From Bob's Memorial Service, November 25, 2005

Margaret Sutherland
My twin brother, Bob, was a gentleman from the time of our birth when he allowed me to come into this world first! – and he frequently reminded me of this fact. We were born in Vancouver and our childhood was spent at 249 West 23rd along with Barbara and Alan.

Of course we went to school together but after an early experience of me tattling to mom and dad that Bob was sent to the corner, I think he preferred being in a separate classroom when possible. One memory is of a baseball game in our backyard when the ball flew through the dining room window, shattering glass all over the tea cups on a table awaiting mom's annual bridge club evening.

When he was 20 he traveled alone to Europe to ski and explore. While in Scotland he was in an accident on his Vespa Scooter in the town of Dingwall, and while awaiting the ambulance he had his first experience of Scottish hospitality when a dear lady brought him a cup of tea. The damage to his leg required surgery and long rehabilitation. When discharged from the hospital he was invited to stay at the home of the "Sherriff of Inverness" (a Laird) so he could readily receive the required rehabilitation treatment. He enjoyed the pre-dinner tot of whisky with the Laird and his wife.

Being a bachelor, Bob particularly enjoyed his relationship with 5 nieces and nephews and latterly with 10 great nieces and nephews. After our parents died he spent Christmas alternately with Al and Dianne and other Vancouver area family and with Dave and me in various locations in Alberta and BC.

We are his immediate family but in reality, you are all his family in so many ways, and we thank you for coming today to honour his memory.

Ken MacQueen, Principal VST
I first want to express deep esteem and affection for Bob ... and to say that I speak not only for myself but also for so many at the Vancouver School of Theology.

The news of his death shocked his friends and his long-time colleagues, and we want to express this shock and this sadness.

At the same time we have delightful memories of his presence among us – of his character and personhood that was so much "in your face" the minute you saw him coming.

Bob seemed to me to be always in one of two places: in the archives, or on the prowl. He was just full of ideas and of comment and sociability and humour, and I know I will always be able to visualize him in the corridor or appearing in the doorway.

Bob's values were very much in evidence, and he was willing to put his money and his time and his energy into these values. He worked on all kinds of things, and at VST, his tireless work on behalf of the Archives is certainly a manifestation of this. And he got a great deal of satisfaction out of the understanding that he was making a difference.

People cared for him – believed him, and believed in him.

There are many things about Bob that we won't forget, but for some of us one of his recent involvements was fund-raising for the Archives. He worked on committees, and he worked on people. He helped plan the golf – many of us didn't know he had an imaginary dog named "Archie". So Archie – the Archives Wonder Dog – who Bob called "my special friend and spiritual guide".

I am going to give you a reminder of Bob from his writing about golf in his invitation to the Archives fund-raiser.

"Archivists and archives, unlike golfers, are not sexy ... In the minds of golfers, chasing a little white ball around the golf course is invigorating, socially significant, good exercise, good fun –i.e. golfers are sexy. You read sexy books called "The Zen of Golf", but you can't find anyone writing a book called "The Zen of Archives"...perhaps it's time for me to write a book on the Zen of Archives. Then I could shave my head and go on a book tour!"

Well, Bob won't be going on a book tour. But he has left us a legacy, and many memories of a good person.

May God's blessing be with him!

Wendy Hunt, Archivist, B.C. Medical Association
I was sorry to hear that Doreen Stevens, Bob's long time colleague, was ill and unable to speak to us today. In her place I would like to share some observations about Bob's relationship to the community of archives and archivists. Bob joined the profession in his mature years, bringing to his career his experience as a user of archives in pursuit of his academic interests. This experience as a researcher made him an empathetic guide to those who needed assistance in their own academic endeavours.

As Terry Eastwood observed in his note of appreciation, when Bob joined the BC Conference Archives it was a small collection. Over his 23-year career Bob built this into a comprehensive collection documenting the Church's life from its roots in Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in BC prior to 1925, and the United Church of Canada after 1925.

However, Bob was also part of the larger community of Archivists. He served on the United Church's National Committee on Archives and History. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Archives Association of BC, and was a member of the Grants Adjudication Committee, spending many hours reviewing applications and assisting many of the "small shops" to gain access to funding to support their operations.

Bob was a mentor to many students from the SLAIS program. He shared his knowledge and philosophy with them, but more importantly, he learned from each of them. I have been told that when Bob was on the Executive of the AABC at the time it was exploring the feasibility of developing the BC Archives Union List (BCAUL), Bob was, at the very least, skeptical. I believe he worried, in part, that small Archives staffed by part time, or volunteer staff, would be left behind creating an even greater divide between large and small institutions. It took much persuasion, but once Bob saw the light he became one of the most vocal proponents of BCAUL. One only has to look at the number of entries under the United Church of Canada, BC Conference, to appreciate how fully he came to embrace this new tool. He viewed each student who joined his enterprise as an opportunity to learn something, or many things, new and useful to his own professional development and to that of his institution.

While Bob may not have contributed extensively to the literature of our profession, what gems he left with us. In his article "Nurturing the Spirit" Archivaria, Volume 30, Summer 1990, he stated that "There are moments when this keeper of a church archives feels more like an arms dealer than an archivist" responding to researchers "seeking ammunition for the various positions they are taking".

Bob will be missed by many, but perhaps most by his faithful companion Archie, the Archives Wonder Dog, whose existential musings will continue to influence archivists into the future.

Cyril Powles, fellow member of Book Group
Good afternoon. Among Bob's most cherished activities in recent times was his membership in a little book reading group which I have been asked to represent today. We would usually meet once a month at the home of one of the members. The host would provide dinner, while another member would present a review of a book in which they were particularly interested. The other members did not have to read the book in advance, but their interest might be sufficiently aroused for them to look at it later. I should say that when it was Bob's turn to play host, we were always assured of a fine meal, preceded by a variety of quality drinks.

One reason for Bob's interest in the group apart from the books, was the fact that all the members except one had known each other in the past through the Student Christian Movement. The common experience of integrative, critical thinking which came from that heritage represented something precious for Bob. He wrote a letter to June Lythgoe, one of our members who sadly has been prevented by illness from being present today. I would like to quote part of what he wrote there because it explains Bob's attraction for the SCM.

"I want to say", he wrote, "that of all the experiences of my life, my early upbringing, my church life, my life as a theologue at VST, no experience has been as formative of my basic religious commitments, life-style, and general values that make me who I am, as the experience I have had with the Student Christian Movement. This may be seen as questionable advertising for the Movement, but for better or worse, the SCM has been very formative".

To that statement each one of us could say Amen.

In that quotation from Bob's letter you can hear his quirky humour, something he often contributed to our book group discussions. Let me add one more recollection. When it came to Bob's turn last year to do a book, in true archivist's fashion he presented a 15-page review of a book on the medieval crusade against the Cathars os Southern France. Not a detail was omitted, leaving the group in a state of utter exhaustion, a fact about which Bob remained completely oblivious.

We will really miss you Bob. The group will not be the same without you. We pray that you are at peace, and that light perpetual will shine on you.

Ivan Cumming, member of Bob's Support Committee
From time to time in this journey of life, someone saunters across our path leaving a trail of delight and meaning – in a Jesus kind of way – and somehow enriches our journey, lightens our daily load and gives quality to our journey. Such a person was Bob Stewart. As one of his 150,000 close friends, I want to say a word into the gloom of our sorrow and loss and the sense of abandonment we have experienced on hearing the news of Bob's death. I want to say a word of tribute to Bob and thanks to God for this gift we have encountered along our path.

Most of what needs to be said has been said. I simply want to make a few comments about Bob in a spirit of thanksgiving in the midst of our shared darkness – truly an Advent time! We, Eleanor O'Neill, Gordon How and I, made up Bob's support committee. It had been chaired for many years by Jack Shaver before he left us, and now Bob has left us, though not entirely left us. The warmth with which he approached people, his good spirited manner, and the appreciation and openness with which he greeted life – these will live in the memories of all of us gathered here. We will remember him as we proceed to live out his dreams.

I think we as a committee were meant to give support to Bob. That was the intent. Without being maudlin about it, it seemed that often it was Bob giving us support along the road. He enriched our lives as he shared his dreams; confided in us his hopes and his frustrations ... as he demonstrated his passion for the archival significance of what he was doing ... as he shared his appreciation of a frustration with bureaucracy ... as he shared his criticisms and his critique of Mother Church ... as he laid bare his soul, sharing with us his love of the solitary even as it conflicted with his existential loneliness!

We were challenged by Bob and supported by him as we launched into the great food and drink he prepared for us whenever we met at his cocoon on West Eighth ... and we listened as he unfolded the wrinkles of his life review. Bob was convinced of the need for the BIG PICTURE of the Archives but at the same time he valued the details! He seemed to appreciate every phone call, and every request. He chafed under the complexity of bureaucracy and the slowness of history, but he loved the volunteers and the committee members that made things happen. He seemed to have a plan, but at the same time was open to suggestions from all quarters.
We learned a lot as Bob talked about his health (and lack of it) almost as though it were a classic comedy engaging his future with his limited life span. He sensed that his life would be shortened ... we held our breath and our comments. He alluded to his hopes for a better world; a closer community; an enriched existence for his friends and family. It is only now that we realize how committed he was and hos specific he would be about the future of his beloved projects.

Bob no longer need wonder about his future. He no longer needs to run to catch the bus. Crowded desks and multiple e-mails are not his worry any more. Bob lives on in all of us who have benefited from his wisdom, laughed with him about his idiosyncrasies, been warmed by his friendship, enriched by his laughter and amazed at his insights.

In one of his papers for the support committee, Bob mentioned his retirement. "When I do retire, I need to make sure that I leave happy, that I feel good about what I am leaving, that I feel a sense of completion and Shalom". In another paper on loneliness he wrote:
"My personal Shalom is somewhat small potatoes. The Shalom of the Church is another matter; I want my ministry to the well-being of the Church to count". It did; it has; it does!

From collegues on the news of his death

From Jim Lewis and Sharon Larade, The Committee on Archives and History of the United Church of Canada:

We fondly remember Bob's passion for all things archival, his sense of humour, his warmth, his ready willingness to help with whatever was needed, and the ever-present cappuccino bar for volunteer meetings.

As Gary Mitchell, Provincial Archivist of BC writes, "He has been, for all my years in archives, one of the mainstays of our community. A giant of an archivist with a sense of humour to match, Bob was great in bringing life to our gatherings but he also brought a thoughtful and caring mind to our discussions."

Bob's connection with archives was established in the early 1970s when researching in archives for his Master of Divinity thesis on the Oxford Group Movement in Canada in the 1930s. His career as an archivist began in 1982 when he joined the BC Conference Archives. At that time he became a member of the Church's National Committee on Archives and History to which he continued to make an important contribution up until the time of his death. Under his guidance, the Conference Archives was established as a repository with a rich collection of records documenting of Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational Churches within British Columbia prior to 1925, and The United Church of Canada after 1925.

Bob's thinking and rants about archives nurtured the development of both a United Church Archives and a religious archives community. He mentored archival studies students from UBC's program since its inception in 1981.

Bob was a valiant contributor of RAD descriptions to BCAUL. His contribution to archival literature includes his article in Archivaria 30 (Summer 1990) "Nurturing the Spirit: Reflections on the Role of a Church Archivist." More recently he wrote about privacy and digital records in a church context, and he helped edit Archives & Recordkeeping: A How-To Guide for Congregations and Conferences (2005).

Archives was Bob's passion and joy. Few can forget his award-winning video The Archives: More than a Holding Operation (1992), featuring an archival choir gustily singing "Will your archives hold in the storms of life?"

A recent passion was the annual Archie Open golf tournament, which was part of the fundraising campaign to build a new archival facility for the three archives housed at the Vancouver School of Theology.

A worship service in celebration of Bob's life will be held Friday, November 25, at 3:00 p.m. at First United Church, 320 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. Bob's passing is a huge loss to his many friends and colleagues across the profession and across the country.

On behalf of the Committee on Archives and History of the United Church of Canada,
Jim Lewis and Sharon Larade

From Terry Eastwood, Master of Archival Studies Program, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia
I had regular dealings with Bob Stewart since the 1982 when he took on the task of taking the rudimentary BC Conference Archives in hand. I think of Bob as one of the wonders of the local archival community, a kind of quintessential, quirky archivist of the old school who nevertheless approached everything with an open and welcoming mind. He might make certain of the habits and effects of the Master of Archival Studies program, which fed him a steady diet of students to do work in his Archives, the butt of his sardonic sense of humour, but he engaged in the mentoring process with his own brand of gusto, a mixture of interest and excitement at seeing how they performed with a certain reserve that newfangled ideas would not be allowed to upset his well constructed procedures. Nary a student ever expressed but respect and admiration for him. His reknowned sympathy for the down and out of this world made him a perhaps too obvious (for his own good, I mean) choice to take on struggling students. He often worked little miracles to impress archival principles on his charges where books and lectures had not entirely succeeded. It is a measure of his generosity and sympathy for others that he took on such charges, for, to be truthful, he did not suffer fools gladly.

Sharon Larade's few words about his work at the BC Conference Archives might be elaborated a little. He took on a small collection with a decidely antiquarian flavour and built it into a remarkable body of holding refecting a very wide array of the Church's activities. He worked tirelessly to make the Archives a living part of the Church's life. He spent countless hours working to improve the collections accommodations. If I remember rightly, he suffered three moves during his tenure, and could see a fourth in the offing. That is cruel and unusal punishment for any archivist to endure. Through it all he built a very solid foundation for his successors.

Bob was at his best when he produced a promotional video for the Archives, something he could show at Church meetings to explain his program. I cannot do it justice in words. Let's just say he brought off one scene featuring "the genealogists from hell" with such good humour that no one could take offense.

It is very sad that Bob was whisked away from us so suddenly. I know I will miss him and remember him always. He was a great colleague and friend to me and to many others.

Terry Eastwood
Master of Archival Studies Program
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
The University of British Columbia

From Gary A. Mitchell, CRM, Provincial Archivist and Director, Royal BC Museum Corporation

I have just read the news about my long time friend in archives, Bob Stewart and I am deeply saddened at our loss. He has been, for all my years in archives, one of the mainstays of our community. A giant of an archivist with a sense of humour to match, Bob was great in bringing life to our gatherings but he also brought a thoughtful and caring mind to our discussions.

Like my predecessor John Bovey, Bob was always good for a saint day story. November 15 is the feast day of Albert the Great, Friar and Scholar. A day well chosen for his writings, like Bob's interests, are broad and concerned not only with biblical and theological studies, but also with logic, metaphysics, ethics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, human and animal physiology, geography, geology, and botany. As stated previously, he joins the communion of saints and he will be heartily welcomed.

To his colleagues and friends at the United Church Archives and the Provincial Synod, my condolences at your loss; to my community, I mourn the passing of a "gentle giant." I am ever thankful I knew Bob Stewart and grateful for having shared time and food with him.

Gary A. Mitchell, CRM
Provincial Archivist and Director
Royal BC Museum Corporation

From John Boylan, City of Charlottetown Heritage Office, Prince Edward Island

I was one of the scores of UBC archival students that passed through Bob's shop. There were so many of us in the place at any given time that he was hard-pressed to remember our names. His kindness, though, was remarkable. Especially so given that he was facing one of the moves Terry Eastwood wrote of. None of us ever suffered for want of a cookie and a cup of tea.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I got to know Bob a bit better through the fonds he had me arrange and describe. The papers of another Bob, former United Church Moderator Robert Smith, portrayed a man deeply comitted to social justice. Bob's similar passions became clear when we talked about Mr. Smith and his role in the Church. How fitting that his memorial service will be at First United, a place both men knew well.

My sincere condolences to those who knew and loved Bob.

John Boylan
City of Charlottetown Heritage Office
Prince Edward Island