OBER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-30 published
W.K. THOMAS
By Alister
THOMAS
Wednesday,
April 30, 2003 - Page A22
Father, husband, teacher. Born December 9, 1927, in Brockville,
Ontario. Died January 31, in Cambridge, Ontario, of cancer, aged
Dressed in a black, knee-length rayon gown, and with his sonorous
voice and entertaining use of character voices, Walter Keith
THOMAS was a commanding presence in the University of Waterloo
classroom. "He was never afraid of being theatrical to drive
home a point, "explained a former student.
Back in 1960, Keith, who wore the gown to reinforce the role
of the university as a centuries-old tradition, was a founder
of Waterloo's English department and served as its first full-time
dean of arts. But his interests included much more than literature.
From art, music, history and languages (he had a reading knowledge
of French, German, Latin, ancient Greek, and a smattering of
Gaelic) to astronomy, gardening, religious studies, rhetoric
and Classical civilization: they all contributed to a greater
understanding of each other.
"Teaching is, "he once wrote, "creating, in a student, the ability
to see clearly and to evaluate wisely."
In addition to numerous scholarly articles, Keith, bespectacled
and slight, authored eight books. His two bestsellers, Form and
Substance, and Correct Form in Essay Writing, were the standards
for student term papers. In the book, A Mind For Ever Voyaging,
co-authored with friend and colleague Warren
OBER, they tweaked
a few noses by suggesting that William Wordsworth, the great
Romantic poet, was not entirely original. Keith retired in 1991,
and a year later was named distinguished professor emeritus.
His writing, especially his poetry, was visceral and replete
with sexual imagery. Paradoxically, Keith, whose sideburns went
up and down -- from non-existent to muttonchops -- in the opposite
direction to the trends of the day, was a moral conservative.
"Profoundly saddened, "was his reaction to a son and his girlfriend
when they decided to live together instead of getting married.
A religious non-believer until his mid-40s, he found his faith
first in the United Church and then as a Presbyterian. He called
himself a "primitive Christian."
He was a self-confessed technological Luddite, and did not use
cellphones, e-mail or automated teller machines, preferring more
personal contact. When withdrawing money, Keith, a Canadian-history
enthusiast, would often ask the teller for one King, a Macdonald
and a Laurier ($50, $10 and $5).
Keith completed his three degrees (B.A., M.A. and
Ph.D.) at the
University of Toronto. His first full-time teaching job was as
at Acadia University, from 1956 to 1960. While living in Wolfville,
Nova Scotia, he entered a contest to describe his favourite Walt
Disney character in 25 words or fewer. He profiled Jiminy Cricket
and won $2,500 -- more than half his yearly salary. His first
car, a 1957 Austin Cambridge, was called Jiminy. All 12 cars
he owned over his lifetime had interesting literary names, as
did the family dog, Dylan.
Always disciplined, he pursued his lifelong hobby of gardening
with vigour. Even though he had no natural talent for music,
he learned to sing church solos -- joyously. On May 31, 2002,
he and his wife, Bettie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
As next-door neighbours in Toronto, they had been teenage sweethearts.
Predeceased in 1978 by a son, Malcolm, Keith is survived by his
wife and two sons, Alister and Kevin. Keith wrote his own obituary
as well as his memorial service, including new words to old hymns.
For his pioneering efforts and three decades of professorial
excellence, Keith was honoured on January 24, when Humanities
room 232 at University of Waterloo was renamed the W. K.
THOMAS
English Department Faculty Lounge and Reading Room. The inscription
on the plaque reads: A Mind For Ever Voyaging.
Alister is one of Keith's sons.
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