Some of the members of the Class of 77 at Guy's cottage

Lean on Me: Class of '77

Sumner & Lang
The Class of 1977 is one of the most active among Georgian alumni. The members keep in contact over social media and email, get together regularly and turn out in large numbers at Old Boys’ dinners. Their 40-year journey together is one of dedication, friendship and coping with loss. In just over a decade as alumni, they lost three classmates.
One of the first classes with “lifers” – students who attended the College from the earliest grade through to graduation – many of its 44 members went on to Western and Queen’s universities.

Among those who chose Queen’s was Christopher Anderson, who came to RSGC in 1970 for Grade 7. Chris was a top student whose distinguished Georgian career included debating, choir, serving as Prefect, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook and graduating as an Ontario Scholar. 

After graduating from Queen’s, Chris enrolled at Dalhousie University, where he had secured early admission to Law School. Soon after, his studies were interrupted when he contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare but serious autoimmune disorder that attacks healthy nerve cells in the peripheral nervous system. Then, while in Toronto undergoing treatment, he contracted leukemia, which led to his death in 1982.

Chris’ loss was felt acutely by his classmates, many of whom had known him since their early school years. 

“It threw me into an existential crisis from which I have never really recovered,” said Rob McCann, who shared a house with Chris at Queen’s and visited him weekly in the hospital. “It’s not the way that life is supposed to go for your best friend. It was really bad.”

Guy Burry and Chris went all the way back to kindergarten. 

“Chris and I were together at Blythwood Public School in kindergarten,” said Guy. “I was an athlete and he was at the top of the class, but we had been friends forever. It was devastating for all of us. Chris’ parents had memorial funds directed to the College because it was so important to him, and most of us contributed to honour him.”

After Chris’ death, the class moved on with their lives and careers, remaining close and often spending time together. Then, as they approached their 30th birthdays, they faced another tragedy. 

On the August long weekend in 1988, John “Robbie” Robinson and David MacLennan travelled north to Andy Rodgers’ family cottage in Temagami, as they had done for many years. One afternoon, Robbie and Dave headed out in a boat with two other people to get some groceries. Midway through the trip, as they were turning a blind corner around an island, they met another boat coming right at them. Dave was killed instantly and Robbie died while in transit to the hospital in New Liskeard.

The hours that followed were harrowing for Andy, who had been best friends with Robbie and Dave since Grade 6. He heard about the accident via CB radio, travelled to the crash site, where he had to identify Dave’s body, and then went on to the hospital, where he did the same for Robbie. He then had the task of contacting the families. 

Once more, the Class of 1977 rallied together. Almost every one of them was in attendance at the memorial service held in the College chapel. They also worked together to find a way to ensure the support carried on. 

“I remember a huge group of us at Peter Meyrick’s cottage on Lake Simcoe after the memorial,” recalled Andy. “We talked a lot about what kind of people Robbie and Dave were. We wanted to ensure some kind of legacy for them. So I offered to contact John Latimer on our behalf.”

John, who was the Headmaster at the time, was immediately supportive of the idea of a scholarship, and Andy worked with him to describe the sort of student who would best reflect Dave and Robbie. Andy put a letter out to his classmates explaining the plan and support started to pour in. Over 80 per cent of the class made a contribution, along with many of Dave’s colleagues at Dominion Securities.

Throughout the 30 years that have elapsed since then, the fund was one way the class stayed connected. They also helped shape the fund with Guy’s leadership. A parent of Owen ’13 and member of the Board from 2006-2013, Guy is currently Chair of the Foundation. 

“We had these two smaller funds that could perform better if we consolidated them,” said Guy. “I spoke to a bunch of the guys and they agreed, so we created the Class of ’77 Legacy Fund, to which we still contribute. Our goal was to ensure the fund would grow while continuing to honour the memory of the three guys.” 

The fund is one of many factors that class members point to when they reflect on the strength of their relationship. Cam Harvey, who was Head Prefect, points out that they have been deliberate about building on their strong foundation of shared experiences.

“Our alumni network has been sustained because we have worked at it,” he said. “It was difficult to track down emails for everyone, but we did. Many of us travel long distances to attend events. And we have never relied on one person to hold us together. It has always been a group effort led by guys like Peter, Guy and Rob, who have done so much.” 

Looking back, Andy also sees a link between their commitment to each other and time spent sitting in the Chapel as students hearing the Manners Maketh Men philosophy from Jack Wright himself.

“When we were younger, we would kind of snicker at it,” said Andy. “But as we got older, we began to develop that sense in ourselves. I think that philosophy, combined with the fact that we grew up together, made us a tight-knit group no matter how different we were.” 

Rob also points to the adversity they faced together.

“We were a close graduating class already,” said Rob, “And now, the shared memories of these three guys are always there in the background when we get together. When you go through that as a group, it provides a bond.” 

“From the start, it was a priority for us to keep their memories alive,” added Andy. “I think we have achieved that by talking often about what was incredibly positive about them.” 
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