My first contact with Walter Gage was as a student in Math 100. He seemed to know the name of every student and something about each of us. The class was right after the two-hour Thursday lunch break so it was a scramble for me show up on time after the noon rugby practise. Every time I tried to sneak in unseen he would stop in mid-sentence and say, “Well well, here is the late Mr. Greenwood”
Years later when I accepted an invitation to leave Princton University and join the UBC faculty I was walking along the main Mall and saw Dr. Gage striding along on the other side of the Mall. To my utter amazement he turned on his heel, crossed the grass and said to me, “Welcome home to UBC, Hugh”. What a remarkable man, and what a phenomenal memory, and what a wonderful capacity to relate to his family of UBC scholars at every level. I have never met someone like him, before or since. He epitomized to me all that was wonderful about university, scholarship, and UBC.
Hugh Greenwood
BASc, MASc, PhD
Recent Comments