EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on June 20, 2024.
When Strabane’s Cecil Hamilton passed away on April 21 at age 94, he left behind a legacy that included many tales of educational achievements, community involvement and humour.
"Cec" was born in Strabane in 1929 and lived there most of his life. He always said he felt lucky that the family had a farm during the Depression because, even though there was not much money, there was always food.
He attended the two-room schoolhouse in Strabane up to Grade 10. He finished his high school education at Westdale High School (at the time, the largest in Canada) and Dundas High School.
As his family did not believe in doing anything they could not pay for, they did not put electricity on the farm until the farm was paid for. As a result, young Cec went through his Grade 13 exams studying by coal oil lamps. When he told his wife Gladys about that, her response was: “Just how old are you?!”
Gladys recalls that Cecil wanted to be a doctor, but there was no money for education. At that time, teachers' college was free, so doing his elementary school teacher training at Hamilton Normal School for on year was an easy decision.
“He was born to be a teacher,” she adds.
He started his teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse on Brock Road in 1950, later becoming a principal/teacher at University Gardens School in Dundas and then a full-time principal at Dundana School. His final move was to Beverly Central as principal which he “really, really enjoyed,” says Gladys. He stayed there for about 17 years, until his retirement in 1985. For a long time after his retirement, he did not even want to drive past the school.
Having taught for 35 years, Cecil's goal was to be retired for longer than he worked, which he did achieve, with nearly 40 years of retirement. "Retirement” for Cec, however, included teaching part-time at Brock University Faculty of Education for 17 years. He oversaw a group doing their practice teaching and taught Language Arts and Reading, enjoying every minute of it.
Gladys Collis and Cecil Hamilton met while they were teaching at different schools in Dundas. In November 1962, he bought two tickets to see The Music Man (one of his students was performing) and invited Gladys to go with him – that was their first date.
Gladys notes that Cecil always had a fabulous sense of humour. Her mother even said, “I can always tell when you are home because I can hear the two of you laughing.” They got married in March of 1964, building a house in Strabane during their engagement and moving in the day they got married. Gladys says that they had “a lovely marriage” and reports that people often commented that “where you’ve got one, you’ve got both.”
The couple had one daughter, Susan, who has many fond memories of her father.
“I don’t want to send him into sainthood but, in my eyes, he was pretty close to perfect, and I know he was a hero to others, too,” she says. Susan is particularly appreciative of the opportunities he gave her for travel and education.
Susan says she always vowed growing up that she would never be a teacher. But in the end, “teaching was genetic" — she now teaches at Alan A. Greenleaf Elementary School in Waterdown.
When she arrived at that school, the head caretaker shared that had started his career at a school where her dad was principal. When Cec was leaving for the day, over the loudspeaker, he would say, “I’m leaving now and I’m putting the radio on for you, to keep you company.”
Susan loves that story. “It’s kind of cool that my dad saw him at the beginning of his career, and I saw him at the end.”
Cecil and Gladys were very close to Susan’s three children — Jordan, Lucas and Karis — now aged 25, 23 and 20. The grandchildren grew up in Burlington but often stayed with Cec and Gladys in Strabane. Gladys remembers that they had a lot of fun when the kids stayed over, and when the families went on vacation together.
Cecil was also extremely involved at Strabane United Church (now Freelton Strabane United Church). Gladys says he held every position except anything in the choir, because he was not a singer. Strabane United Church is where long-time family friend Janet Knowles first got to know him well. She says it took a great deal of stamina to sit beside him at a church meeting; he had a habit of making quiet comments which had her wanting to roll on the floor with laughter.
For his 80th birthday, Gladys wanted to have a party and asked the church women to cater. Janet remembers that they said “sure” — without really understanding what they were getting into. In the end, the hall was packed with about 400 guests, a testament to the wide range of people whose lives Cec had touched.
In retirement, Cecil was an active volunteer at Westfield Heritage Village, which Gladys remembers as “the joy of his life.” Susan recalls that he would even go missing for part of the day on Father’s Day because he “had to” volunteer at Westfield for a few hours.
Susan also remembers how he was always willing to help out, no matter what. “He had a way of utilizing people’s skills the best way possible," she says.
Janet concurs. She got her job as volunteer coordinator at Westfield because Cecil thought it would be a good fit for her and told her about it.
Janet affectionately refers to him as “Mr. History” – if you wanted an answer about anything, you could ask Cec. He mentored young people interested in being historical interpreters and helped them be where they wanted to be. Janet recalls that there was always laughter, whatever they were doing together.
When he retired, their house was full of historical Strabane records and items people kept bringing him. Gladys begged him to write a book and get the information
preserved, and he promised he would. About 20 years after retiring, he wrote The Story of Strabane; Gladys did the typing, and it was published.
Cecil was very modest about that book. He initially wanted to order 20 copies initially, but Gladys encouraged him to order 50. When they “sold like hotcakes”, he ended up ordering more several times and 300 copies were sold in total and have been shipped as far afield as British Columbia and Ireland. It's still available today from the Flamborough Heritage Society.
Gladys has a cherished memory of being stopped at Westfield one day by a woman looking for Cecil. When Gladys asked how the other woman knew him, she explained that they used to ride the school bus together in Dundas many years ago, and added, “He used to make us laugh all the time.”
