November 3, 2000

Letters

Touching Words From a Daughter

On Friday, October, 27,
2000, Howard Hamilton
Knight died.

| know that name doesn’t
mean anything to any of you.
It’s just black letters on white
paper. For me, however,
those letters spell my father’s
name. He just recently
turned 65.

| am from Oshawa, Ontario
and all of my family lives
there. | came here to attend
UNBC last year. Now | wish |
hadn’t. It wasn’t like this
moment was totally unex-
pected because my dad has
been terminally ill for about
10 years now. He was diag-
nosed with dementia and was
eventually institutionalized by
1992. The doctors told us he
had probably Alzheimer’s but
over the years they ruled that
out along with Parkinson’s
and Huntington’s. The doc-
tors now say they suspect my
dad sustained neurological
damage from a toxin of some
sort. He sprayed glue for
years in General Motors.

Anyway, he wasted away in
the hospital on the terminal
floor for all these years and
we had to watch. There was
nothing anyone could do. It
was very painful to witness

Let Us Foster Campus Spirit

and has been emotionally
exhausting. | wrote a letter to
my dad in August, 1999,
shortly before { left Ontario to
come here saying my good-
byes because he could no
longer verbally communicate,
and also, he had lost most of
his mental capacity by now,
leaving him without compre-
hension. Some days he knew
who | was while other days
he did not. | started to read
the letter to him but got too
choked up so the nurse took
over for me. | kissed him, told
him | loved him and that was
the last time | saw him alive.
As | left the hospital ! hoped
he would leave this world
soon so that he would no
longer have to tolerate the
cruelty of what was happen-
ing to him. But you know,
nothing, absolutely nothing
prepares you for this final
moment, this moment called
the end, when your loved one
no longer exists. It is the odd-
est feeling. It is surreal.
Perhaps | amin shock. Is this
moment real and why can’t |
absorb it? Come on brain,
kick in.

Since !’m here by myself
with no family around me,
would you mind possibly if |

Through Sports!

Dear fellow students,

Many of us do not value
sports as an important part
of our university activities.
But let me tell you something
about sports:

1). Sports create campus
spirit.

2). Sports introduce our uni- ©

versity to the other parts of
Canada.

3). Sports create affection for
our university that will endure
after graduation.

For these reasons, all of us
— whether we like sports or

sport players when they go to
compete against other col-
leges and universities on
behalf of UNBC. Let us
demonstrate to them that a
small and a brand new uni-
versity like UNBC can defeat
them. But in order to achieve
this, NUGSS has to ensure
that our players shall concen-
trate on winning. They shall
practice thier games without
constant worry about lack of
funds.

But that’s not enough. Sports
players also should play
active role in NUGSS’ deci-
sion making process and
educate us how to value and

not — should support our

told you a bit about my dad?
Thanks, | really need to talk
about him.

My dad was born on
October 19, 1935, in
Earnsville, Ontario. It’s a
dickass little town, blink and
you'd miss it, There’s nothing
special about the place, save
for the fact that my dad was
born there but that’s it. He
grew up in Elm Tree, Ontario,
a stone’s throw away from
Earnsville. He was a country
boy, raised on a farm by his
grandparents, Arch and
Mabel Knight.

As a young adult he joined
the army and served the reg-
iment called the Queen's
Own Rifles. He was eventu-
ally stationed in Calgary
where he met my mom,
Gayle Gordon, at a dance.
They got hitched and had four
children: Trudy, twins, Paul
and Sheryl (me) and then
Craig. My twin died four
months after his birth. Can
you imagine the reunion my
dad and Paul are having in
Heaven as | write this? Wow.
| am so excited for them that
they are together again. That
is one thing that brings me
extreme pleasure right now,
that and the fact that my dad

appreciate the contributions
they make toward our univer-

sity.

It is time for NUGSS to make
sports a priority.

Let us foster campus spirit
through sports.

Jose Guterres
(Political Science Student)

no longer has to suffer.
Thank You, Lord.

Speaking of the Lord,
thank God that | am a
Christian. Thank God for my
beliefs and thank God for
God. | don’t know how peo-
ple who have no belief in God
get through these times. But
anyway, that’s neither here
nor there. | don’t want to dis-
cuss creed right now. | just
want to talk about my dad.

He was a good father and
how weird it is to even to talk
about him in the past tense.
I’ve always had a dad, sick or
not, always, always, and now
| don’t? My dad existed.

He was funny. He was
sensitive. He loved a good
joke. He hated his meat
cooked rare. He loved my
mom’s baking and ate such
an array of deliciously fatten-
ing desserts over the years
that we were all stumped
(and a little pissed) that he
could consume that much
without ever gaining weight.
He was mostly easy going,
but when he did get mad you
got out of his way because he
yelled really loud and then
later said, “I’m _— sorry.”
Sometimes he was right,
other times he was wrong.

He worked hard and was half
of a partnership in a marriage
where combined earnings
provided a roof over our
heads and all that other stuff
that goes into supporting a
family. | am sure at times he
thought he was a racecar dri-
ver whenever he drove his lit-
tle red, standard, Honda Civic
all over the city streets,
careening around tight cor-
ners and shifting those gears
as if he was doing laps at
Nascar. He loved being
Bradley, Nicky and Mikayla’s
grandpa. His eyes watered
when we had to put our pet
cat, Boots, to sleep due to
kidney failure. My dad’s
motto was, “I’m okay if you’re
okay.”

| love you Dad, past, pre-
sent and future. | hope you’re
having fun. | hope you're
laughing and catching up on
old times while creating new
ones. Tell Paul | said hi. |
can’t wait to see you both
again, and don’t forget to
save me a spot.

Love, your daughter forev-
er, SheryF XXOO

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