The first time was a long time ago when Walter was very much a part of the UBC Musical Society. There was to be a one-night stand at the University of Washington and he asked me to drive him there and back. I do not recall what the production was, but it went off well. We stayed at the Edmund Meany Hotel, although not for long. The next morning Walter was impatient to return and we lost no time in getting back. This hardly counts as a day off.
The second occasion, several years later, was a real vacation, if only for a day. Walter wanted to go for a drive somewhere and I agreed to do the driving. With no particular destination in mind we started early in the morning for Hope and then went on to Princeton. There Walter recalled that a former student of his had come from Hedley (now an abandoned mining town). So we drove there and looked around for a while. I am not sure of the exact route we followed after that, but I seem to remember that we went back to Princeton, up to Merritt and Spence’s Bridge, and back down the Fraser Canyon. We must have stopped for food but I cannot recall where. In any event, by the time we were back in Vancouver, we had travelled over 400 miles. I needed some time to recover the next day, but Walter was out at UBC at his usual early hour doing what he loved best.
Ralph James
Former head of the mathematics department
Recent Comments