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Valley Lives
Article 17 of 146
This article first appeared in the "Valley Lives" column in the March 14, 2018 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
Ken Buck
From bookish teacher to rugged outdoorsman
By Ben Bulmer
Ken Buck was an awardwinning cinematographer, a published author, and a dedicated educator. He was the first to introduce an outdoor club to the Ottawa-Carleton School Board and spearheaded efforts to include outdoor education in the curriculum. He paddled with Bill Mason and made films for the National Film Board. A passionate cyclist, Ken toured around Cuba and cycled up one of the Tour de France's toughest climbs when he was in his 60s. He was also a husband, father, and grandfather. But to many of those who sat in Ken's classroom over his four-decade long teaching career, he was an inspiration - a passionate teacher who cared deeply about his students.
"He changed my life," one former student recently told Ken's wife, Susan Buck. "When I was a teenager, I was going down the wrong road and he made me work. He could see something and I went the other way." It's a powerful statement. "I was very proud," Susan said. "That's what teachers are supposed to do - he was doing his job."
Ken Buck was born in Toronto in 1944 and grew up in the neighbourhood of Mimico. He attended the University of Toronto where he met Susan "on the playground" while working a summer job at a school, and the couple married in 1969. The newlyweds left Toronto and and moved to a log cabin on Meech Lake, where they met Bill and Joyce Mason. Ken and Susan spent their first wedding anniversary having dinner with the Masons and a life-long friendship ensued. Already an established filmmaker, Bill Mason observed that Ken had an eye for cinematography and the two began collaborating.
The two families, with children in tow, spent their summers canoeing and camping, and amazingly never got short with each other - even when stuck in a tent for days in the rain. Bill Mason's wife, Joyce, doesn't ever recall a harsh word being uttered and remembers Ken's enormous amount of patience - a trait that was needed to produce the films that are a hallmark of Bill Mason's body of work.
"He had infinite patience to re-shoot and this was wonderful because my husband would not make anything second-rate," said Joyce. "He was willing to shoot until they had the perfect shot." Ken collaborated with Bill on several films including 'Path of the Paddle' and 'Waterwalker', winning a Genie Award for Best Cinematography for 'Song of the Paddle' in 1976.
Ken worked as a freelance cinematographer for more than 20 years, but never quit teaching to pursue it full time. "He was a teacher first," said Susan. "He loved teaching and he loved the English language." Ken introduced environmentalism and feminism - "things that made the kids think," said Susan - to his pupils, ideas that in the 1960s and 70s weren't part of mainstream education.
Ken's passion for getting people to think didn't stop in the classroom. Tom Reid spent endless hours cycling with Ken over the 30 years of their friendship. From a 10-day bike trip from Edmonton to Selkirk to a cycling trip around Cuba, Tom said Ken's moto for cycling was, "if you can't talk, you're going too fast." Along with friends Bill Burr and Bill Meldrum, the group spent huge amounts of time cycling together around the Gatineau Park, chatting about everything from politics to travel. "Before anyone had even heard of Bernie Sanders, Ken was on the bandwagon." said Tom. "He was an intellectual." That's not to say Ken didn't like a cycling challenge: Ken and Tom tackled Mont Ventoux, a mountain considered one of the most challenging in the Tour de France, and cycled a 30-kilometre climb up 3,000 metres in Hawaii.
From filmmaker and teacher to avid outdoorsman, Ken, first and foremost, was a family man. "[Ken's] children, Ian and Jen, and their children, Miles, Audrey, and Mia, meant everything to him," said Tom's wife, Rose Ann Reid. "The grandchildren's photos and artwork are everywhere in Ken and Susan's home," she said.
Ken was also a talented pianist and great lover of jazz. For one wedding anniversary, the couple held a celebration with friends and Ken wrote and performed a song about Susan. It was a moment Rose Ann remembers as very moving.
Ken was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996, but Rose Ann never once heard Ken complain about it. "His attitude was not, 'Why me?' but 'Why not me?'" said Rose Ann. When Rose Ann asked Ken how he stayed so positive, he answered, "Well, I could whine and complain, and that's what everyone would remember. Or I could bear it gracefully and everyone would remember me as a great guy." And Rose Ann said she will certainly remember him as that. "Ken was a unique and vital man. We are privileged to call him our friend."
A celebration of Ken's life will be held at the McGarry Memorial Chapel in Wakefield on April 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. with words of remembrance at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to Myeloma Canada would be appreciated. www.myelomacanada.ca