence of the horrible hygiene from the last four days were every-where. The state of the infants was especially tragic, as many of themwere without diapers.The combination of open wounds and skin dam-age from sunburn caused them to scream in agony at the slightesttouch.

I was struck by their look of total despair as the evacuees were led offthe buses attempting to digest the enormity of their losses. At first, wetried to direct the worst patients to the hospital but, during the firstfour hours, the shortage of ambulances created a wait of at least 30minutes for some of these poor people before we could get themtransported to the Texas Medical Center. Despite this logistical chal-lenge, we still made it our priority to identify those in greatest need.With the help of Baylor College of Medicine physicians and later,Houston Fire Department personnel, each bus was boarded and thosein need of emergency care were quickly identified and then transport-

Fall 2006 • 29

ed to hospitals throughout the HarrisCounty Hospital District.

On average, there was at least one evac-uee in need of emergency care per bus.The Houston Fire Department tookapproximately one to two non-ambula-tory but stable patients per bus towheel into the Astrodome. The remain-ing one or two non-ambulatory butunstable patients were redirected to theKatrina Clinic. On one of my trips to thebuses, I recall carrying off an elderlyman who was clearly septic and whohad lost all sense of time. He was suffer-ing from having the New Orleans waterback flow into his bowels from his rup-tured colostomy bag. “It’s OK Doc, I’vebeen like this for two days…a couple ofhours won’t matter,” he remarked,almost apologetically. But I was not con-vinced. I was sure he was fatally ill andhad only hours to live. I honestlybelieved I would never see him again.Tomy surprise, the same man greeted mein the Astrodome ten days later. He wasin a suit carrying a suitcase, which hadbeen donated by Continental Airlines. (Iwas told every Continental employeedonated at least one suitcase to theKatrina victims.) His suitcase was full ofnewly acquired clothes and he stood ina line-up for transport to a newly builtassisted-living facility in Houston. Weboth shared some tears, shook hands,and then he boarded the bus and left.Never underestimate the power of thehuman spirit!

During the first six hours, when theKatrina Clinic was still under comple-

tion, there weres still no wheelchairs tomove non-ambulatory patients whowere not candidates for hospital admis-sions. Therefore, non-emergent, non-ambulatory patients had to be movedfrom the buses and transported to localhospitals by ambulance. When theKatrina Clinic was finally completed, ourmethod of primary triage helped to pro-tect local hospitals from being over-whelmed with low acuity patients andallowed the locally built Katrina Clinic totreat and return patients to their accom-modations.

During the first 48 hours, approximately25,000 people were triaged, 6,000 ofwhom I personally assessed andtriaged.While some of the victims choseto accept accommodation in theAstrodome, Reliant Center, and Arena,other evacuees accepted only food andclothing. Afterwards, we helped themfind accommodation with friends, rela-tives, or at other centers outside of theReliant Park facilities. (At the height ofour operations, we were serving over70,000 meals per day.)

Some of the challenges created by theinitial implementation of our primarytriage method included the separationof family members or friends for med-ical reasons and the subsequent diffi-culty encountered reuniting them.Obviously, it was important to triageand handle special needs patients first,including the elderly, pediatric, obese,non-ambulatory, amputees, chronic,and those in need of dialysis and mentalhealth. However, our need to classify

and distinguish people according totheir medical needs and their needs asevacuees posed many interesting ethi-cal challenges. In an emergency unit inwhich large numbers of people arebeing processed, concerns such as med-ical privacy and informed consent takeon a whole new meaning. It is often dif-ficult to distinguish those who simplyrequire accommodation, food, andclothing from those who are in realneed of legitimate medical care within amedical infrastructure.

The Astrodome, Reliant Center, andArena were each managed by localphysicians and staffed with nurses andvolunteers from Texas and beyond.Inside we built triage sites to treat minorillnesses and help special needspatients without having to transportthem to the main Katrina clinic inanother building. Houston Metro busestransported the evacuees around theReliant complex 24 hours a day withcontinuous service. Our triage sitesinside the Astrodome saw as many as1,000 people within a 24-hour periodand there were medical representativeson site from the departments of pedi-atrics, family, community medicine,internal medicine, radiology, obstetricsand gynecology, orthopedics, surgery,and psychiatry. The Astrodome, ReliantCenter, and Arena collectively handledover 30,000 evacuees.

Most of the evacuees who visited thetriage sites in the Astrodome andCenter were treated using over-the-counter medications and others had to

30 • The Dragon

THE GEORGIANS

be transported to the Katrina Clinic. Theclinic was equipped with a lab, phar-macy, digital X-ray and ultrasoundmachines, and 80 computer terminalsable to generate electronic patientrecords. The Katrina clinic saw morethan 15,000 patients during 15 days ofoperations (2,000 on the first full day),administered 14,000 tetanus shots, andfilled thousands of prescriptions. At thepeak of operations, the clinic saw 150patients an hour and had 25 physiciansscheduled for each 12-hour shift.Approximately 2,000 people were trans-ported to hospital emergency rooms.

Some of the people now living in theDome had witnessed such horrors thatthey were unable to sleep. All we coulddo was just sit by them, hold theirhands, and listen patiently. Sometimes,after they spoke to someone, a bit ofsleep would come over them. Therewere traumatized children who wouldscream at night and wake the peoplearound them. I remember in particular, alittle girl who we came across at threeo’clock in the morning who could notsleep. A family had taken her in, but hadnot been able to settle her and theywere worried that it had been at leastfour nights since she had slept. She waslost and looking for her grandmother. Isat down and quietly chatted with her.She trusted me and described in horri-ble detail how first her mother, herfather, and brother had been sweptaway by the rush of water in front of theeyes of this eight-year old.

Luckily, her grandmother had grabbedher at the last minute and miraculously,the two of them remained caught up ina tree until they were rescued by heli-copter. I tried to encourage the younggirl to talk about the separation from

her grandmother, when suddenly, sheblurted out the licence number andFEMA contract number of the bus onwhich her grandmother had arrived! Iimmediately asked two soldiers whowere standing next to me if I had theauthority to give them an order. I thinkthey were National Guard or Army. Theyresponded that their orders were tohelp, so I told them to track the buslicence and FEMA contract and find thegrandmother! “Bring her to this littlegirl,” I ordered!

I never saw those soldiers again but,three days later, while walking on thefloor of the Astrodome in the earlyhours of the morning, I came across avery old lady sitting in a cot. She wasrocking this same, tiny eight-year girlold back and forth and the girl was snor-ing in a very deep limp sleep. This niceold lady was singing to her sleepinggranddaughter. I said: "You must be ‘thegrandma’". She replied, "You must be‘the nice man in the red coat’”. The redvest meant you had complete medicalauthority in the Dome.

I sat down beside the grandmother andasked her to tell me what had hap-pened in New Orleans. She began to cryand described how she had becomeseparated from her granddaughter inthe massive rush of the crowd in thesuperdome. She had already witnessedher daughter and then, in rapid succes-sion, her son-in-law, and several of hergrandchildren drown. She was not pre-pared to lose her only surviving grand-daughter to the surging mob. I can onlyimagine what she had gone throughbut, such were the stories of some of thethousands of people that I met.

Management of the crisis centre was a

massive undertaking which lasted only14 days. During this time we hadreduced our population to 1,800 peo-ple. I was then able to sign thoseremaining people over to the Red Cross,who promptly evacuated them toArkansas. At this same time, HurricaneRita was bearing down on Houston.Within three weeks of arriving at theReliant, more than 90 per cent of thefamilies were able to find permanenthousing, enroll their children back inschools, and find work. Despite the 24-hour shifts of four hours of sleep for twoweeks, I can truly say that my role inhelping to manage this catastrophe wasan unforgettable experience. Despitethe terrible circumstances, people werethe most pleasant and appreciative Ihave ever met. As many of them decid-ed to stay and live in Houston, I now seesome of them in my clinic.

On finishing my work at the Astrodome,I became an evacuee myself and, afterboarding up my house, I left forPalestine, Texas. It took me 21 hours totravel 90 miles! I became the lead physi-cian at a retreat site which housed 350mentally challenged children andadults who had been evacuated fromNew Orleans three weeks earlier. Theywere running out of anti-psychoticmedications and none of them hadseen a physician for four weeks sincethe disaster. While the hurricaneglanced at us during this time, my fami-ly (Keltie 10, Bridie 8, and Ross 6)enjoyed a great vacation for five days.When I finally did get home, I discov-ered that my district, which now lookedlike a war zone, had been hit by 90 mphwinds yet had not experienced anymajor problems. We lost some trees butthat was all. If the Category 5 hurricanehad not veered off at the last minute,our house would have been hit with a15-foot storm surge and 140 mphwinds. Clearly, I got off easily but, psy-chologically, the storm continues tohaunt me. I still have problems sleepingand cannot help but think back to whatso many others had to endure. It was anevent that changed so many people’slives, including mine.

Fall 2006 • 31

1967Robert J. Ellis, former Chairman of the Board,St. George's School, has been appointedChairman of the Board of Fraser Academy, a 200-student, independent Vancouver school, educat-ing students with dyslexia and other related language processing issues. He invites anyoneinterested in these issues to visit the web site at:http://www.fraser-academy.bc.ca/

1970Michael J. Bull has been appointed at TeamManager by Rugby Canada for the Men’s U21team this year. This entails organizing tours andtest matches in the Cayman Islands againstBermuda and the Caymans, in Victoria againstthe US U23 Collegiate team and in November inIreland against Irish Colleges and Universities.

William G. Mackenzie has been appointed tothe Chair of the Department of OrthopaedicSurgery at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital forChildren in Delaware.

1973Ross R. Gilley earned an MBA from Royal RoadsUniversity in 2005.

Patrick L.W. Smyth has moved to Costa Ricaand is Chairman and CEO of Gaming Trans-actions Inc. He and Kathryn Kozak are to be mar-ried in December in Playa Protrero.

1975Andrew J. Bibby reports that as a result of reor-ganization of the company’s North Americanoperations, from a geographic divisional struc-ture to a functional structure, he is now ChiefDevelopment Officer of Grosvenor Americas. Heoversees Grosvenor’s Development Program inNorth America.

1976Robert G. Tinkess is working as a ServiceAdvisor at the Ford dealership in Orillia and isalso a Senior Associate with Pre-paid LegalServices of Canada. His marriage to Pam Hooperis planned for October.

1979Murray J. Grant has just released his second CDentitled ‘3000 Days’. The music combines ethnicand contemporary instruments.

1980Andrew J. Arthur is now working in Calgary asa geologist with Mission Oil and Gas.

1982J. Calvin Armerding has completed a MathSecondary Teaching Credential from theUniversity of Western Washington and is nowteaching Grade 9 and 10 Math at BurlingtonEdison High School.

David W.C. Docksteader is now a licensed resi-dential and commercial mortgage broker andhas a development and consulting companycalled Finex Development Inc.

Thomas Fiala has a busy cosmetic surgery prac-tice in Altamonte Springs, FL and was recentlyfeatured in ‘Orlando’ magazine’s section on ‘TopPlastic Surgeons in Orlando’. For relaxation Tomplays keyboards for Jill Towers and the ‘AnitaDrink’ classic rock band, regular performers inCentral Florida’s music scene.

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32 • The Dragon

Nigel H.M.O. Brown ’72 High Seas Adventure.In July 2005, a sailing friend and I participatedin the Trans-Pacific Yacht Race (Transpac) fromLong Beach, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii. In afleet of 75, ours was the smallest. Soap Opera isa Hobie 33—a 33-foot long monohullweighing only 4,000 pounds. Sailing her downthose long ocean waves was like riding abicycle too fast down a hill—you just hang on

and keep her going straight. It took 13 days tocover the distance of 2,250 nautical miles. Theweather gods smiled on us and we won threetrophies. The first place in our size class was

quite an accomplishment, as all the other boats werebigger and most of them sailing with a crew of six or more.The second trophy was a first place win for double-handedboats (two crew members). The second place boat was aday and a half behind us. The third trophy was for bestnavigator in our class. As you can imagine, we were thrilledwith the results and there were, of course, some greatparties in Hawaii after we finished!

Fall 2006 • 33

1983Friends of Paul L. Harder report that he wasrecently awarded a beautiful brass soprano sax-ophone at the First Annual Funk Pitt Awards.Paul is noted for being the funkiest sax player tograduate from Saints. His song ‘Vaporize Yo’Funky Little Yellow Tail’ is his signature tune.

1984Sean D. Eckford has been appointed the NewsDirector for CKAY-FM a new radio station on theSunshine Coast.

1986Derek K. Miller is Communications Manager forthe marine Shipping web software companyNavarik Corp in Vancouver. Derek has releasedan album of instrument music and earlier thisyear joined as co-host of the popular InsideHome Recording podcast.

1987Ian D. Dickey has accepted a position in Bangor,ME as the Orthopaedic Oncologist for the Stateat the Eastern Maine Medical Center. TheUniversity of Maine recently awarded Ian withan honorary engineering degree for his researchin new, cutting edge coatings for Total Hip andTotal Knee implants. He has also been appointedthe academic rank of Adjunct Professor in theDepartment of Engineering and hired as a con-sultant to Stryker Orthopaedics (largest company worldwide) for implant design.

Christopher D. Patton has been accepted intothe doctoral program in English and CreativeWriting at the University of Utah. His first bookof poems, Rust Pastoral, will be published in thespring of 2007 by Signal Editions. He has alsowritten a children’s book, Jack Pine, illustrated byCybele Young due for publication byGroundwood Books in the fall of 2007.

1989Boris D.Y. Bong has been appointed Vice-President of SAIL Advisors Limited part of theSearch Investment Group, based in Hong Kong.

Wade R. Mitchell is currently working in ruralNSW, Australia as a GP Obstetrician/Surgeon. Heand his wife have three children Aiden (5), Cole(3) and baby Piper. In December Wade will becompeting in the Ironman, Western Australia.

1993Brenton R. Cameron and Cecil W. Lau haveboth completed an MBA at the Sauder School ofBusiness at UBC.

1995Kenny Ho is Senior Manager-Research CapitalMarkets with Jones Lang LaSalle, based inShanghai.

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Scott W. Siegert '95 has successfully completedthe University of Illinois at Chicago College ofPharmacy four-year doctoral program. During hisfour years at UIC, Scott was president of his first-year class, student council senator for two years,president of the National Community Pharma-cists’ Association, co-ordinator and consultant forthe Medicare Part D Program, and recipient of theNational Pharmacists’ Association Scholarship.Scott has accepted a position as a consultantwith an international pharmaceutical corp-oration headquartered in Chicago.

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34 • The Dragon

Timothy J.T. Harvey '96 has spent the lasttwo and a half years travelling around theplanet by zero-emissions means. In August2005, he completed his original mission, totravel from Vancouver to Moscow by humanpower and then decided to try to get homewithout creating any fossil fuel emissions.Tim cycled across Europe to Portugal, thenrowed in a six-metre wooden boat ownedby a Turkish adventurer from Lisbon to thethe Island of Grand Canaria in 28 days,making one brief stop in Morocco to avoidHurricane Delta. After a month soaking upthe good life as an honorary member of theRoyal Nautical Club of Gran Canaria, Timlaunched once more to sea, this time in thecompany of three young Swedes in aneight-metre sailboat bound for Trinidad andTobago and then on to Venezuela, totalling40 more days at sea.

From Venezuela to his position in CentralMexico, Tim travelled variously by bicycle,10-metre dug-out canoe, foot, andbalsawood raft, then bicycle again.The mostdifficult stretch was traversing the roadlessChoco-Darien region of Colombia andPanama, where a thick and pristine tropicalrainforest is populated by dangerouswildlife and Colombia's drug-runningrebels, the FARC. In Panama, Tim was brieflyjailed for travelling without a passportstamp, which was not offered in the roadlessjungle. He did, however, receive a case ofmalaria that lingers to this day.

Tim anticipates cycling into Vancouver inlate October, in time to celebrate the 201stAnniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar andthen, start writing a book to be published inthe spring.

Fall 2006 • 35

1996Alykhan A. Alidina has completed an MBAdegree in General Management from VlerickGent Management School in Belgium. This wasearned with ’Great Distinction’ which indicateshe was in the top 10 per cent of the graduatingclass.

Siamak Boroomand has completed a Mastersdegree in Education at UBC and has accepted asenior chemistry teaching position atMeadowridge School in Maple Ridge, BC.

Michael J. Cox is currently the Music Co-ordinator for The Megan Mullally Show forNVBC/Universal, Los Angeles, CA. SSAA

IINNTTSS

NNOOTTEE

SS

Jason del Vicario ‘94, Brandon Lee’94 and Angus Taylor ’94

Not content to watch some games on TV, these three graduates took off toGermany, June 19 to 27 to take in the sights, sounds, and experiences of the WorldCup. What an unbelievable trip. They left London, had two nights in Cologne, andanother two in Hamburg. Participation in the night life and parties that the gamesgenerated just added to the holiday.

For the Italy–Czech game Jason was in the middle of the Czech section sittingnext to a man who had a son studying in Powell River. (Back in BC Jason met upwith the family for a drink. It’s a small world.) In 30-plus degree temperatures ourintrepid World Cup fans found themselves in the middle of the Ecuadoriansection for the England–Ecuador match.They were supporting the England team!

The Italian side of Jason’s family made sure the party continued when the guysreturned to Vancouver as the games continued through the quarters, semis, andfinals. With the outcome in Italy’s favour the only place to be was CommercialDrive to celebrate and enjoy the fun side of victory. It was like being in Europeagain, the atmosphere electric.

Donovan J. Tildesley ‘02and Desmond Strelzow ‘03participated at the Commonwealth Games inMelbourne, Australia in March. Des took timeoff from university to train in Hawaii andNarooma, a small sea-side town in Australia.Donovan, one of the six SWADs (swimmers witha disability), took the opportunity to travel withthe team to a training camp in Canberra.

A week before theevents started allthe athletes movedinto the Village,where the securitywas high. Not onlywas there Westernfood, but to accom-modate everyone atthe games, theofficials had hiredethnic chefs. It was aculinary delight forthe adventurous.

The swimming venue was next to the Formula1 race track. The stands were always packedwith 13,000 screaming fans. It was a bit like theequivalent of English soccer hooligans and theatmosphere was electric. So what did Des andDonovan gain from international competitionin a hot climate? For Donovan it was anopportunity to renew friendships made sixyears before in Sydney, a personal best time inthe 50 freestyle and the chance to know theable-bodied members of the team better. Themain event for Des was the 200 backstrokewhere he qualified in fourth place for the final.This made him very nervous and the race didnot go as he would have liked. The bronzemedal eluded him by 0.5 of a second.

Michael Sung completed his MBA in May fromUSC in Los Angeles, CA. He is now working as aSenior Investment Analyst at First IndustrialRealty Trust developing industrial real estatethroughout the Southern California area.

Nathan C.B. Wu graduated from St. George’sUniversity International School of Medicine inDecember 2005.

David G. Wong has been awarded the presti-gious Wesbrook Scholarship in the faculty ofLaw at UBC.

1998Andrew L. Hupfau and his wife Geneviève areboth members of the Canadian Foreign Service,and have recently moved to North Africa where

Andrew works at the Canadian Embassy to theRepublic of Tunisia as commercial liaison withthe African Development Bank.

1999Vincent W. Ng is teaching at a MontessoriSchool in Beijing and was working on a traveldocumentary in Turkey during the summer.

M. Brock R. Stephenson joined the PrimeMinister’s Office in Ottawa as SpecialAssistant—BC in May 2006.

2000Gordon T. B. Horton joined the commercial realestate firm of CB Richard Ellis in January and isnow a licensed Commercial Real Estate Representative in their Toronto West office.

Stephen R. Kenning has recently joined thestrategy consulting firm of Bain & Company inToronto as an Associate Consultant.

Warren J. Luksun has been appointed presi-dent of the UBC Medical Undergraduate Societyand Vice-President-Education of the CanadianFederation of Medical Students.

Jason A. Strelzow has been accepted into med-ical school at UBC and began his studies this fall.

2001Riaz J. Kara has recently completed an MSc inEconomics and History from the London Schoolof Economics, London, England. In August, hewill begin working with Citizenship andImmigration Canada as an Advisor in theemployment policy group, based in Ottawa.

2002Adam D. Braverman has completed a BFAdegree from Ryerson University in Toronto.

Derek J. Luksun is in his final year of theAdministrative and Commercial StudiesProgram at Huron. He is serving his second termas University Student President.

Harpal Sandhu graduated magna cum laudewith an AB in Chemistry from HarvardUniversity. During the past four years he was aJohn Harvard Scholar and a recipient of theDetur Digniori academic prize. He will remain inBoston to pursue MD studies at Harvard MedicalSchool rather than research in the basic sciencesthat many thought would be his career path.

Emanuel Prinet ’92 helpedco-organize a side event atthe World Urban Forum heldin Vancouver in June entitled‘One Small Step for Cities, OneGiant Leap for the Planet:Practical Solutions for CitiesStepping towards a LighterFootprint’. Visited by manydelegates, the event exploredhow cities can move awayfrom unsustainable urbanproduction and consumptionpatterns. Dr. William Rees, onthe faculty at UBC andfounder of the EcologicalFootprint concept, was theguest speaker.The WUF eventwas supported by the NewCity Institute, Vancouver andsponsored by UBC UniversityTown and the David SuzukiFoundation.

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36 • The Dragon

Saints Notes submissionsshould be sent to:thedragon@stgeorges.bc.ca

2003Christopher S. Reynolds has joined Hill &Knowlton, a large public relations company, asan Associate during his final year at theUniversity of Western Washington. Togetherwith Jason J. Hamilton, Chris has started anevent production business which will operateout of London, ON while they are still at school.

Tyler N. Hotson continues to be successful onthe rugby field. He was on the Canadian U-21team that went to the Cayman Islands in Mayand captained the BC U-21 team at the NationalChampionships this past summer.

David J. Stockton played rugby for the CanadaSevens Team at the IRB tournaments inSingapore and Hong Kong in March and April.This was followed in June by tournaments inParis and London.

Thomas J. Masterson has been elected presi-dent of the UBC chapter of the Order of OmegaHonour Society, an organization based on service, leadership and academics in the GreekCommunity. Thomas is studying Cell Biologyand Genetics.

BIRTHSJohn Beaumont ’84 and his wife Fitri, a son,born July 4, 2005

Brenton R. Cameron ’93 and his wife Julie, ason, Harris, born July 7, 2006

David Demner ’95 and his wife Heidi, a son,Ryan, born April 21, 2006.

David M. Giles ’85 and his wife, Tanya, a son,Oscar, born September 2, 2005.

James J.G. Humphries ’91 and his wife, Jen, adaughter, Ana, born July 3, 2005.

David J. Murray ’85 and his wife, Catherine, adaughter, Jacqueline, born May 29, 2006.

David H. Sanguinetti ’89 and his wife, Valerie, ason, Carson, born April 1, 2006

Patrick M. Palmer ’80 and his wife, Roma, a son,Evan, born April 13, 2006.

Malcolm A.H. Stewart ’83 and his wife Michele,a son, Duncan, born December 4, 2005

Cedric W.D. Ho ’86 and his wife Felice, a son,Benjamin, born in November 2004.

William P. Weaver ’88 and his wife, Trish, twindaughters, Charlotte and Abigail, born February28, 2005.

MARRIAGESAndrew L Hupfau ’98 to Genevieve Dione onApril 21, 2006.

Judy Low to Lenny Poon on August 12, 2006.Judy is a member of Business Office staff.

Brent R. Stevenson ‘97 to Katie Webster onJune 24, 2006. Katie is a member of the Office ofAdvancement staff.

Nathan C. B.Wu ’96 to Wendy Chan on March 3,2006.

Fall 2006 • 37

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Wendy Chan and Nathan C. B.Wu ’96

Petra Muir, Manager of Accounting Services, at the wedding of Judy Low and Lenny Poon.

Katie Webster and Brent Stevenson

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38 • The Dragon

PARENT UPDATESJane and David Armstrong, parents of Robert’76, James ’77 and Charles ’79 celebrated their50th wedding anniversary this June in Calgary.Congratulations!

STAFF UPDATEStephan M. Grasmuck June, 2006, formerDeputy Headmaster was appointedHeadmaster of Fraser Academy, a school whichspecializes in students with dyslexia and otherlearning disabilities.

Norma J. Parker who has served as the schoolnurse for 34 years, will be retiring this year. Shehas known thousands of boys over threedecades. A celebration of her service will beheld in February 2007.

If you would like to send a message to her, thatwill become part of a special presentation,please email: bmccracken@stgeorges.bc.ca orsend a note to:W.J. (Bill) McCrackenThe Norma Parker Years3851 West 29th AvenueVancouver, BC V6S 1T6

Nancy M. Oliver June, 2006—longstandingand popular Head of the Art department. Nanwas originally hired at St. George’s School inMarch 1979 as a ‘long-term substitute teacher’;thus beginning probably the longest ‘substitute’assignment in Vancouver’s education history! Aswell as heading the Art Department, Nan heldthe positions of Grade 8 counsellor, chief jog-ging coach (for more than 15 years), championof Artsweek, House Supper co-ordinator, curatorof countless Art exhibitions, and tireless solverof all manner of visual problems in the ArtRoom. Her infectious laugh and positive attitudewill be sorely missed.

John M. Creighton June, 2006—Master inCharge of Rowing. John Creighton's passion,

leadership, hard work, and organization helpedto provide an important and lifelong impact onthe many participants in the rowing program.J.C., as he is affectionately known to his friendsand colleagues, was always ready to volunteerhis time to assist any program that needed him.John’s dedication to the athletes of St. George’sSchool, including countless basketball players,has been inspiring to us all, and for this, we willmiss him greatly.

PASSINGSAdam E.J. Ferrie ’55 at Burnaby, BC onSeptember 6, 2006.

Robert A.D. Francis ’37 at London, UK ,April, 2006.

Malcolm G. King ’44 at Surrey, BC, on June 19,2006. Malcolm was father-in-law of CharlesPitts ’74 and grandfather of Alastair J. Pitts‘2014 and Gregory M. Pitts ‘2011.

Laurentino H. Marieiro at Surrey, BC, onNovember 15, 2005, following courageous bat-tle with cancer. Larry served the school for 29years in the Maintenance Department, the lasteight as head of the department.

Peter J. Bodel at Vancouver, BC on September 8,2006. Father of Graham ’89 and Douglas ’92,Peter was a former member of the Board ofDirectors.

Wiliam D. Sawchuck ’47 at Vancouver onFebruary 24, 2005.

Geoffrey C. Robinson ’38 at Vancouver., BC. onFebruary 8, 2006 Geoffrey was the son of Basil O.Robinson former Head of the Junior School,father of Michael P. Robinson ’69, father-in-lawto Peter R.B. Armstrong ’71 and grandfather ofTristan B.G. Armstrong ’03.

Kiran van Rijn ‘93 at Burnaby Lake, BC onSeptember 21, 2005.

Archie St. Louis ’44 at Vancouver, BC on June27, 2006. Archie became School Captain inJanuary 1944 when J. Dennis Butters ’44 left tojoin the Air Force.

Christopher A. Stead ’42 Rochedale, Queens-land, Australia, May , 2006.

Elizabeth E. Watson at Vancouver, BC, onSeptember 4, 2005. Mother of Craig ’93,Elizabeth was a former member of the Board ofDirectors.

J. Richard W. Wynne ’35 at West Vancouver, BC ,on January 6, 2006.

The dates are set and the teetimes are booked at the OldCourse at St. Andrews.Thereare still eight openings for a

two week golf tour of fiveScottish courses and three

Irish.We will travel by aprivate chauffured bus and

stay at inns and castles alongthe way. All the courses areBritish Open locations, suchas St. Andrews, Royal Troon,Ballybunnion, Lahinch, etc.

The tour begins June 24, 2007

and should cost about $5,000.

For further info:

Brad Johnston '75 (604) 739-7242

GEORGIANS’ GOLF TOUR2007

Scotland & Ireland

Many in our community will be sad to hearof the passing in June 2006 of MadeleineAustin. Mrs. Austin was a devoted motherand a wonderful friend of St. George'sSchool. She spent many years with herhusband, Clive, as a house-parent and kept

in touch with many Old Boys. Their son Patrick graduatedfrom St. George's School in 1993. Madeleine left the Schoolshortly after Clive became Headmaster of West Point GreyAcademy. Our thoughts and condolences are with thefamily.

MADELEINE AUSTIN

REMEMBRANCE DAY

ASIA MISSION

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY CONCERT75th ANNIVERSARY GALA

STATE OF THE ART EXHIBITION

Our beautifully renovated Performing Arts Centre, on the site of

the Woodward Auditorium, has 428 comfortable seats, and

one of them could have your name on it!

Here is your opportunity to support the School’s renowned Theatre

Program with a gift of only $1,000 per seat.

Honour someone special–perhaps your own son, another family

member, a favourite teacher, or even yourself –and purchase your seat

today.You will receive a tax receipt for your gift, and, more importantly,

you’ll be contributing to the Saints Player’s Endowment Fund which

will ensure our theatre program continues to thrive for many years to

come.

For more information about this unique opportunity, and to reserve

your seat today, please email theatreseats@stgeorges.bc.ca or call

(604) 875-5889 and we’ll be happy to accept your reservation.

PLEASE

S E E Y O U A T T H E S H O W !

TAKE YOUR SEAT

77000011338844

St. George’s SchoolVancouver, BC Canada

3851 West 29th Avenue Vancouver, BC Canada V6S 1T6