"Touching the Future": A special gift to the Campaign for Huron

19 February 2010

Gifts to Huron are often inspired by a donor's passion to shape an outcome about which he or she deeply cares. Such was the case with Huron alumnus Galen Weston's gift to our current Capital Campaign, "Touch the Future." Archbishop Terry Finlay (also an alumnus and a classmate of Galen's) accompanied me on a visit to Galen in August of 2008 to ask for his support. As we talked, Galen spoke of his desire to see a book written that would do justice to the history of Canada's cooperation with Britain in the two world wars. We began to imagine how we could work together to accomplish this goal, and at the same time how we could design a gift that would also benefit Huron's students for generations to come. The result after a number of conversations was the pledge of a $500,000 gift from Galen to Huron, up to $100,000 of which would support the production of "the history book" and the balance of which would be endowed to help fund the costs of teaching British history at Huron.

Terry and I quickly set up a small project committee composed of Huron history faculty members Doug Leighton and Amy Bell as well as retired UWO history professor Neville Thompson. We met several times to develop an outline for the book, with Galen staying actively involved in our work, suggesting topics that should be included and reviewing with us names of possible authors. We were delighted when the ideal author turned out to be just "across the road," a member of Western's history faculty. Jonathan Vance holds the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture and specializes in Canadian military and cultural history, war and society in the 20th century, and social memory. He is a prolific and prize-winning author whose research expertise dovetails perfectly with the aims of our project. He agreed in the spring of 2009 to sign on as our writer, with a projected completion date of summer 2011 and a working title of "Canada, Britain and the Two World Wars."

Thus from Galen Weston's passion for British and Canadian history, and his long-faithful support for Huron, grew the idea for a project that will "touch the future" in manifold ways. Professor Vance's book will enrich public knowledge of an important area of Canadian and British relationships, and the new endowment will ensure that Huron's students continue to benefit from the first-rate teaching of British history in our classrooms. We are grateful to Galen for his generous and visionary initiative.

Ramona Lumpkin, PhD
Principal