Memories of Peter van Lent

When I joined the St. Lawrence faculty in August 1983 as the second person in the recently created Canadian studies program, I was taking up an altogether new position. JJ Jockel was already there then and I arrived to teach Canadian literature in English and Canadian studies courses while working to develop the program further. Peter van Lent in modern languages and Jonathan Rossie in history were key to these initiatives, so in my early years I saw a very great deal of each of them, team-teaching, planning, bringing in speakers, and running student field trips to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City. Peter was absolutely key to all of this, and I remember during those years being regularly taken in (and taken up) by his gusto and panache, by his enthusiasm for life, by his enjoyment of teaching, and by his utter joy in all we were doing. He could be outrageous too, but even so his commitment to St. Lawrence was unequivocal, and there was no one quite like him.  Bob Thacker, Canadian Studies and English