A LANDMARK PERSON

My daughter Carolyn’s boyfriend, Chris, is attending Teachers’ College in Ottawa this fall. Chris aspires to be a math/science teacher at the high school level. I always love talking ‘shop’ with Chris and learn something knew whenever we get together. My latest ‘discovery’ was the concept of landmark numbers. At the elementary level, it refers to the process of estimation to aid in the addition of numbers. 

For example, when adding  252 + 397, the landmark numbers 250 and 400 convert the problem as follows:

252 + 397 = 250 + (2) + 400 – (3) = 650 + 2 – 3 = 650 - 1 = 649

Whatever happened to adding in columns?

Over the course of the past few months, I have had so many friends take the time to visit and wish me well. One of these special friends is Clarence Deyoung who dropped in with his wife Maryann to do some catching up. If there can be landmark numbers that make calculations easier, then Clarence is a landmark person because he makes life easier for so many others.

Clarence and Maryann live in Antigonish and were in town to celebrate their daughter Clarissa’s birthday and to attend a special memorial celebration. However, before I go on further, let me give you a little bit of background about this landmark fellow.

Clarence was born and raised in Nova Scotia, one of 13 children. At the age of 18, he decided to come to Toronto to attend the Devry Institute of Technology. As luck would have it, Clarence was boarded by Terry’s family for four years and became as close to Terry as a brother. Clarence attributes his success and survival during those challenging years to Terry’s mom Iva, his second mother. Like any kid brother, Clarence loved to tease Terry. One day, just to get back at him, I landed an awful shot. I said something that I still regret to this day and although Clarence took it all in good fun, it still haunts me. I was attending York University at the time and compared my York to his Devry by saying, “Clarence, why don’t you go to a real school?”

Upon graduation in 1972, Clarence went into the computer repair business. By the late-eighties, his company had become so successful that Apple made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and he retired at the age of 39. Every Christmas since then, Clarence and Maryann send us warm greetings and a recap of their most recent travels and I think to myself, “Just who went to a real school now?”

Although Clarence’s business career was over, his real vocation was just beginning. His picture should appear under the word ‘volunteer’ in the dictionary. Whether it’s chopping wood for an elderly neighbor, travelling to Sri Lanka in the wake of the 2004 tsunami or to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, Clarence has made it his mission to help those in need.

One particular organization that Clarence has been involved with for over 20 years now is Sleeping Children Around the World (SCAW). Founded by Murray and Margaret Dryden in 1970, SCAW provides bed-kits to children in developing countries. The kits, which are produced in the country where they are to be distributed, consist of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if required), clothes outfit, towel and school supplies. To date, SCAW has provided 1.2 million kits at a cost of over 23 million dollars to children in 33 different countries. All donations to SCAW go directly to purchasing bed-kits while the volunteers distributing the kits handle all the costs associated with their distribution. What is truly remarkable about SCAW is that it has no promotional budget as advertising is only by word of mouth.

And so, Clarence was advertising when he and Maryann dropped in for brunch on September 15. He talked about his most recent trip for Sleeping Children in 2009.  Clarence and two other volunteers travelled to India to visit a Buddhist boarding school nestled in the Himalayas. In celebration of the one-millionth child to receive a bed-kit, SCAW decided that, rather than centering on one particular child, the focus would be on all the children living at the school. The plan was to replace the school’s 600 beds as well as provide bed-kits for the children. Trucks loaded with new beds made their arrival in the shadow of a visit by the Dalai Lama. It was a fortuitous turn of events because the school was closed for three days during the visit of the holy man. Clarence and company began the process of cleaning and disinfecting the fetid sleeping quarters of the children and then assembling the new beds. The task would have been an arduous one at the best of times but at an altitude of 11,500 feet, the work was exhausting. However, the smiles on the children’s faces when they returned to their ‘new’ quarters were a sight Clarence said he’d never forget.

Clarence has been around the world for SCAW, spreading joy from Nicaragua to Bangladesh, from Togo to India, working with Murray Dryden and more recently with his son Dave of NHL fame. As well as being in town to celebrate his daughter’s birthday, Clarence and Maryann were also here to attend a celebration of what would have been the late Murray Dryden’s 100th birthday.

And so Clarence, I apologize for my jerky comment 40 years ago.  Obviously, you chose the right school. Your retirement has been a most fruitful time and lights the way for me to begin some retirement planning of my own. Thank you for your selfless example of what it means to be a man for others.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people

 but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

2 Corinthians 9:12