Denis Humphries:

Overseeing the Upkeep

of Camosun’s Complex
Infrastructure for close
to 30 Years
I was born in Victoria in 1951.
Both my mother and father
were part of 3rd generation
families living in Victoria. I
attended St Partrick’s School,
Lansdowne Jr High and
graduating from Victoria High School in 1969.
While in high school, I did the typical things a young man might do - played
tennis and softball; joined various sport groups; obtained a driver’s license; got
jobs cutting lawns, house painting, cleaning gutters all while eating my parents
out of house & home. I was one of the original leaders in COSY, (City
Organization Supporting Youth) as well as spending lots of time with Operation
Trackshoes along with Judith Armstong, Nick Marsden and others.
My trade background started when I was in Grade 10 as summer work at my
grandfather’s family business - M. Griffin Ltd - at 941 View St. I was introduced
to sheet metal, roofing, plumbing and anything else that required a strong back
and patience. The money was certainly good, being paid every week in cash. My
family encouraged me to enter the sheet metal trade and, eventually, I completed
a 5-year apprenticeship program. This was the last 5-year program as the
construction industry scaled the sheet metal program down to 4 yrs. After
acquiring my Red Seal, I worked for M. Griffin Ltd, a Union Shop and other Union
Sheet Metal companies.
Life was excellent at this point.
In 1985, the province-wide construction industry crashed bringing all of BC
construction to a halt. By working for myself, I found enough work to pay my
family bills and to keep my head above water.
In late 1987, I was employed by a sheet metal company that was awarded a
contract to revamp the entire building ventilation system in the Young Building at
the Lansdowne Campus. This job was to proceed in
the dead of winter and to be completed by early
January 1988.
In 1988 Camosun College posted positions in their
Maintenance Department so naturally I applied. The
Physical Plant and Maintenance Departments at that
time consisted of Manager John Rose, Supervisor
Alex Bracks, and Chargehand Wally Schmidt.
To my amazement I was hired to join the team in
early February 1988. Alex’s phone call to me started
off with his introduction followed by “Do you think you
can work for a Scotsman?”. And of course, I said
YES….at this point in life I’d have worked for
Braveheart himself!!!! At that time, there were three
existing maintenance staff members from the in-
house janitorial staff: Gordie Bell, Bill Weetman and Gord Shirley. Shortly
afterwards Brian Calvert and Alan Perry also joined the crew.
Brian, Alan and myself were the first maintenance employees with commercial
trades experience. At that time, the department did not have any resources to
equip us so we had to bring our own tools to our jobs. We ended up sharing
tools, as needed, to complete projects and it worked out in the short term. As
yearly budgets were planned, tools and equipment were provided as required for
the two growing campuses. Pagers and
radios were permanent items which we
attached onto our College-supplied blue
polyester uniforms each with name tags. I
could get dressed in the dark with these
uniforms being as they were all the same.
Camosun College at this time was still in its
building infancy stage with Lansdowne,
Interurban (maintained by BCBC) along with
pre-existing leased spaces including: Carey
Road, Junction Centre, Business
Development Centre, the Veterans Centre at
Oak Bay & Fort St, and the Native Friendship
Centre. The Lau, Welnew Tribal School on
West Saanich Road later brokered a deal with
the Ministry of Education to buy the
Interurban Campus CAB Building for $1. The vacated space at Interurban is
presently used as a basketball court or, on occasion, as a galley space for
special functions requiring tables\chairs.
The pay we received in those days was very low compared to the commercial
world that we were accustomed to. Still it was nice to have that steady
paycheck. Brian, Alan and myself decided to make the most of this opportunity
to make our mark by contributing our expertise. There was certainly no shortage
of work at the college which meant that the amount of 24\7 overtime after-hour
work was insane. Eventually, the College provided a monetary value for that time
rather than offering time off which was difficult to take. I remember one year
when the College issued a statement to the College body that saying THANK
YOU for work done would go a long way to foster staff moral. I had never heard
of anything like that in the commercial sector being that one was hired and the
paycheck was enough of a thank you.

Camosun Commotion Slow Pitch team Back Row: L to R Brian

Fought (Grounds Dept.) and Denis Humphries (Physical Plant) Middle
Row: L to R Graham Matthews (Athletics), Allison Leppard, unidentified
man holding flag on left side; Graham McGregor (with heavy mustache
holding flag) and his small son behind the flag; then Barb Doyle with
unidentified bearded man Front Row: L to R Penny McGregor (Dental),
her dog, Bev Jackson (Dental) with her daughter, unidentified woman
Left: Lisa Kalaman (Accounting), Denis Humphries (Physical
Resources) Doris Schulz (Accounting)
 Opportunities to get involved with Camosun people outside of work were many,
including: the in-house ball leagues at Carey Road fields; the seasonal dances at
the Crystal Gardens; the Ski Club; Union activities; Student Union activities;
Halloween dress-up each year; College Christmas skating parties; the Dunlop
House lunches; the Christmas party held inside\outside of the Wilna Thomas
Building; the Indigenous Day where everybody wears orange shirts, just to
mention just few.
The best event, from my point of view, was in 2001 with my surprise 50th Birthday
Party at the Dunlop House. Early in that afternoon I was still working on a project
and Wally called me on the radio and said “Cam 13, bring your tools over to the
Dunlop House ASAP”. A few minutes later I was greeted at the door by the
sound of HAPPY BIRTHDAY and the party started. Family, friends and
colleagues all joined in for food, music and a jovial good time. It’s a good thing
we had keys to secure the place at evenings end!
During those growing years various types of contractors were needed to assist
with the large work load in an expedient
manner but this proved taxing on our
budgets. Eventually Physical Plant
Maintenance became self-reliant by having
individual team members become certified in
various trades. Initially Alan Perry was a
trained electrician in the UK; Brian Calvert
certified as a Red Seal Millwright, Red Seal
4th Power Engineer; I certified as a Red Seal
Sheet Metal Worker. This extra training was

Above: Denis Humphries (with

birthday cake) with Mike Nunn
(Housekeeping Supervisor)

Right: Denis at his Dec 2017

retirement party and Physical
Resources Christmas Bowling
party at Langford Lanes
done on top of our initial individual trades’ certifications and provided a wide
variety of expertise within the department.
Courses that were taken while at Camosun by the Maintenance staff included:
Certificate of Competency 4th Class Power Engineers Red Seal; Electrical
Qualifications IS for signs and lights Certificate Red Seal; Certificate of
Completion from various manufacturers regarding locksmith\door hardware
equipment; Heating Refrigerating & Air Conditioning Institute Interprovincial
courses; Field Training Certificate on Pneumatic Control Equipment; Industrial,
Commercial & Institutional program Certificate re Energy Saving Opportunities;
Certificate of Completion on Trane water chilling equipment and applied air
conditioning systems; Certificate of Competency as a Cross Connection Control
Tester on portable water systems; Confined Space Entry course; Emergency
Management courses. We were always learning!
Personal courses I also took at the College were: Occupations First Aid Level 2;
CUPE Shop Steward Level 2.
A few years later, the Construction Supervisor position was posted for
Administration Physical Resources which described the position as working
directly under the Director of Physical Resources. To work with end users within
the College for their renovation needs; dealing with contractors, architects and
engineers; recording and storing of drawings for departmental library regarding
all campus development plans, mechanical, electrical, civil (irrigation, gas lines,)
fire service drawings, architectural complete with its particular specifications.
(This was the start of the computer age for our department, so everything was
from scratch.) Later as the work scope evolved for this position 'under the scope
and complexity’ clause, which most job descriptions had at that time, the position
went on to include furniture inventory and ordering, paying all invoices, using the
Education Space Inventory system and recording information for the Ministry of
Education.

The role later expanded to larger renovations, larger painting projects, furniture
procurement, tracking spreadsheets, paying associated invoices; talking with
architects, engineers, attending meetings with various departmental persons
associated with their project work; and dealing with manufacturers and suppliers.
Like water under the bridge, the time since my retirement in Dec 2017 has
slipped away. Reflecting back, I now can say that I loved my work, will always
remember those people that made a difference to creature comfort and I was
always ready to deal with events regardless of the load. I miss those special
people in the college that always put a smile on your face, in Physical
Resources, in IT, in Dental, in Nursing and the little ones in Daycare. This whole
adventure at Camosun was truly a blessing.
Speaking of the little ones in the college daycares, brings back some special
memories. Often, when I was on the tools, responding to the work orders for
either sites whether it was at Carey Daycare, Lansdowne Daycare or Interurban
Daycare, the kids always seemed to hone onto the "Guy with tools”. They’d
follow me around in their confined spaces, inside or outside (carefully supervised
by their teachers) and watch with anticipated interest as to what was going to get
fixed. This was a great distraction for them and fun for me. Sometimes, when
my tools were on the floor, their teachers would warn them: “you can watch, but
do not touch the tools.” Often the boys and girls would talk about their Dad's tools
and suggest his
recommended
solution to the
problem. Since I have
three boys of my own,
I always felt
comfortable
conversing with the
kids. My boys had
often asked the same
questions! This went
on for years and as
new children arrived
each year, the
children would follow
the same pattern with
the same inquisitive
questions with the
same answers to their
questions. Over the
years as I was in the
administrative role,
the same instructors
noted this and were
appreciative that
maintenance at the
Daycare was taken
care of.

When I retired, the

Daycare staff
 presented me with two
thoughtful tributes as a thank
you. I really love these two
expressions of gratitude, one
filed with wisdom of the
children (see above), the other
with their sweet hand prints
(right). I have these both
framed on my office wall at
home.

My life was filled with Dragon Boating

from 2005-2009 complete with
travelling to its festivals. Currently
Ballroom Dancing fills that spot as well
as working on the house, researching
our family trees and having Baileys in
my morning coffee.
Life is excellent once more.

Denis’s Dragon Boat Team SSteam Heat

Denis with Camosun Colleagues at the CCARE Reunion 2023

L to R: Pat Floyd, Faye Ferguson, Nancy Sly, Denis, Barb
Latham