THE HEAVY LIFTERS - Stanstead College

J
ohn H.E. Colby spent only
two years at Stanstead
College – kindergarten and
Grade 1. But for more than 50
years, Mr. Colby has been a steward of the
school, either as a trustee, the chairman of
the board, honorary chairman or generous
donor.
That’s because, for the Colby family,
Stanstead College is in the blood.
Mr. Colby’s grandfather, the Hon.
Charles Carroll Colby, was a founder and
one of the school’s original trustees. His
father, Dr. John C. Colby, and his uncle,
Charles W. Colby, were also trustees, Uncle
Charles serving as Chairman. His Aunt
Jessie was a graduate of Stanstead Wesleyan
College and an avid supporter.
“When I came along, I had no choice,”
jokes Mr. Colby.
Mr. Colby now lives in Knowlton but his
childhood home was Carrollcroft in
Stanstead, just down the road from
Stanstead College. One of his earliest memories,
in fact, is of his Aunt Jessie hosting
Headmaster George Trueman and his wife
for dinner.
Mr. Colby was born in 1917. When his
mother died in 1921, his father was left
alone and “terribly overworked” as a country
doctor in the horse-and-buggy era. So a
governess was hired to look after young
John and his sister Harriet.
The governess homeschooled John for a
year but in 1924, his cousin Peggy (Lamb)
Montgomery walked him up Dufferin Road
to the big school. “I was pretty nervous,” he
recalls.
He needn’t have been. In Kindergarten,
he was placed under the tutelage of the
beloved Miss Libby, who Mr. Colby recalls
as “very understanding and helpful.” He
also remembers penmanship from John
McFadyen.
Mr. Colby’s College education was cut
short when his father died in 1926. His
Uncle Charles became his guardian and he
spent the next year at
Selwyn House in Montreal.
Charles, meanwhile, had
inherited a substantial interest
in what would become
the Noiseless Typewriter
Company and was in the
process of establishing
offices in France. Through a
former Stanstead teacher,
Hannah Beck, Charles was
put in contact with Arthur
Hickson, Miss Beck’s nephew and headmaster
of Oldfeld School in Swanage, Dorset.
They agreed to take young John. Although
Oldfeld was co-ed, his sister Harriet went to
an all-girls school.
(Stanstead College would later return the
favour by hosting the Oldfeld students during
World War II.)
At Oldfeld Mr. Colby recalls participating
in Cub Scouts, learning cricket and rugby
and not exactly excelling academically.
“The only prize I ever got was the ‘never
late’ prize,” he says with a laugh.
After grammar school, Mr. Colby ended
up through a convoluted series of family
connections and recommendations at
Appleby College in Ontario.
“During those years, I had nothing to do
with the College,” he says. “But I would
come back to visit Carrollcroft. Carrollcroft
was my home. I had no other home.”
The Colby family’s involvement, of
course, continued through these years. Most
significantly, Charles W. Colby led the campaign
to raise money for a new main building
(eventually named Colby House) after
the original building was destroyed in 1938.
“He was a role model for me,” says Mr.
Colby.
Mr. Colby returned to Quebec and
McGill University where he received his
undergraduate degree in 1939. He was in his
first year of law at McGill in 1940 when he
did what a lot of young men were doing –
he signed up.
Accepted as an officer in the Royal
Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, Mr.
Colby trained briefly in Montreal, transferred
to Halifax and shipped out to
England, on loan to the Royal Navy. After
more training in Brighton “so we wouldn’t
disgrace ourselves as junior officers,” a commanding
officer asked for volunteers for a
special assignment. Mr. Colby volunteered.
The first question the officer asked was “Do
you have any dependents?”
29
John Colby 1926
This didn’t bode well. And indeed it was
risky. Mr. Colby would be part of Operation
Lucid, an attempt by the British to send
ancient oil tankers loaded with incendiary
fuel into Calais, where they would be detonated,
left to drift burning into the harbour,
where they would hopefully ignite the
German’s invasion barges. The crew, meanwhile,
would abandon ship and find their
way back to England aboard a motor cutter
or a sailing dinghy.
So there Mr. Colby sat, on the RFA War
Nizam loaded with fuel, the Battle of
Britain raging overhead. Three attempts
were made to launch the mission, but
weather, engine troubles and finally German
intelligence shelved the plan. “Thank goodness,”
says Mr. Colby.
Mr. Colby served in motor gunboat flotilla,
protecting British shipping in the English
Channel and North Sea until he was posted
back to Canada early in 1943. There he
served as Executive Officer of HMCS
Donnacona in Montreal, a naval recruiting
and training establishment, until demobilized
at the end of the war with the rank of
Lieutenant-Commander. He then returned
to McGill and completed his law degree.
He then joined the firm Foster, Hannen
and Watt, where he spent his career practicing
commercial law. When he retired in
1987, he was senior partner and the firm
was known as Colby, Rioux and Demers.
In 1954, College trustee and mayor of
Stanstead Plain, Ed Struthers asked Mr.
Colby to join the board, which he did.
Willingly, it should be added, not out of
obligation.
“I did it because I wanted to,” he says. “I
felt it was an institution worthy of support.”
That commitment continued through the
years, including a stint as chairman of the
board and continues today as honorary
chairman. In 1989, Mr. Colby chaired the
21 st Century Campaign, which ultimately
led to the construction of Webster House.
He also sponsors an annual scholarship for
dedication to the school, its mission and
programs and is a generous supporter of
the Red & White Fund.
“I’m very supportive of school and very
happy to be part of the team,” he says.
“They do such a good job educating young
people.”