Prince George, we just lost a friend, an audacious, educated, creative, hard driving, crusty friend.
Charles McCaffray died last week yet his legacy to Prince George "lives up on the hill." Charles was the original, single driving force behind the University of Northern British Columbia, our UNBC. I know this because Bryson Stone, ex-publisher of the Citizen, and I were there the day in 1986 when he first floated that bit of presumed silliness.
"A UNIVERSITY!" I chortled. "Give me a break Charles!"
Bryson did his best Edward R. Murrow imitation, teasing Charles about what the Citizen WOULDN'T print when such a grand idea plopped in disarray. That was then...this is now. The rest is history.
Murray Sadler, Elsie Gerdes, Roy Stewart and I, along with many others, got most of the press for founding UNBC. But Charles McCaffray sprouted the idea, rebuffed the nay-sayers, out-stick-handled the politicians from the Lower Mainland and reached for the gold ring - a "real" university for the North. And he summoned up a renowned Swedish scholar, Urban Dahllof, to prove him right. Again, the rest is history.
If you remember the $5 Petition Support Program, the six graduates in that first grad ceremony, those awful orange sweat shirts from CJCI or the regal Iona Campagnola entering the Agora with Queen Elizabeth, take a moment to relate those memories to some young person. They need to hear of the history of the building of a University of the North, a great Canadian university.
And they need to know and respect Charles McCaffray for his vision and leadership in launching UNBC.
So long, Charles. You done good.
Tom Steadman
Bracebridge, On
