Page 3 - NJC Newsletter 2014-Spring

Searching our past
Charting
IOur Future
was asked earlier this school year to Chair the Planning Committee for this year’s Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) conference in October. The committee soon arrived at the theme of ‘Strength of Choice’ as we as a group of nearly 100 schools turn to our past to plan the best way forward to our future. The theme of the conference was generated from a book written several years ago about CAIS as well as from a speech given about our schools by none other than Robertson Davies.
This exercise of reflecting on our past with this CAIS committee to help us plan for our future was personally top of mind when one of our alumni recently asked, ‘Where is our Founding Head of School, Leonard Wilde, buried?’ I had to answer somewhat shamefully that I didn’t know. The idea that this distinguished and revered gentleman had nearly 60 years ago—to create a school so that students could come for a year to live in Europe and become, for all intents and purposes, a citizen of Switzerland and of Europe—has remained intact all these years later. Although Mr. Wilde’s original formula has changed a little over the years (no more McGill examinations, no more Ontario grade 13, a one semester option introduced in 1989, etc.) the basic foundation for the school remains unaltered: students living as Europeans, staying with local families, improving their linguistic skills, and discovering first-hand the magnificence as well as the horrors of our past in order to, ideally, shape a promising future.
As the article in this issue describes, the search for Mr. Wilde’s gravesite began with a brief discussion with Larry Barnes, a 25-year member of the NJC staff who still resides in Neuchâtel. Larry spoke with Jim Thayer, the longest serving Head of School of NJC. Mr. Thayer’s health is unfortunately declining and he is currently in a nursing home on the outskirts of Neuchâtel. However, his memory is still sharp and he recalled that Mr. Wilde was buried in 1965, following his tragic car accident near Interlaken, in the Beauregard cemetery in Neuchâtel. I learned during my meeting with the staff there that although Mr. Wilde was buried there shortly after his death, his body was exhumed along with several others, only months later. However, there was no record as to where his remains were moved.
So, as we call on our NJC community to help in any way they can to ensure the long term sustainability of this unique and incredible school, whether that be through assistance with prospective students, or with fundraising or with celebrations around our 60th anniversary in 2016, I call on the same community to assist with our search for the man who made all of this possible. Your help in any or all of these ways will allow us to continue to honour our past and sustain our future.
Wm. S. Boyer Head of School
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