DOUGLAS COLLEGE LIBRAFY

ERCHIVES
the European culture that he had left behind but that had made an indelible Saprint |
upon his spirit and character.
Harold was first and foremost a linguist, a specialist in the French language but
with little effort he would have been able to teach German and Flemish as well.
He had a great aptitude for languages and an extensive knowledge of the roots of
the vast array of Indo-“ermanic languages. As a teacher he was rated first class,
a skillful specialist in teaching students grammar, syntax and the mltiplicity
of declensions in which the French language abounds. But he was also a dispenser
of culture with a passionate zeal for the rich heritage of the Gallic tradition.
As a teacher Harold would generate warmth and friendliness. His students came
always first and he believed that a teacher could only be effective if he was
able to establish an adequate rapport with his students and he would go to great
lenght to achieve this even if it would mean risking conflict with his colleagues,
His classes had an interesting Old Country flavour, often realized by sampling
some of the gourmet delicacies of Europe which he loved so much and never really
left behind, At times it seemed as if Harold was a walking delicatessen dispenser.
Usually he carried a brown paperbag from which he, like a magician, weuld juggle
the most interesting edible items,
Many of us at the College, especially the staff manbers, will remember Harold as
the man who was often looking for some opportunity to share something he had
brought along with other people, Dutch chocolate, Swiss cheese or Chinese pickles.
This was notat sil difficult for him. This attitude reflected his true character.
Harold was perhaps the most cosmopolitan instructor of us all. He had a great
sense of humour, sprinkled with a witticism that reverberated his vast cultural
interest, like a man of all seasons, having his finger on the pulse of the Global
Village. No longer is Harold with usesceccceseeee John Donne once wrote: The death
of man dimishes me for I am involved in mankind. His untimely death hes diminished
Douglas. It has lost one of his most devoted member®& We should not have to send for

whom the bells tolled. The echo of their soundsis still with us. (Jacob de Jonge)

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