(Brian hamming it with the Art Club which I hung out with one fall Sunday at the legislature and Union Station; friends Hugh and Dave on the ends of the upper row)
A cold call today out of the blue from my 83-year-old grade 11 SHCI English teacher. (I am also still connected to my first favorite (grade 5) teacher at Bannatyne who also retired in Winnipeg.)
What a slice! Brian remains intact though he said his declining short term memory cost him his car this year. He is also on a waiting list to go into a St. Boniface cathedral residence. As usual, we talked of drama, literature, books, classical music, though we didn’t get to film this time around.
If the grade 5 teacher affected my choice to teach, Brian influenced me to choose English, what with his memorable teaching of Robert Frost and Macbeth. He remains a funny, witty, ironic, sensitive guy who, back then, struck me as the guy with an ideal job and the artsy persona I aspired to even then.
It was truly a slice to meet him and (recently deceased) George, my witty gr. 12 teacher in Winnipeg in the 1980s after I published my first textbooks. Brian appreciated the influence I credited him with and last phoned about 8 years ago. He was delighted I was still alive though he thought I and my wife were still in our 50s! Anyway, it was a very civilized fun conversation of olde and I will ring him back in 2020 to keep in touch.
(a Marlon Brando memento of my artsy high school years in makeup for gr. 12 play)