Sitting in his room at Hilltop House, Bill Manson was surrounded by newspapers.
They covered his bed, sat on top of his dresser and were piled beside his comfy-looking leather chair. Mountains of books of all kinds overflowed from a small table beside the window. Manson acknowledged them with a nod. He likes to keep up with the news and has always loved reading.
"I am really a crank when it comes to kids getting an education," Manson said.
His mother was a teacher. She spoke four languages - German, English, French and Latin. Manson sat as a school trustee in Squamish for eight years, he added.
When Manson arrived in Squamish in February 1947, the rain puddles were larger than cars, horses and cows randomly roamed the streets and business in town was far from booming.
Like many men in Squamish, Manson came to work for Imperial Mills. He had been given this "golden opportunity" to learn the ins and outs of the forestry industry by a friend of his best friend's father. Once the lad from Prince George stepped off the Union Steamship vessel, the thought of leaving the wet, rural place never entered his mind.
He drove the crumby - the mill's employee bus - fixed up the top of the old stable beside the hotel as housing for Imperial's employees, and did whatever other odd jobs were needed of him.
It was in Squamish that he met the love of his life. June was one of three nurses visiting from Vancouver who attended a weekend house party in Squamish. The gals came to be nicknamed the three musketeers, Manson recalled, and June caught his attention.
"I thought she was pretty something," he recalled.
June worked at Vancouver General Hospital and also did stints at hospitals in Montreal and Bermuda. The two were married in 1950. They had three children and made Squamish their permanent home. The Mansons shared their 60th wedding anniversary before June passed away last December. It's what the family has decided to do in her memory that has got Manson talking.
"My daughter and I came up with the idea of donating to Capilano University," he said.
The family has established the June Manson Memorial Award, a $100,000 fund that will support secondary-school students graduating from Squamish who are enrolled at the university.
Manson was one of the founding members of the Capilano College board and a former member of Capilano's Squamish campus advisory board. At the official opening of the Squamish campus facility in 1995, Manson received a lifetime honorary charter student card. Eight years later, at Capilano's 40th anniversary, Manson was given the President's Service Award in acknowledgement of his support of the university.
"When we started the college, we used an empty storefront," he recalled. "It was growing so fast that we knew we had to do something about it, so we decided to build a place."
Manson's three children - Michael, Graham and Jane-Anne - all pursued post-secondary education. It's important, Manson stressed.
The scholarship fund is a way to give back to a community he and his late wife loved, Manson noted. Over the years, Manson has had his finger on the pulse of a lot of Squamish's major projects. He has been president of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Squamish General Hospital board and foundation and an alderman. Manson was also the project superintendent, under late Mayor Pat Brennan, for the construction of the major portions of the Squamish dike system.
June worked at Squamish General Hospital, the North Vancouver Outdoor School in the Paradise Valley, and at the Diamond Head Medical Clinic.
The fund will help students build a better future, said Squamish resident Sonja Lebans, a member of the Capilano University board of governors.
"This award will be especially meaningful to the recipients, because it will be given to someone who attended school in Squamish by a family of long-time residents of our community," she said.
An announcement of the donation is planned today (Friday, Oct. 14) at 2 p.m. at Capilano University's Squamish campus, 1150 Carson Pl. All area welcome.
