Although a recent annual was dedicated to Mr. Howard, we feel that we must again gratefully acknowledge his service to K.S.S., for we will never have another opportunity to do so. After 41 years of teaching he has decided to retire, but not without some regrets. Teaching would quite naturally become a major part of the life of a man who acquired his first position when he was eighteen, and has been teaching ever since. Even with so many years which we might consider long and tedious behind him, he still insists that he has enjoyed his career immensely, and that he would be only too happy to do it all over again.
J. Desmond Howard was born in Kamloops in 1907, but received most of his education in Victoria. He attended both elementary and secondary schools in the provincial capital, as well as attending Victoria College. From there he obtained his first teaching position in 1925 as principal of a three-room school at Sooke, on Vancouver Island. After two years at the University of British Columbia, and a brief teaching period at Rolla Superior School, he came to Kam High in 1937. In the same year he obtained his degree from U.B.C.
Except for a one-year exchange trip to Dumblane, Scotland, in 1936-37, he has taught here ever since — a total of 36 years. At the same time, he has managed to maintain other interests in the community, for he has been vice-president of the Thompson Valley Film Society, and the president of the Kamloops Canadian Club, the Thompson Valley Community Concert Association, and the Kamloops Teachers' Association. Mr. Howard has three children, the twins, Peter and Wendy, and a daughter, Jacqua.
He and his wife enjoyed "dangling" around Europe on a motorcycle in the summer of 1937, and plan to return again this summer. Highlights of that year overseas include the coronation of George VI and the Paris Exposition. In the future, Mr. Howard hopes, in general, to take life easy, spending a great deal of time in the garden and as much time as possible travelling abroad.
We would like to thank this warmhearted gentleman for all the help he has given us throughout the years, and all the interest he has somehow managed to instill in us by way of his own enthusiasm. Few of us will forget the witty anecdotes that made learning French fun, or the genuine interest that he had in each of us. Finally, we should like to wish Mr. Howard, in all sincerity, complete and lasting happiness in his retiring years.
