OWL o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-11 published
Kenneth Wilfred
CONIBEAR
By Marilyn
CONIBEAR
Tuesday,
March 11, 2003 - Page A16
Canadian pioneer, scholar, writer, teacher, builder. Born August
29, 1907, in Orville, Ontario Died October 4, 2002, in Vancouver,
of natural causes, aged 95.
During Ken's "retirement" years, he built, stone by stone, the
"Great Wall" of Vancouver on the waterfront behind his home near
Jericho Beach. This wall, an unofficial Vancouver landmark, intrigued
visitors from around the world who brought or sent stones to
be embedded in individual concrete plaques within the wall. From
that wall, he invited thousands of visitors to come into his
home to share stories and rest a while.
Ken was a man distinguished by intellectual discipline, a love
of the language, a respect for all people and the outdoors, as
well as personal qualities of patience, kindness, and gentle
humour.
His formative years were spent near Fort Resolution on the shores
of Great Slave Lake and
at Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.
He later intrigued his family with tales from as early as 1912,
when he remembered vividly taking the train with his mother and
four older siblings from Parry Sound, Ontario, to Edmonton, and
then taking the last stagecoach from Edmonton to Athabasca Landing.
From there they travelled by freight barge along the river and
lake systems until they reached their new home, a log cabin at
Nagel Snye on Great Slave Lake.
After spending a few years in Fort Resolution, they moved to
Fort Smith where his father continued his work as a marine engineer
for the Catholic mission on Great Slave Lake and his mother became
a respected and successful storekeeper and fur trader.
Ken had little formal education until he went to Edmonton for
Grades 11 and 12. He then entered the University of Alberta,
and in 1931 won the Alberta Rhodes Scholarship. After completing
his English studies at Oxford, he became a writer of Canadian
fiction, and had his first of five novels published in 1936 (Northland
Footprints)and the last in 2000.
In 1937, Ken was hired by his publisher, Lovat
DICKSON/DIXON, to manage
Grey OWL's last lecture tour in England. Following the tour,
Grey OWL was the best man at Ken's wedding. On the way to the
wedding, Lovat
DICKSON/DIXON drove the car while Grey
OWL and Ken sat
in the back seat. Grey
OWL threw his arm around Ken's shoulder
and said, "Just treat the little lady right, Ken, just treat
the little lady right!"
At that point Ken had no idea that Grey
OWL was not only not
an Indian, but that Grey
OWL had five wives and therefore was
not exactly qualified to give Ken advice on how to treat his
new wife.
Ken returned to the north he loved so much to continue writing
about the north and its people and animals, and try to establish
a freight business on Great Slave Lake.
He spent several years in the Canadian Navy during the Second
World War, had a brief career as executive secretary of the British
Columbia Hospitals Association. He was then hired, in 1965, by
the newly created Simon Fraser University, at an age, he said,
when most people want to retire but when he got the job that
he dearly loved.
When he retired from Simon Fraser University (twice) at the ages
of 65 and 70, he persuaded the university not to give him a silver
tray as a retirement gift, but instead a hand-powered cement
mixer. Ken continued his relationship with Simon Fraser University
by helping to establish the Simon Fraser University seniors'
program and the seniors' Opsimath club until he reached the age
of 90 years.
Ken was predeceased by his wife of 50 years, Barbara (née
LINKE,)
and his son, Peter. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn
(ERNEST,)
his son John, grandchildren Donald, Tina and Kathy, and six great-grandchildren.
Marilyn CONIBEAR is Kenneth's wife.
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