It was the fall of 1931 and two years deep into the Great Depression. The Groper was a nice enough kid of 20, matriculated two years earlier from Victoria high school. Lots of ambition, but no family. No drag and no job other than casual work swamping on a coal-delivery truck. No money, save $190.00 frugally saved over two years.
On impulse, the Groper visited Craigdarroch Castle, then makeshifting as Victoria College, and enrolled as a student to give it a try for the one term he could afford. Teaching there was a young math prof not much older than the Groper – a teaching genius with a deep human interest, and an inspired motivator.
The Groper fell under his spell and despite many intervening obstacles travelled the full educational route and was richly rewarded. The math prof, of course, was Walter Gage, and I was the Groper.
Franc Joubin
BA 1936, MA 1943, DSc 1958
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