I believe the exceptional life of my Dad is well recognized by all of us who knew him. Major themes of his life connect to family, the environment, and work. These themes were not unrelated, and their connection and intersection deserve special recognition and celebration.
Dad loved family deeply. Many of my earliest and most cherished memories are those of big family gatherings during holidays. These typically included outdoor activities such as croquet, skiing, trailer rides, and snowmobiling – grandparents included!
In addition to the vast enjoyment of our own property, Dad also loved taking us on family trips. These were always focused on outdoor activities, like boating around Georgian Bay, waterskiing at Uncle Jim’s cottage, hiking, cross-country skiing, and downhill skiing.
Dad also cherished outdoor time alone, both personal and for work. He took advantage of his physical strength. Cutting, hauling, and splitting firewood. Canoe excursions in Algonquin with our Goldens that included grueling portages. Solo launching of boats for surveying and sampling on open water, and similarly hard work over ice with a snowmobile and auger.
Dad was widely successful as a scientist, consultant, business leader, financial planner, and environmentalist. In his last year, he masterly served as an expert witness to protect a headwater creek of southern Ontario from mining. With Mom, my sister and I were well taught the value of work, independence, and a great appreciation of nature from individual organisms to ecosystems.
From a very early age, I was fascinated with seeing the work Dad did at home, from calibrating an oxygen meter at the kitchen sink to spreading out paperwork over the furniture. It was exciting when I was old enough to tag along on fieldwork and try to keep up with him. Dad generously helped me with my scientific endeavors, particularly lake coring adventures in remote mountainous regions of western Canada and Alaska. I know he greatly enjoyed and valued the work we did together, along with the professional relationship he and Kim shared as partners in Bluewater Biosciences.
My path to becoming a geographer was massively influenced by Dad. It was incredible watching him carefully draft lake surveys using Letrasets, ink pens, and a precise hand. During the immediate period of grieving I sought out one of his original, hand-drawn works on mylar, which I share below. The other map below is one we made together. Making maps with Dad was a highlight of my early adulthood, and a great example of the intersection of family, environment, and work that made Dad the amazing person he was. That work was part of a consulting project of Dad’s on Twelve Mile Bay ecology and water quality. As Dad said, it shows a place where “the blending of waters from the Canadian Shield and open Georgian Bay create an exceptional diversity of aquatic and littoral habitats which support an equally rich and diverse flora and fauna“1. I got to create this map with my Dad, and in doing so be reminded of a special place my sister, Mom, and I got to explore with him on our Bayliner – a family memory we will all forever cherish.
1Introduction from a community presentation by Dad titled “The Unique Ecology of Georgian Bay”
Karl Schiefer bathymetric map circa 1980s
Twelve Mile Bay water chemistry