To more than one generation of Thompsonites, Brian Wilson was always "Mr. Wilson." That came partly with the territory of being a school teacher, principal and superintendent for years, but it was also a form of address with a singular remark of respect for a man who Mayor Tim Johnston Monday called "the conscience of council."
Wilson, 77, died in palliative care May 9 after more than a seven-year battle with a particularly aggressive and rapid onset form in February 2003 of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), also known as acute myelogenous leukemia, the family said Monday. A funeral service will be held Thursday, May 13 at 4 p.m. at St. John's United Church in Thompson.
Wilson is only the third member of council to die in office in the history of Thompson. Coun. Dr. Blain Johnston, father of the current mayor, died in office at the age of 47 the night after a regular council meeting on Dec. 3, 1974, and Mayor Don MacLean also died in office Jan. 22, 1991. Wilson's seat will remain vacant until the next general municipal election Oct. 27.
Former Thompson mayor Bill Comaskey, who succeeded MacLean in 1991 and served as mayor until October 2006, said from Vancouver May 10, "'I'm deeply saddened upon hearing the news of Brian's passing - RIP. Brian was a gentleman and an honest, hardworking councillor. He attacked the issues with enthusiasm and not his councillor colleagues - he served the people of Thompson very well and will be sadly missed." Comaskey now lives in Winnipeg and works for the province.
The current mayor, Tim Johnston, said Wilson always prepared diligently for council meetings. "His agenda was the well-thumbed one that had been highlighted throughout," Johnston said. The mayor noted that Wilson and him, along with Coun. Oswald Sawh, were all elected to council for the first time in 2002, leading to a special bond between the three of them.
"Brian Wilson was always a gentleman. He was the conscience of council. When it came to issues such as the need for affordable housing, he was willing to push us into areas we might not have been that comfortable at first into going into,' Johnston said.
Coun. Judy Kolada, who has served on council since 1994, said, Wilson, had "a steadying influence on council."
Thompson NDP MLA and cabinet minister Steve Ashton, a native of Surrey in England, who came to Thompson at the age of 11 with his family in 1967, knew Wilson for almost 38 years. "He was not only the conscience of council, Brian Wilson was the conscience of the community," Ashton said Monday. There was a real sense of "gravitas" about him, Ashton said, but accompanied by a "dry sense of humour" that was on display in recent years as city council's playwright for Beer & Skits, the Thompson Playhouse February fundraiser that this year saw council walk away with its third consecutive first-place trophy victory based on a Wilson script.
"He would be what would be described in aboriginal culture as a community elder," Ashton said.
Over the seven years he was ill with leukemia, Wilson's health varied, and he was well enough to successfully seek re-election to city council in October 2006 after first being elected in October 2002, shortly after which he first became ill. His last public appearance was April 21 at the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay For Life here. His wife, Valerie, and daughter, Louise, said Monday despite being gravely ill the appearance there "was important to him in order to give hope to others and show that life carries on."
Brian Wilson was born in England Dec. 14, 1932. He moved to Canada when he was a 33-year-old schoolteacher from Lazenby in North Yorkshire in August 1966. Valerie was 29. They had three young children, Mark, now 48, a teacher in Ottawa, who lives in Chelsea, Que., immediately north of Gatineau, Angela, 46, a nurse, now of Winnipeg, and Louise, 45, a social worker, of Thompson.
It was a time of great migration of British teachers to Canada in the mid-1960s for available teaching jobs. Brian Wilson had a three-year teaching certificate when he arrived with a major in divinity. It was intended originally to be a two-year adventure in Canada before returning home to England.
Valerie Wilson said she well remembers their landing in Canada as new immigrants had a somewhat less than auspicious start. They arrived by boat in Quebec only to find after their transatlantic voyage that Canada was on the verge of a national passenger rail strike. A planned train trip became a bus trip to Brian's first Canadian teaching posting in White Fox, Sask., a rural farming community of 450 - four hours north of Saskatoon.
If the landing in Canada had been arduous, the next few years wouldn't be much easier. Valerie describes White Fox as "parochial" and like "throwing a switch on a time machine and immediately travelling back 50 years and down the rabbit hole."
Also, it soon became apparent there was no big demand for a divinity major teaching in rural Saskatchewan and even worse, the provincial government wasn't prepared to recognize most of his British teaching qualifications with the exception of two transfer credits - one in the Bible's Old Testament, the other the New Testament, Valerie Wilson recalled.
With a wife and three young children, Brian Wilson continued to teach but headed off to the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon to get his Canadian teaching credentials- first a B.Ed degree, followed by his M.Ed.
At that point, Valerie notes, master's in hand, Brian had gone from being under qualified to work as a teacher in Saskatchewan to being over qualified. "Brian would line up at the unemployment office for work and tell them he was willing to sweep floors, anything," she said.
Brian and Valerie Wilson arrived in Thompson in 1972 when Brian was offered the principal's position at Eastwood School. He was originally set to replace an American, who was leaving town, but the man changed his mind and stayed and kept his job, so Wilson wound up being offered the job of vice-principal at Juniper School. They rented a slab house on Martin Bay for a year.
He remained at Juniper School until 1978 serving as vice-principal for two years, followed by four years as principal.
"Brian loved it," says Valerie of his view of Thompson, from the day he arrived. "He moved here to help people. There's got to be a purpose to being here, he believed." He especially enjoyed working with the pupils at Juniper Elementary School, whose self-esteem was not very high when he arrived, she said. He met kids on their own terrain and would spend his entire academic career here championing things like integration for all students and French immersion.
Wilson was promoted to assistant superintendent for the School District of Mystery Lake in 1978 and became superintendent in 1981, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.
It was an interesting time in the school district and Wilson was known to quip Cable TV broadcasts of trustees' school board meetings were only second in the ratings to Hockey Night in Canada. Both Brian and Valerie were active in the community since they arrived. They joined Thompson Playhouse in 1973 in the years when it was a real going concern in terms of productions.
Valerie Wilson served on city council as a councillor from 1986 to 1989, making them the only married couple to have both served on council in Thompson's history. She is currently a trustee with the School District of Mystery Lake and a former chair of the board.
In October 2008, the province jointly recognized Brian and Valerie Wilson when they won a Manitoba Council on Aging Recognition Award "for those who have gone above and beyond to help seniors in their communities."
The award announcement, by then healthy living minister Kerri Irvin-Ross, who was also the minister responsible for seniors at the time noted, "the Wilsons have taken on leadership roles in their church as members and chairs of various committees ... Brian is very involved in the Thompson Race Relations Committee Both were chairs of the City of Thompson 50th anniversary committee."
The Manitoba Council on Aging was established in 1980 as an advisory body to the minister responsible for seniors. The awards were established in 1996 to recognize extraordinary individuals and organizations for their exemplary efforts on behalf of seniors.
