Robert (Bob) Land

M.Ed., B.Ed., B.Sc.

1938 – 2011

Robert Land passed away peacefully at home on Monday evening, January 10th, 2011. His passing was unexpected and has left us all sorrowful because of the fine man he was. He will forever be remembered with love by his wife, Sheilah, and by his children, Sterling (Megan Mills) and Monroe (Ian Williamson).

Bob was a man of strengths which he exerted with a kind hand. His love of education encompassed his extended family of students and teacher colleagues throughout both rural and urban Manitoba. His career of forty- eight years was a life dedicated to bettering the education of both students and professional colleagues. One of his passions was seeing the triumph of kids who may not have shared Bob’s love of scholastics initially but who finally reached that point where academic and vocational success became theirs. To that end, the Bob Land Scholarship Award was presented the last three years to deserving Miles Macdonnell Collegiate graduates. Bob also took pleasure in seeing the success of the Murdoch Motorsports Club at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate; he truly valued the growth of vocational programs at Murdoch over the years. He was particularly proud of the staff whose drive and energy ensured the vibrancy of these programs. Bob was always appreciative of the work of teachers, administrative assistants, and instructional assistants at his schools --- and in turn, they appreciated Bob’s support and respect. He regarded these people as part of his extended family.

Robert volunteered many hours to the Manitoba Teachers Society from the 1970’s until retirement in 2008. Serving on the Transcona-Springfield and River East Teachers’ Associations and on the Provincial Executive of the Society provided an opportunity to share his sense of optimism and his support of professional colleagues. Known for his level-headedness (and for his memory!), Bob Land brought both wisdom and a sense of humour to many discussions.

Bob grew up in Tilston, Manitoba and was educated at Brandon College, the University of Winnipeg, and the University of Manitoba. On a recommendation from the Dean of Education in Brandon, Bob began teaching on permit in Vita and Gimli, where he realized his life calling. Life took on a new future when he met Sheilah Clark in her first year of teaching at Tilston in 1961. Married in 1962, they have enjoyed a long and loving marriage.

Bob loved his family beyond belief, and was a “hands-on” father right from the start. He encouraged Sterling and Monroe in their understanding the importance of higher education, and to that end, Robert supported them in their grade school and university successes. To find them at this time in responsible careers and to see as well the accomplishments of both their spouses made Robert smile with pride. He was very pleased that his own parents’ values continue in both Sterling and Monroe.

Also surviving Robert are his sister, Grace; his brother Bernard (Mary) and five nieces and nephews. He is also survived by brother-in-law Garry Clark (Ollie), and by sisters-in-law Zelda Yeoman (Tom) and Colleen Miller (Garry) and their children. Predeceasing Bob were parents Benn and Ruth Land of Tilston and his sister, Marion; and Charlie and Anne Clark of Treherne. Robert held a special place in his heart for friends John (dec) and Edith Shawn and their family and for Norman (dec) and Beth Philip and their family.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, January 16th at 1:00 pm at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd.

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Message By Reverend Don McIntyre

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

Isaiah 61 was written a bit more than 500 years before the birth of Christ. These few lines are regarded as the spark which kept alive a flame of hope for a whole nation of defeated hearts after living in exile. Permitted to return home they discovered every home, farm, business had been torn down. The city wall was gone. Distraught and depressed Isaiah was commissioned to speak the unexpected good news to people living in shock and with loss. Isaiah began by reminding them that in time the oppressed will hear good news, the brokenhearted will be embraced, captives and prisoners set free and all who mourn would be comforted. His message was clear. God can give life where no life was thought possible.

From personal experience I’ve come to believe Teachers understand this concept best. As you wrote (in Roberts obituary),

Bob was a man of strengths which he exerted with a kind hand. His love of education encompassed his extended family of students and teacher colleagues throughout both rural and urban Manitoba. His career of 48 years was a life dedicated to bettering the education of both students and professional colleagues. One of his passions was seeing the triumph of kids who may not have shared Bob’s love of scholastics initially but who finally reached that point where academic and vocational success became theirs.

God can give life where no life was thought possible. Albert Schweitzer wrote, “Sometimes our light goes out but it is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes our deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”

Many of the best teachers I’ve known were educated in humble rural settings, in isolated communities where they found it imperative to ‘plant seeds’, teach more than the three R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The fourth r ‘respect’ was what separated an educated person from a person who could read and write and count well. I like the well-worn quote, ‘a teacher is one who in their youth admired teachers.’ For Robert, this was Miss Grace Hall. Not only did she appreciate his intelligence but she earned his respect.

A good teacher is often but not necessarily a good student. Sheilah told me that Robert entered Brandon College at fifteen years of age on a scholarship but enjoyed the social scene so much his goal of becoming a geologist faded. Still, he was encouraged by the Dean of Education to teach on permit at Vita from January to June. Then, he taught a Fall term in Gimli. By then, the seed, a spark had become a flame. ‘There was life where no life was thought possible.’

Like the ‘exiles’ of old, Robert was offered an opportunity to return home to Tilston to teach and become a Principal. I can imagine the challenge of returning home, where everyone knows you. They aren’t shy about pointing out past faults either. In later years Robert loved reliving his childhood in the windswept prairie town of Tilston, often retelling the day as an eleven year old he broke the basement windows of the United Church. His parents demanded he work off the costs of the glass. He was told to ride his bicycle to the farm of Norm and Beth Philips after school each day. In time they became like adopted parents where Robert not only learned the value of a day’s work but the joy of cultivating respect for these folks who encouraged him.

Libraries are filled with books on ‘how to win and influence people when the word ‘influence’ today often means obtaining material success. Scriptures are quick to point out the true measure of a full life is the godly influence we are for others. When Robert chose to teach with five other teachers in his home town his hamlet numbered 89. Sheilah discovered this when Bob took her on a walking tour of the village and discovered his knowledge and love for this community. She recalls it was while accepting an offer to ride horses their friendship grew deeper. She assumed she could ride after throwing her feet over the work horses at home near Treherne but she really had a rough ride on their first date when she found herself aboard a race horse. By Monday word had spread about their riding adventure. Still, this didn’t deter Robert and Sheilah from attending movies in Melita, community dances or making yourselves at home at the Phillips farm to a ham sandwich and drink of gin Bob had prepared. There were long conversations in the school yard at recess that in time led to a wedding August 17, 1962 Sheilah told me she felt in a real sense her life began with Robert. The next year you moved to Elgin where Robert taught for two years, then to Boissevain where Sterling was born.

Robert had a burning desire to complete his BSC so in 1965 you moved to Winnipeg. It was here a friendship with Edith Shawn developed. In time she became like a favourite aunt. Pies were baked for Aunt Edith as your families became as one.

In 1966 Robert began teaching in the Transcona Springfield Division and became the Department Head of Science. In 1967 Robert accepted a position in Administration and as Vice Principal. He would often discuss with you what it would mean becoming a Principal but chose to remain Vice because he felt he could spend more time meeting the kids in hallways and the cafeteria and grounds as well as classrooms when a teacher needed a break. He identified himself as a Teacher.

Sterling and Monroe not only benefited from having parents as teachers but you were imbued with the importance of higher education. With your success and the accomplishments of both spouses, as you wrote in his obituary, “Robert smiled with pride. He always felt his parent’s values were evident in your achievements. This was amazingly satisfying. “

But, work and career weren’t his sole focus. A love for the splendor of creation and in particular the beauty of the Lake of the Woods drew you to spend six weeks of each summer there. Every morning and evening offered an opportunity to fish and appreciate the idyllic scenery from the cottage deck or the boat. With no suits or ties to wear Robert embraced this role wearing his favorite plaid bush jacket and letting his beard grow. Here was time to explore other interests by reading more about fishing and boats, war histories, politics, mysteries or geology, a subject he never lost interest in from his first days as a university student. There were many dinners and barbeques and meditative moments to savor the beauty of forest and water as the sun set.

You smiled as you recalled one day Robert was so disappointed with intruders who interfered with the garden plot he immediately drove thirty miles to purchase a buffer to protect his precious lettuce and tomatoes, not counting the cost. After 26 years climbing about the rocks and steps became too difficult your cottage was sold and you moved on.

Robert maintained his love for learning for the sake of learning a sign of a true student. In the past he had surrendered precious summer days to attend summer school perhaps inspired by a favourite lecturer.

He volunteered many hours to the Manitoba Teachers Society from the 1970s to his retirement in 2008 serving on the Transcona Springfield and River East Teachers Associations and on the Provincial Executive of the Society. Besides his encouragement of the vocational programs and support for the Murdoch McKay Motor Support Club we might note Roberts’s participation in the development of a teen parents program. Young mothers, often without hope after becoming pregnant could dream new dreams of completing their education and like a despondent pregnant mother called Mary centuries earlier, who began to see her world through the eyes of faith and a world to which others are blind. She discovered ‘God does give life where no life was thought to be possible.’

In the Hebrew Scriptures there’s an old concept in Judaism that centers on the Hebrew word ‘tikkun’ which means, ‘a task.’ It is an idea that each of us are who we are, with our own particular talents, capacities, personalities, our unique being; each of us is in our own situation; where we are in our own families, in our work, in our community, exactly where we should be because God has a particular, unique role for each of us to play, a role for good, our own ‘tikkun’ (purpose) for the world, an influence we are meant to be, and more importantly through which we will ultimately discover our own fulfillment. Scriptures are full of stories of ordinary people who made their contribution to the world by just being good people, helping people who cannot help you; without expectation of return, do the right thing the right way, live as if our role is to pay back the life we have been blessed with. Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote,” Humanity will not perish from want of information but want of appreciation.” Robert Benn Land did his part to keep the human race from perishing from want of appreciation.

The one who made him, who helped him become acutely aware of beauty, wisdom, hospitality and the need to always have Hope is the same one who today offers to be here to help us make sense of life as it is. The spirit of the Lord is upon us to proclaim good news to the broken hearted so that life can be lived forward. This concept allowed Robert to drink the glass of his life down to the bottom in his 72 years. Today we grieve but in time and with Hope as we recall a life well lived we find our new life in the midst of the old. As surely as Robert could inspire others to have Hope to move on would this not be the task he would wish for us today?

Prayer: O God, our Teacher of all knowledge, our source of wisdom and comfort in times of sorrow we gather in your presence, each of us coming with our own thoughts of what it means to suffer the loss of one whose life has given our lives a depth of purpose. We thank you for the vision that our lives seems to portray when we are inspired to dream new dreams. As you have blessed all of us with strengths and weaknesses we are thankful when we can see Your presence in the life of another human being we love. When we find it easy to grieve the loss of such a full life we are thankful for the strength we are given today to release ….to you knowing she has lived a good life and has left her mark on our lives.

We thank you for Your Spirit that moves in our community with neighbours and friends becoming as family in their sharing of concern for us. We learn the power of Your love for us in such a variety of ways as we experience 'the kingdom' in our midst with the strength to be thankful even in the midst of death. Remind us where our strength comes from as we learn from those we respect.

As we have been helped to see our strengths from teachers who have influenced our lives remind us of our talents as parents and family and neighbours that we might treasure them and pass them on that our lives might give meaning to other's lives.

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Remembrances from Munroe and Sterling

I can’t even remember how young I was when I started going to Murdoch Mackay with you on my days off from school. We would walk in from the parking lot and down the halls to the staff room and I was so proud to be walking along the halls with my Dad as you greeted everyone we met along the way. Lunch was cheese sandwiches, apples, cookies and juice boxes that you had made for us that morning.

As I got older Sterling and I would go to work with you at the end of the summer before school started and I would stamp all the new textbooks that had been delivered.

Sterling got to assign all the locks to the lockers and I used to always think he was so lucky to do that. Well, when I was old enough to get to do the locks I quickly realized it wasn’t quite the exciting privilege I had imagined it would be!

I just want you to know that those days are full of memories that I will always cherish.

I was so lucky to grow up in a household where my mother was the master of English and History and you were the master of Math and Sciences. Who needed help from teachers at school when I had both of you at home?

Dad, your memory of both important and truly trivial things has always amazed me. I would be working on an assignment relating to some poem or literature passage and you would stand there in the kitchen and recite the entire thing from start to finish as if you had just read it the day before. Just amazing!

You have always been there for me and a girl could not ask for a better dad. This really sucks what we are going through right now, but I am so incredibly thankful that you went in peace and were in your favourite chair at home.

I know I can speak for Sterling as well when I say this-

Dad, we love you and have always been so proud of the man that you are. You will always hold such a special place in our hearts.

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