When I moved to Almonte in June of 1976 at the behest of Senator George J. McIlraith PC QC, Paul D. Scott was 1½ years old. When I bought a house at 4 Laura Crescent next door to the Scott family in about 1980 Paul and his little brother Steve were my neighbours. It wasn’t long before Dave and Barb (Paul’s parents) and I were rejoicing in the latest educational success of Paul upon his admission to the renowned Bishop’s University in Québec.
Bishop’s University is a small English-language liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, George Mountain, who also served as the first principal of McGill University. It is one of three universities in the province of Quebec that teach primarily in English (the others being McGill University and Concordia University, both in Montréal). It began its foundation by absorbing the Lennoxville Classical School as Bishop’s College School in the 1840s. The college was formally founded in 1843 and received a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1853.
It remains one of Canada’s few primarily undergraduate universities, functioning in the way of an American liberal arts college, and is linked with three others in the Maple League. Established in 1843 as Bishop’s College, the school used to be affiliated with the University of Oxford in 1853, where many professors at BU were appointed from. The school remained under the Anglican church’s direction from its founding until 1947. Since that time, the university has been a non-denominational institution. Bishop’s University has graduated fifteen Rhodes Scholars.
Nor was it long thereafter that a multitude was congregated at the Scott home to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of Paul and T (his incomparable partner of exceeding wit and scintillating intellect). Within what seemed only moments thereafter Paul and T were themselves parents to two young boys. When Paul telephoned me this afternoon (generously to express his concern regarding my latest medical issues) while I was motoring aimlessly about the County on what is anticipated to be one of the last truly splendid summer days, he informed me that his first-born is in Grade X. Now that’s what I call astounding! I consider it a privilege to inform his boys (the other is in Grade VIII) that I rubbed shoulders with their grandparents. If truth be told my suspicion is that Paul has never lost sight of Almonte notwithstanding his and T’s successes adjacent Ontario’s capital city Toronto, that much aligned financial centre which historically replaced Montréal when divisions between the so-called Québec Séparatists notably arose (and before being mandatorily readjusted by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau).
In short, with an incalculable history spanning years and unpredictable associations, eventualities and variety, we have come a long way, both the Scott family, I and the country. I haven’t a clue about much of what preoccupies young people these days. As I shamelessly confessed to Paul this afternoon when he answered my inquisitive enquiry about “working from home”, it is a topic which in spite of its relevance is essentially muted in my sphere because most people whom I now know and associate with are unemployed. By the way, in case you’re interested, Paul advises that he prefers the office work environment (if only to have the postal staff working outside the door of his office) because he is a social creature. As you might surmise this singular characteristic of Paul is not unfamiliar to me. Since the inception of our social conviviality – perhaps initiated by sharing a sip in our drawing room on a chilly autumn day – I have become accustomed to Paul’s talent for pleasantness and sharing.