In September 2007, John Calam visited the Forest Grove School on a nostalgic visit to the place where he began his teaching career in 1951.
Local author Marianne Van Osch happened to be there that day and realized Calam’s memories of his year at the school would add to the history of Forest Grove.
“Calam put together a unique photographic journal of students and school activities,” says Van Osch.
“Eventually he sent over 50 of the original photos, plus descriptive captions to me, which were put into a temporary album that travelled around the Cariboo to Calam’s former students, who were able to identify many of their classmates.”
Van Osch decided to assemble the photos and their unique captions into a book. Calam wrote the introduction describing his life before he came to Forest Grove and his arrival in “the wild west.”
He added an epilogue that tells of his year as administrator/teacher at the old log school in Lac la Hache and of his rise through teaching levels to his present status as Professor Emeritus at UBC. Throughout his career, Calam remained a strong proponent for rural education.
Van Osch’s latest book, A Teacher’s Story: Forest Grove 1951, will be introduced at a signing at Nuthatch Books on Sept. 30 at 1 p.m.
