Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

Nick Marsden: Recollections of the Best Job Ever

The picture on the right has absolutely nothing to

do with my time at Camosun. But, it is proof that
life does not end at retirement. Yes, this is a
competition modified Ferrari 430 GT and I did get
to drive it as fast as I could for 10 minutes on a
proper race track….

A Very Ordinary Tale? When asked to

write about my life at Camosun, my
immediate thought was “what’s there to
say?” I started as a math instructor back
in 1971 when I was only 24, and was still
a math instructor when I retired in 2012.
Of course, as with most people’s lives,
when you dig a little you find stories worth
telling. Teaching math to people who
would rather be anywhere else was challenging, but there were successes as
well. Moreover, I got to do lots of other interesting things at the College and, in so
doing, made many lifelong friends.
On a personal level, I married my dear
wife Marilyn in 1977, and a very few
years later we welcomed Jane, Patrick
and Anne who have since given us
seven grandchildren. To top things off,
for the past few years Patrick and I
have been running a small but
successful business which is keeping
me out of trouble.

The Interview. In June of 1971 I was

Nick in 1996
photo taken by Raymond St. Arnaud
just finishing up at university when I
heard news that brand new Camosun
College was hiring. I phoned the
College and was told to show up for an
interview in a few days’ time - no
formal application or resume required.
Running the interview were Alan Batey
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

and Jans Diemer who peppered me with peculiar (to me) questions such as
“How would you see your role at Camosun College?” My lame reply was: “I will
do whatever is expected of me”. I left very confused but, incredibly, I got a phone
call two hours later telling me I was hired! I figure they must have been
desperate.
Day 1, Monday August 2, 1971. Wearing a blazer and tie - a uniform I assumed
would be appropriate for the job - I showed up for the first day of orientation.
Running things was Lloyd Morin, an affable man wearing a casual shirt and NO
TIE. I learned later that he had deliberately dressed down, most likely to put us
all at ease. Also present was Gordon Hartley, my old tennis teacher but now
another administrator, who asked me if I wanted to go for a jog at lunch time. So I
dashed home at a break, changed into something more casual, and packed my
jogging gear. What a great start to my career!
Dr. Lloyd Morin. Let me jump forward 51 years for a moment. Lloyd Morin was
Camosun’s second president (following Grant Fisher) and is now the last
surviving member of the College’s initial Admin Council. This past December, an
integral component of the College was renamed the Dr. Lloyd Morin Centre for
Excellence in Teaching and Learning. I feel privileged to have known this
intelligent, inspirational and kind man all these years and am thrilled that he was
recognized in this way.

Lloyd Morin and Nick on December 13, 2022

Some Teaching Successes:

• 1972-73 Med Lab Class. This particular group was a joy to teach, in great
part because of the efforts of one particular student, Monica, who
organized study groups and social events (to which we faculty were
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

occasionally invited). At the end of the term we decided a class photo was
called for. Now take a look at the photo. This is not how we dressed on a
daily basis. I, young and politically incorrect, insisted that all the girls be in
skirts or dresses (which they never ever wore). They countered by insisting
that I and the other males wear sports coats and ties (I hate dressing up).
In the end, we each gave in. Yes, that’s me with the beard ☺.

Above: Med Lab Class, 1973

Left: Inventive Halloween costumes

•Halloween. One October 31, I walked into my

classroom and everyone was grinning. Puzzled, I
asked “What’s the matter?” and they pointed to
the two lads you see in the photo on the left.
These two nuts had come dressed as me in my
daily costume: T-shirt, khaki pants with brown
belt, and sandals with socks. Needless to say, I
was flattered.
•Best Class Ever. A year or two before I retired, I
had a young international student called Ahmed
in my class. “Dear” Ahmed was always late, and
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

when he did arrive it was with a loud sigh as he sank into his seat. Quite
the interruption! One day I stopped the class to ask Ahmed why he was
late. This prompted a long and pathetic rant, the gist being that he was
terribly homesick and he especially missed his mother. A few in the class
issued a collective “Aah”, the rest nodded sympathetically, but things were
different after that. Did Ahmed ever arrive on time? No. But when he did
get there, I would stop the class, we would ask Ahmed how he was doing
and then just chat for a few minutes. When class resumed, everyone was
ready to learn some math. In the picture below (that’s Ahmed bottom left)
you will see the Certificate of Appreciation the class presented me at the
end of the term, and it has been on the wall in my den ever since.

Best class ever

• Math Club. In 2009 Kayleigh, one of my pre-engineering

students, asked me to form a math club. A dozen or so of them
had been captivated by my little asides on the different levels of
infinity, various fascinating facts around logic and so on. So for
a couple of terms we met once a week and did fun stuff. Okay,
so we were all geeks! We even called ourselves The Smart
Asymptotes - try to figure out the clock they gave me (at right).
Regardless, I viewed it as an enormous privilege to spend all
that time with these keeners - definitely a highlight of my teaching career.
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

Ski Club. In 1973, Albert Van Citters was hired to

develop and lead what is now called the Hospitality
Management Program. He knew that I had already
organized a couple of student trips to Whistler and
suggested we form a club of College employees for
Whistler ski trips, adding that he had a large cabin we
were all welcome to stay at. What an offer! At that time
the College had a 28 passenger bus which (incredibly)
we were allowed to borrow. Phil Pearce, the Receiver at
the time, was our usual driver. Over the next few years
we made around thirty ski trips. It was great fun.
Operation Trackshoes. In 1972 I had a student called
Judith Armstrong. In the previous year, as a high school
Albert Van Citters student, she had founded Operation Trackshoes (OT),
in early days
a weekend-long annual track and field meet for those in
BC with a developmental disability. OT exerted an
irresistible draw and by 1978 I was the Meet Director. With the blessing of the
College and the help of many staff, I was also able to provide OT with significant
administrative support. Moreover, with the tutorage of Darrell Wick, head of
Computing Services at the time, I learned enough programming to write the
majority of the computer code used by OT, then and to this day.

Nick with Judith Armstrong in 2015

when the B.C. government recognized their “service, generosity and selflessness”
by awarding each a Medal of Good Citizenship.
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

I am indebted to a few key current and former employees who put in major hours
in support of OT over the years: Brian Genge, Cathy Corbett, Jim Cosgrove,
Cathy Dye, Susan Pang, Brian Calvert, Andrew Macauley and, most notably,
Cathy Macauley, my unofficial Admin Assistant for close to three decades who
never said “No” to any work request I gave her. I might add that Judith is still the
president of OT, and Cathy & Andrew Macauley as well as Susan Pang are
current board members. I continue to serve, but in the background.

Employee Recreation Club. Sometime

in the early 1980’s I was having a chat
with then Bursar, Beryl Hastings. We
agreed that a little “Employee Glue” was
needed as the various groups (Faculty
Association, BCGEU, CUPE and
Administration) were at times pulling in
different directions. Beryl told me that if I
did the legwork in starting up a club, he
would provide the necessary seed
money. Within weeks the club was up
and running. We sponsored dances, had
a curling club, a tennis tournament, a golf
club, organized a summer family picnic,
supported Don Lindsay’s Santa Skating
party and, in later years, ran the
Christmas Staff party.
I might add that the highly successful
Camosun College Slow Pitch League
was an unofficial offshoot of the Club. I
was not part of its organization, but a
great many of the Rec Club volunteers
were. Marilyn and I spent many an
evening playing for Cathy Dye’s Lean
Mean Green Machine. We were terrible, Cathy Dye greets Nick
but all that mattered was the camaraderie at the CCARE Reunion, 2018
among our teammates and the requisite
debrief over beer and pizza after the game.

Jill Britton. Jill Britton was a teacher whose specialty was teaching mathematics
to future elementary school teachers. Many of her students would start the year
terrified of math but, thanks to her skills and enthusiasm, ended up loving it. She
pulled off this miracle year after year. In 2008 I decided proper credit was
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

needed for this

achievement, so I got
together a few colleagues
and we nominated Jill for a
major prize. On June 1,
2009 our efforts were
rewarded when Jill Britton
received the Association of
Canadian Community
Colleges Excellence in
Teaching Award at their
annual conference in
Charlottetown, PEI. This
was a big deal and, as far as
we knew, the first time a
mathematics teacher had
Jill Britton received this award.

Sandee Mitchell. Long ago, I met Sandee in a Teaching Skills class. The last
day we got to give a mini-class on a topic of our own choosing. I picked
something in Math (of course). Sandee chose something much more practical –
how to make the sound of a crow. My pathetic attempts to caw brought out
concern and empathy in the teacher, but at the same time she couldn’t stop from
giggling. This struck a chord and at
that point we became friends.
What does it mean to be a friend
of Sandee’s? Well, whenever she
saw me, whatever I was doing,
she would caw at me and expect
me to caw in return. She did it
walking past my classes, she did it
once when I was engaged in a
serious conversation with then
president Liz Ashton, …, there
were no limits here. Her office in
the Indigenous Education Centre
was just a few doors down from
mine and a caw from there was an
invitation to come in to chat and
Sandee Mitchell
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

have a snack – which I often did. I became friendly with others, especially
Sekwan Wabasca whom I enjoyed teasing but we’d have serious conversations
as well. To this day, I have a warm feeling of my times in this centre. Yes, its main
purpose is to welcome and serve Camosun’s indigenous students. And yet,
Sandee and the others still found lots of time for me, and I feel honoured and
grateful for that.

Leo Neufeld. Leo was the head of

the Math Department when the
College opened back in 1971 and
remained in this role until a few
months before his retirement in
1998. He believed that the best way
to get good results from us was to
service our professional needs and,
at the same time, keep us happy. He
created the best department in the
college (okay, I’m a little biased),
and I’m told it remains so to this day.

Left: Leo Neufeld in 1996.

photo taken by Raymond St. Arnaud

Below: Our happy math department with

family and friends, 2015
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023

Thanks from the Past. On January 2 of this year I received an email from Jeff, a
former student. It said in part: I am writing to thank you for helping rekindle my
interest in learning. You taught me algebra at night school back in 1981. He went
on to acknowledge five other instructors and then said to us all: [Thank you] for
getting one near dropout interested in science and learning again. It is fair to say
that this is typical of the gratitude a great many students feel towards Camosun
for the personal attention received from its dedicated and enthusiastic staff.
What a Career! As I reflect over my 41 years at Camosun, I realize how
unbelievably fortunate I had been to have landed this “gig”. I got to experience
the college in its infancy and see it grow to where it is now. I met so many
interesting people and had such a rewarding time. Mine was, without doubt, the
best job ever!