Roderick McGinn:
CLASS OF 1965
Victoria Park Secondary High SchoolClass of 1965
Toronto, ON
Roderick's Story
Roderick Alan McGinn is a retired (2012) Professor of Geography at Brandon University, In June 1970 Rod married his high school sweetheart, Linda (Lynne) Donaldson (B.Sc.N. Western). They have a son, Ryan, a daughter-in-law, Anita and a grandson, Devin residing in Switzerland.
On completion of grade 13, Don Kilpatrick, Lloyd Preston and I went to University of Western Ontario. I lost contact with Don and Lloyd by first year as we pursued different careers. I enrolled in Honours Geography, graduating in May 1969. During the summers of 1967 and 1968, I worked for the Department of Geography in a research group investigating the historical settlement of several southwestern Ontario counties. I was the project’s principal cartographer. During my final academic year, 1968-1969, I was employed by the Geography Department to monitor and maintain the Department’s field station and meteorological observation station near Pt. Stanley on the shores of Lake Erie. This work involved a once weekly trip to the field station to change meteorological charts and make shoreline bluff erosion measurements.
My grade 13 sweetheart, Linda Donaldson entered the Physio and Occupational Therapy programme at the University of Toronto in the fall of 1965, however withdrew at Christmas that same year. The following fall (1966), Lynne joined me at Western, enrolling in the new and innovative Nursing degree programme. We maintained our relationship over the next four years. Lynne would often accompany me to the UWO field station on Saturdays. (Preparation for a lifetime of being scale in geography photos).
Unfortunately, I missed graduation in May 1969 as I was working for the Geologic Survey of Canada. That summer, “the summer of 69” was amazing and probably accounts for my pursuit of an academic research career. I worked with five different Quaternary researchers in the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario and Mackenzie Delta!
In the fall of 1969, I went to the University Alberta for a Master’s degree. I married Lynne Donaldson (UWO Nursing, 1970) the following year and on completion of the MSc., began a doctorate at the University of Manitoba. My son, Ryan was born in 1974 and I took a term position at York University. That summer I taught at Trent University. My family remained in the academic vagabond mode for four more years, holding sabbatical replacement and summer teaching positions at U. of Alberta (Edmonton), U. of Winnipeg, St. Mary’s U. (Halifax) and three years at the U. of Manitoba (Winnipeg). Finally, on completion of the Ph.D. in 1979, I took a position at Brandon University in Manitoba, progressed through the ranks and in December 2012 retired. Currently I am Professor Emeritus and have a small research office at BU. For those interested in my academic career at BU, I refe...Expand for more
r you to my website at Brandon University.
On two serendipitous occasions, I met former high school friends. In the mid 1970’s, Lynne and I ran into Lois Wright shopping for furniture in Winnipeg. It was a short visit and Lois indicated that she had lost track of most of the Victoria Park curlers. In 2001, I was at a conference in Whitehorse, Yukon. I found Paul Warner’s address and gave him a call. We spent a full day touring Whitehorse, canoeing on the Yukon River and enjoyed a family barbeque at his home just outside Whitehorse. Paul was the best man at Lynne and my wedding. A few years later Paul stopped by for a night on his way to Ontario. Recently I stumbled across Tex Sullivan’s obituary in the Orillia Times and Don Kilpatrick and Brian Petch have contacted me through the Classmates Website. Otherwise I have had no contact or information regarding our VPSS classmates.
Lynne and I curled everywhere we lived and we have had 16 different addresses over the years, although for the last 44 years we have been at our first real house, in Brandon Manitoba. As time passed and joints inflamed, my curling skill level has deteriorated. I had a hip replacement in March 2019. Played some golf in the summer and after an 18-month hiatus, I was back curling three times each week. Lynne laid down her brush a couple of years ago as severe arthritis took its toll. In November 2022 I had my left ankle replaced and a year later returned to the curling rink, golf in the summer. October 2023, back to health and normal activities, travel and conducting my annual snowpack survey in Riding Mountain National Park.
As for our Geographical ethos; academic conferences and field trips took Lynne and I to all provinces (many times), and territories. My glacial studies took us the Austrian and Swiss Alps, Iceland, New Zealand, Patagonia and the Antarctic.
Since retirement, the rest of the world calls. My son, Ryan and family, live just south of Zurich, Switzerland so annual visits coincide with a variety of tourist activities; river cruises (Rhine, Danube, Douro and Volga); short stays in Ireland, Sicily, Provence, Benelux, Italy and Eastern Europe. My annual spring scuba diving has taken us to a number of Caribbean countries and islands, Hawaii, Fiji and Zanzibar. We have gone on safari in Tanzania, climbed the slopes of Kilimanjaro and have been to South Africa. We have not left out South America, visiting Ecuador, the Galapagos Is, and Argentina. In February 2020, we were in the Peruvian Amazon and cloud forest and post COVID (2024) the Portuguese island of Madeira for a short stay, scuba diving in the Cayman Is., and a trip to Switzerland and the Italian Lakes. We do have quite a few “fridge magnets!” But the world is big and we still have not been to Asia or Australia.
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