William George Hamilton

“GOD HAS GIVEN ME GREEN MEADOWS TO LAUGH IN,

CLEAR STREAMS TO THINK BESIDE, UNTRODDEN PATHS

TO EXPLORE.”PSALM 23

 

Professor of Human Geography, Okanagan College/Okanagan University College, 1971-1999

Bill was predeceased by his parents George Elgin (1963) and Elsie Hamilton (1999).  He will be deeply missed by his wife Judith, stepsons Brian (Danielle) and Keith, grandsons Kyle and Benjamin, cousins in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, former students, geography colleagues, and many friends in the Okanagan Valley and on Vancouver Island.

Bill was a native son of Victoria, BC, graduating from Victoria High School in 1959.  His first university degree was granted by Victoria College (UBC), a BA in Geography and History.  Bill worked as a draftsman at Yarrows Shipbuilding in Victoria until resuming his university education.  Prior to CAD, a steady hand was required as drawings were on linen using pen and ink.  He considered this to have been one of his favorite jobs.  After a program in Secondary Education at UVic, Bill taught Social Studies and English at Cowichan Senior High School (Duncan) and Geography and History at Belmont Senior High School (Langford).  He earned an M.A. in Geographic Education at the University of Oregon, obtaining a teaching position in Geography at Okanagan College in 1971. He received his PhD in Urban Cultural Geography from the University of Oregon.  Bill also earned an M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of Waterloo.

Bill was always a geographer, especially as a traveler, taking pleasure in illustrating concepts and ideas from a large collection of slides.  Bill was at his best in the classroom, encouraging his students to discover order in landscapes with passion and energy.  His courses stressed the value of field work in exploring the spatial characteristics of humanized landscapes and the role of culture in their differentiation.  Sense of Place, environmental aesthetics, and land ethics informed his classes.   His students applied their geographic education to careers in public school teaching, university teaching, urban and regional planning, environmental law, heritage conservation, and real estate.

Some of his favorite places included Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Mt. Douglas Park, the Eugene, Oregon campus of the University of Oregon, California’s Napa Valley, Little Big Horn, Rogers Pass, the dreaming spires and colleges of Oxford, a commune in Szechuan, Hadrian’s Wall, the Ring of Kerry, terraced rice paddies in Bali, the Spanish colonial architecture of Morelia, Mexico and Havana, Cuba, shipyards on the Clyde and Tyne,  a Russian Café in Helsinki, the shores of Lake Baikal, the Barbican Redevelopment Area in London, Cotswold villages, Georgian Bath, the hollyhocked streets of Funen and Aero, Denmark; heritage landscapes in Scandinavia, Britain and Victoria, and the awe-inspiring natural environments of the American Southwest.  Bill wrote on urban design, urban history, Victoria’s Inner Harbour, deindustrialized waterfronts, scenic resources and environmental aesthetics, sense of place, heritage architectural styles, experiences of place in the spy novels of John le Carre, and Santa Fe style architecture.

Bill enjoyed a lively community life, as a geographer, and in the performing arts.  His education and experience in urban geography, urban design and planning found expression in service on Planning, Urban Design, and Heritage Advisory Committees of the City of Vernon, and in the educational programs and activities of the Vernon and District Heritage Society.  He was a regular speaker at Society meetings e.g., “Explorations in Heritage Landscapes of Western North America: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”, Bill was an active member of the Powerhouse Theatre in Vernon, acting/singing in “On Golden Pond,” “The Fantastics,” and “HMS Pinafore”.  Gifted with a strong baritone/bass voice, he was a member of the Aura Chamber Choir (Vernon) and church choirs.  In retirement in the Comox Valley, Bill sang with the Celebration Singers, and Just In Time Jazz choir. In 2010, Bill sang in a Canadian choir visiting Cuba.

Bill will be remembered by friends and family for his capacity for hospitality and good humour, highly developed buffet skills, curator of a prodigious slide collection, valued friendships made at the (Yates Street) Alliance and Glad Tidings churches in Victoria and First Baptist in Vernon, loved Christmas and its wonderful music and menus, companion of cats, slept well through winter storms, enjoyed skiing at Silver Star Mountain, had a lifelong passion for steam trains, model railroading, photography and drawing. His favorite spectator sport was baseball, not just for the ballpark franks.  He enjoyed Italian, Mexican, Szechuan, and Eastern European cooking (mother’s recipes), family celebrations, and couldn’t resist modifying musical lyrics to express his feelings about politics, religion, and consumerist culture.

Bill’s favorite things included Judith’s culinary wizardry – English pubs – home cooked Italian food – halibut fish and chips (special thanks to Dick’s in Campbell River) – gospel music, jazz and blues – choral music – singing in church and chamber choirs – University of Oregon Geography Department and remarkable faculty – good red wine – urban geography – places with a sense of place - Oldsmobiles – buffets in Singapore and Hong Kong – Yogi Berra – Stephen Colbert – Johnny Carson – Alec Guinness – John le Carre’s spy novels – heritage architecture and urban history – Andres Duany and visions for a better urban future – diligent, engaging students – Kodachrome - blackberry pie - Christmas – birdsong

Things viewed with disfavor: careerists – Saturday morning missionaries – overuse of the word like – self-entitled students – the evangelical right – Trumpophiles -– fast food – automobile dependency – big box stores – big box churches - overuse and misuse of social media – venal politicians – Horatio Alger stories – Ponzi schemes - slovenly dress – hockey riots.

Bill’s Meaningful Songs and Readings

Deep Peace

Of the running wave to you

Deep Peace

Of the flowing air to you

Deep Peace

Of the quiet earth to you

Deep Peace

Of the shining stars to you

Deep Peace

Of the gentle night to you

Moon and stars

Pour their healing light on you

Deep Peace to you 

(a Gaelic Blessing)

 

Life is like a Mountain Railroad

“Life is like a mountain railroad, with an engineer that’s brave;

We must make the run successful, from the cradle to the grave;

Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels; never falter, never quail;

Keep your hand upon the throttle, and your eye upon the rail.”

Chorus

“Blessed Savior, you will guide us, Till we reach that blissful shore;

Where the angels wait to join us in your praise for evermore.”

 “You will often find obstructions; look for storms of wind and rain;

On a fill, or curve, or trestle, they will almost ditch your train;

Put your trust alone in Jesus; never falter, never fail;

Keep your hand upon the throttle, and your eye upon the rail.”

(Music and full lyrics in Haven of Rest Favorites, #73)

 

“My Best To You” as sung by Joni Mitchell

My best to you

May your dreams come true

May old father time

Never be unkind

And through the years

Save your smiles and your tears

They’re just souvenirs

They’ll make music in your heart

Remember this:              

Each new day’s a kiss

Sent from up above

With an angel’s love

So here’s to you

May your skies be blue

And your love blessed

That’s my best to you

READINGS:

 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can

fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”

(Apostle Paul, I Corinthians 13)

A POEM OF THE SEA

I stood one day by the breezy bay,

a’watching the ships go by,

When a tired tar said with a shake of his head,

“I wished I could tell a lie;

I’ve seen some sights as would jigger your lights

And they’ve jiggered me down in sooth,

But I ain’t worth a darn at spinnin’ a yarn

What wanders away from the troof;

We were out in the gig the rig-a-jig-jig,

Just a mile and a half to sea.

When Captain Snook with a troubled look,

He came and he says to me:

“O Bosun Smith, make haste forthwith

and hemstitch the f’ward sail

accordion pleat the dory sheet

for there’s goin’ to be a gale!”

While I straight away did as the Captain bid,

No sooner the job was through,

When the north wind, whoof, bounced over the roof,

And murderin’ like she blew:

She blew the tars right off the spars,

And the spare right off the mast,

Sails and pails and anchors and nails flew by

                                       

In the winds a’ the blast;

The galley shook as she blew our cook

Straight out of the porthole glim,

While pots and pans, kettles and cans

Went clatterin’ after him;

She blew the fire from our gallant stove

And the coal from our gallant bin;

She whistled apace past the Captain’s face,

And blew the beard off his chin;

“A whizzle me dead.” The Captain said

and the words, phwoo, blew out of his mouth

 “we’re lost!” 

I fear if the wind don’t vear

And blow a while from the south,

En whizzle me dead!”

No sooner he’d said them words that blew from his mouth,

Than the wind switched ‘round with a hurricane sound

And blew straight in from the south;

We opened our eyes with a wild surprise,

And never a word to say;

In changin’ her tack the wind blew back

The things that she’d blew away;

She blew the tars back onto the spars,

And the spars back onto the mast;

Back flew the pails, the sails, and the nails,

Which into the ship stuck fast;

And before we could look she blew back the cook

Straight into the galley coup,

Back dropped the pans, the kettles and cans,

Without even spillin’ the soup;

She blew the fire back into the stove,

Where it burnt in its proper place,

And all of us cheered as she blew the beard

Back onto the Captain’s face

                                                           

There’s more a’ me tale, said the sailor hale,

As would jigger your lights in sooth;

But I ain’t worth a darn at spinin’ a yarn,

What wanders away from the troof!”

(as read by Alan McPhee, “Eclectic Circus,” CBC Radio, 18 April 1987)