Yardsticks of a 20-year legacy
by Ted Barris
One of my oldest and wisest neighbours phoned me late one August night in 2005. Conrad Boyce said he had a wacky thought.
“What if we pulled together people we know and started a real community newspaper?” When I told him I liked the idea, he went on. “We’ll focus on our news, our arts scene, our stories, our people.”
Publisher Boyce hadn’t worked out all the logistics, the business plan, or even the stable of writers. But he and I both knew the Cosmos was the right idea for our community for all the right reasons. And when the publishing mantle was picked up by Lisha Van Nieuwenhove, in 2013, she remained steadfast to that same focus – local news, arts, stories and people. Me? I felt honoured to continue the Barris Beat (which I’d been writing since 1983 on CBC radio, then in print in Uxbridge beginning in 1992). I spent part of the past weekend flipping through my clippings.
Early on in my Cosmos columns, I met Paul Connelly, an athletics coach at Uxbridge Secondary School. That fall he helped attract interest at USS for the then 25th annual Terry Fox Run. He said he’d never seen such enthusiasm among his students. “This place’s got incredible spirit,” he told me. “I’ve been teaching here seven years. But I’ve decided I’m here for good. I’ll complete my career right here.”
Ted Barris at Vimy Ridge. Cosmos file photo
And while I’m thinking of teachers in these columns, about that time I encountered Tish Macdonald. She recognized that same spirit in youth and in the elderly by bringing them together. She encouraged her students with a genuine interest in history to join her Thursday afternoons meeting veterans at the Legion. She remembered just prior to leading a student tour to the Netherlands for the 65th anniversary of Dutch liberation, that the Legion members did something extraordinary.
“Suddenly the vets invited me to their table,” she said in 2010. “They asked me to sit down. I went, but I didn’t say anything, just listened. And they talked about Dieppe, D-Day and the Dutch liberation. I was hooked.”
Another column paid tribute to Bryan Petry, a friend I considered a model citizen. We met Sunday nights in the Adult Men’s Hockey League. I admired his attitude; when nobody seemed interested in taking responsibility to be a team rep, he took it on. “Somebody’s got to do it, and I’m just as competent or incompetent as the next guy,” he said. One year, he loaned me a Canadian Ensign flag to take overseas to photograph at the Vimy memorial, which I did. I brought him back the flag and the picture. “Like a gem against that Vimy marble,” he gushed. “Nothing ever looked better.”
Speaking of proud Canadians, in another column I wrote about the day a Canadian Forces Gryphon helicopter dropped into the airstrip near Greenbank. In charge of inviting and preparing for the visit was local aviator Micky Jovkovic. “Anyone even moderately knowledgeable of Uxbridge, its welcoming attitude, its thirst for commerce, its unique volunteer spirit, its enthusiasm for embracing the future, knows Micky Jovkovic,” I wrote then. When I asked pilot Jovkovic how he felt about the Gryphon crew paying his airfield a visit, he noted quickly, “It’ll be Greenbank International before long.” It took a while for me to really understand what Micky was alluding to.
In another column, sometime later, I recounted my last-minute search for just the right gifts and card for a friend. At the time, I happened to be commuting daily to and from Toronto and my gift search in the Big Smoke had come up dry. Reaching the outskirts of Uxbridge, I realized merchants on Brock Street were open late. I bought a book at Blue Heron, flowers at Keith’s and a perfect card at Presents Presents Presents. When I commented on the convenience to the original proprietor, Willa Worsley, she smiled (Willa always smiles) and said appropriately, “There’s no place like home.”
I’ve thought about the longevity of the Cosmos this week. Many words. Many photos. Great memories. And not surprisingly, the most important yardstick I considered was this. During the 20 years the Cosmos has told this town’s story, our family has welcomed six grandchildren into the world – the eldest, at 17, left Sunday to enrol in her first university classes, the youngest, at seven, is still impressed when he picks up the newspaper and tells me, “I saw your picture in the Cosmos.”
Ted Barris is an accomplished author, journalist and broadcaster. For more Barris Beat columns, go to www.tedbarris.com