Departed Allisonians Winter 2019
Please feel welcome to submit memories of departed Allisonians you have known and loved.
Ronald E. Campbell — 1941
Alex A. Morrison — 1941
Ralph J. Trafford — 1941
Lottie E. (Phinney) Gallant — 1942
M. Katherine (Flemming) Purdy — 1944
Donald C. Estabrooks — 1945
H. Otis “Odie” Phinney — 1945
Ramona Y. (Phinney) Cook — 1946
Beverly J. (Trueman) Hicks — 1946
Walter “Walt” “Windy” LePage — 1947
Prof. W. Roy Newcombe — 1948
Margaret E. “Betty” Cross-Fisher — 1949
Patricia E. (Wright) di Cenzo — 1949
Dr. Clarence “Tessi” R. Terceira — 1949
Phyllis J. (King) Gunn — 1949
Rev. James H. Hicks — 1950
James R. Price — 1950
Donald H. Tait — 1950
Joan A. (Fraser) Tregunno — 1950
Major W. Donald Creighton — 1951
The Rev. Canon M. Elaine (Bulmer) Lucas — 1951
Marion G. (Anderson) Skillen — 1951
Aileen N. (Clare) Woolridge — 1953
Gordon H. Good — 1954
Rev. Warren H. Bruleigh — 1955
Eleanor A. (MacLeod) Hicks — 1955
Rev. John (Jack) W. Touchie — 1956
Bertha G. Higgins — 1957
J. David Burgess — 1959
William E. Carlisle — 1959
D. Richard Neal — 1961
Ronald R. Murdock — 1962
Dr. George E. Hare — 1963
John C. Robison — 1964
A. David Thom — 1965
Peter M. Archibald — 1967
Karl S. Hicks — 1967
Dr. Peter J. Porter — 1967
Joan E. (Baldwin) Nichols — 1970
Jennifer R. Gordon — 1974
Paul V. Dunn — 1975
Dr. Scott Giffin — 1976
Lana B. MacLean — 1979
Ann V. (Cook) Clarkson — 1982
John D. Mascherin — 1983
Donald J. Edwards — 1986
Mary L. (DeWitt) Boudreau — 1993
Brian R. Campbell — 2005
David Higham — Former faculty
Michael Thorpe — Former faculty
Eric Ross — Former faculty
Thomas E. Fillmore — Former staff
Jean M. (Leger) Hicks — Former staff
Elizabeth “Eliza” I.M. (Richard) LeBlanc — Former staff
Darlene J. (Harper) Phinney — Former staff
Dorothy J. (Horsey) Anderson — Friend
Gordon L. Faulkner — Friend
Helen E. (Frame) Fraser — Friend
Mary Jane O’Neill Losier — Friend
Joan S. (Rockwell) Stuart — Friend
Austin Irwin Blondon, P.Eng (’67)
Submitted by his wife Brenda
Austin Irwin Blondon passed away peacefully Dec. 1, 2017 at his home in Fall River, NS at the age of 71. Austin was a loving father to daughter Kelly (Jean Genier) and son Chris (Jodi Sutherland), and a much-loved grandpa to Owen, Luke, and James Genier and Isabella, Sophie, and Lily Blondon.
Austin graduated from the Truro Academy in 1964 with scholarships to continue his education in Engineering at Mount Allison. He graduated from MtA in 1967 and TUNS in 1969 with his Industrial Engineering degree. After receiving a Robert F. McAlpine Scholarship to study for his master’s, he continued with his studies before beginning his career with Bell in Ottawa in 1970 and eventually with Maritime Tel and Tel in 1974. His career with MT&T/Aliant included various management positions throughout Nova Scotia, eventually settling in Fall River/Halifax for the past 34 years.
Austin was an avid bowler, curler, and golfer for many years. He was a member of the Brightwood Golf Club in Dartmouth, NS and also golfed at the Stoneybrook Community Golf Club in Estero, FL in the winter months after his retirement. He was a Rotarian and was named a Paul Harris Fellow for his contributions to Rotary International.
Retiring in 2000, Austin travelled extensively throughout the world with his wife, Brenda, and a group of special friends and enjoyed spending winter months in Estero, FL.
He was a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, son, and brother who enjoyed spending time with his family above all else. He had exceptionally close relationships with his six grandchildren. His family will miss his patient nature, wise guidance, and humour and will always cherish our many beautiful memories of him.
Austin will remain in our hearts always, forever loved and missed.
Jennifer Ruth Gordon (’74)
Submitted by her husband Paul Smith
Jennifer was born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and grew up on the oil fields where her father worked. The geography of this wild area, with its forests, swamps, and pitch lakes, would later influence much of her art. Jennifer came to King’s Hall Compton in Quebec for her last year of high school and decided to pursue Fine Arts at Mount Allison, graduating in painting and printmaking in 1974.
Jennifer received her master’s in multimedia and photography from Concordia University in 1979. This is where I met Jennifer and we enjoyed being part of the vibrant Montreal art scene, supporting one another critically in our artmaking and often exhibiting together. From 1990 to 2002, Jennifer was part of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Our daughter Isobel was born there in 1991. Jennifer published an artist book Choosing the Dots — Avoiding the Holes in 1997, and following a large solo exhibition, “the sky is failing”, was represented by Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto, where she showed for many years. Many of her artworks are found in public collections across the country.
Jennifer was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January 2017. With her characteristic strength and positivity, she remained optimistic throughout her treatment and was grateful to all who helped her. Jennifer passed away peacefully at home with Isobel and I at her side. Her wonderful, loving self, as well as her West-Indian wit, which filled our lives with so much laughter, will be terribly missed.
John Mascherin (’83)
Submitted by his goddaughter Katherine Gross
On Friday, Oct. 19, John (Mash, Big John, Precious) Mascherin (’83) passed away from his battle with cancer. Mash was a member of both the football (centre) and wrestling teams. We thank alumni for sharing their memories of John. He loved his time at Mount A and would always reflect on it fondly. He was still the same gentle giant until the day he died. Love and good wishes during this difficult time.
Don Edwards (’86)
Submitted by Jeff Paikin (’84)
For those of us who attended MtA in the early 1980’s, it was difficult not to know who Don was and what a great spirit he brought to the campus. He had his own special way about him and he loved the life of a student and especially loved what MtA had to offer.
I met Don because my parents drove him with me to the airport as we embarked on training camp for the football team in August 1980. We roomed together in training camp, and his quick wit and fun approach to every day made that time memorable. His talent was not quite up to the level required for university football, but his presence on campus made knowing him one of the great things MtA gave to me in my life.
On Halloween morning, Don and his 18-year-old son Spencer were in a tragic car accident and they passed together just outside their hometown of Caledonia, ON. We had connected within the two weeks previous to share a memory or two when we had independently heard of the passing of our friend and teammate “Big John” Mascherin.
Those “life’s too short” comments as we exchanged goodbyes and promised to see each other soon were ringing in my ears when I was told of Don and Spencer’s fate.
Don was beloved in Caledonia, making a major contribution to the community in so many ways that the whole town all but shut down for their combined funeral. Don had contributed so much to the world of sports, and in so many different ways in Hamilton and surrounding area, that there was actually a tribute on the video board for father and son during the next Hamilton Tiger-Cats home game.
Don still has a niece living and working in Sackville, a town he brought so much to and took so much from.
Karl Hicks (’66, ’67)
Submitted by his friend John Carruthers (’68)
Common wisdom says that the friends you make in university are friends for life. That was certainly true of Karl and me. We met at MtA in 1964. Karl ran the University Bridge Club which, as a keen new player, I was anxious to join. Other club denizens were Ralph Fisher, Bill Wheeler, Steve Peacock, Gord Price, Norm Wright, Rick Hancox, Craig Brown, and Gord Reid. I played my first bridge tournament with Karl in Truro in 1966 when the school year finished.
After MtA, our paths (even in bridge) diverged, but we remained great friends for the intervening 50-odd years. While I concentrated on playing bridge, Karl became a respected tournament director, administrator, and editor, stepping up the pace of his bridge career when he retired as a high school principal in Cape Breton. We got to play together about once a decade in such diverse places as Sydney, Toronto, Gatlinburg, and Bermuda.
One memory sticks in my mind from our MtA days. Karl rushed into Bigelow House with the Guinness Book of World Records in hand. “Look at this," he exclaimed excitedly. “The world record for continuous bridge play by a single table of four players without substitutes is 53 hours. We can beat that easily.” It was not long before we’d conscripted Ralph Fisher and Bill Wheeler as partners and we set the following Friday at 9 a.m. as our start time. We notified the student newspaper and received a nice write-up and a “Go Team,” rah-rah encouragement.
On the appointed weekend, by midnight Saturday (39 hours in), Bill, who’d informed us that he’d been up studying Thursday night for a test and had not slept well, was in trouble. Under the Guinness rules, each player was allowed a five-minute break each hour. We sensibly took our breaks separately, when we were dummy. During Bill’s breaks he alternated between taking a cold shower and having a power-nap, with us having to wake him up from his nap each time he dropped off. After four or five more hours we noticed that, when he was dummy, he fell asleep immediately and was twitching uncontrollably. We were concerned that he was going to have a heart attack or a stroke. We debated the issue amongst ourselves for a few more hours, then called it off at 8 a.m. Sunday morning, six hours short of the record. We were extremely disappointed, no one more than Bill.
About a month later, I saw another copy of the Guinness Book of World Records which stated that the world record for bridge playing was 102 hours! When we checked Karl’s copy we found that it was five years old. We went from cursing Bill to thanking him for helping us avoid the embarrassment of claiming a world record and coming up a couple of days short. It also allowed us to turn the tables on Karl for once, practical joker extraordinaire and devastating wit that he was. It took a long time for him to live that down.
In one of those extraordinary coincidences that crop up in life, I was invited to attend a tournament in Reykjavik in 2001. The first person I met checking into the hotel was Ralph Fisher, who I’d not seen for 30 years. Karl’s path and mine crossed much more frequently at tournaments all over North America.
Karl and I last saw each other earlier this year in Australia when I was there to play bridge and Karl was visiting his daughter — he dropped in to the bridge tournament to say hello. We e-mailed each other less than a month ago. He gave no indication that his cancer had returned, maintaining his ever-cheerful and positive outlook.
We’ll miss ya, by.
William (Bill) Stewart Hamilton, PGeo (’73)
Submitted by David Constable (’70)
Bill was born in 1952 in Huntingdon, QC. He graduated with a BSc in geology from Mount Allison in 1973 and became a Toronto-based gold geologist with extensive experience in Canada and Mexico. His brother, Arthur, was also a geology graduate from Mount A. He married Lorna MacGillivray (’73), who became a corporate and mining lawyer in the Toronto. Since the mid-'70’s Bill practised exploration geology for several mining companies in Canada and Mexico, including Corona Corporation and Campbell Resources Inc. In his earlier years he was employed by the Geological Survey of Canada and the New Brunswick Mines Department.
In recent years, Bill took great joy in herding several members of the Class of 1973, particularly the geology graduates (Roland Wright, Fraser Patterson, Ken Adams, along with Harris Boyd and Bill Bigelow), to summer get-togethers, including several excursions to cheer on Mounties football.
Since 2001, Bill worked as a private consultant and board director, providing exploration services to numerous public resource companies, principally in Mexico. Bill particularly enjoyed his time spent in Mexico and the Mexican colleagues with whom he worked over the past 20-some years. He loved the mining and exploration business and enjoyed entertaining his colleagues and friends with comical stories of his bush experiences.
Gordon (Gord) Henry Good, PEng (’54)
Submitted by his daughter Carol Good
On Oct. 30, 2018, Gord died in Toronto in his 88th year. He was predeceased by his first wife, Kay Hutcheson (’55), whom he met while studying pre-engineering at Mount Allison in 1951-53. After graduation, Gord and Kay moved to Ontario where he enjoyed a long career. He is survived by his beloved second wife, Sonja Evans. Gord was the loving father of Carol (Doug), Heather (Cal), and Andrew (’ 87) [Gwenn Rayner (’ 86)]. He was the proud granddad to nine grandkids. For fun, Gord enjoyed sailing with family and friends out of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.
Dr. Peter J. Porter (‘67)
Submitted by his children Andrea (‘00) and Alex Porter (‘00)
Dr. Peter J. Porter passed away in Charlottetown, PE on Sept. 29, 2018.
Dad came to MtA from Winnipeg in the fall of 1963 to study science and play varsity hockey. He ended up completing a degree in chemistry and playing running back (#35) for the Football Mounties. A resident of Bennett House, he also served as manager of the men’s basketball team and as a campus policeman.
He went on to study dentistry at Dalhousie and to earn a Master’s in Orthodontics from the University of Manitoba. Once married, he and Mom (Dianne) eventually settled in Charlottetown in the fall of 1978 after Dad opened PEI’s first orthodontics practice. He leaves a legacy of beautiful smiles across the Island, and beyond.
A life-long Mountie, Dad’s stories of his time at Mount Allison and our frequent childhood trips to watch the Mounties on the gridiron gave us both a love for the campus and eventually he made two more Allisonians out of us. (Our sister, Emily, has remained a Mountie fan, despite also flying the Western Mustang banner).
Members of the MtA alumni family who attended the funeral service included his brother and sister-in-law, Chris (‘73) and Alice (Trueman) Porter (‘73), his nieces, Abigail (Porter) Ertel (‘01), Lucy Porter (‘13), and Elizabeth (Porter) Gabelmann (‘93) — who was unable to attend, but was with her Uncle Peter in her heart. Also attending were friends Lowell (‘67) and Barbara (Bunny Cohen) (‘69) Shore, Martha (Trueman) (‘67) and Lynwood Jay (‘65), Debi (‘73) and Bruce McMillan (‘73), Brian (‘74) and Jane McMillan (‘74), Hon. Catherine Callbeck (‘60, LLD ‘96), Michael Oulton (‘73), Mark Bohan (‘78), Bayne McMillan (‘70), and Pat Miller (‘74).
Lana Belle Maclean (’79, ’80)
Submitted by Jocelyn Ryan Wiggin
It is with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that on Sept. 6, 2018 Lana Maclean (’79, ’80) passed after a nine-month illness due to lymphoma. Lana was a proud Allisonian and was always the life of our reunions, which she attended with her MtA buddies.
Lana was a lifelong learner and after Mount Allison she obtained her Master’s in Library Science from Dalhousie University and was the librarian for the NSCC in Port Hawkesbury for the majority of her career. More recently she graduated from the Atlantic School of Theology with her Master's of Divinity and was a student minister in Northern Arm, NL until shortly before her passing. Lana loved the church and was devoted to giving her congregations the joy and comfort she found within her faith.
Lana greeted everyone with a smile and is dearly missed by those who are left behind!
Dr. The Hon. Clarence R. “Tessi” Terceira (’49)
Submitted by his grandson Matthew Ranson (’14)
Dr. The Hon. Clarence R. Terceira, “Tessi”, was my grandfather, mentor, and biggest supporter. My attending Mount Allison, his alma mater, was a great source of pride for him and I was fortunate enough to have my graduation in 2014 coincide with his 65th Reunion.
Above all, my grandfather valued both education and experiences, and I believe his time at Mount Allison helped to shape him into the incredible man that he became. The truth is, without the University, the young man from Bermuda would not have met the pharmacist’s daughter in Sackville, my grandmother.
While I find it difficult to find words strong enough to describe what my grandfather meant to me, the word “superlative” comes close. Defined as: of the highest kind, quality, or order, surpassing all else, or others; supreme. As that young man from Bermuda — venturing off to Canada in pursuit of his aspirations — as a friend, father, grandfather, dentist, Member of Parliament, Tessi was of the highest kind, quality, or order. Surpassing all else, or others. Supreme.