U OF G PROVIDED GROUNDING FOR THREE GENERATIONS OF GRADS

All four seasons are captured in the named gardens that are part of the D.M. Rutherford Family Conservatory and Gardens marking the U of G entrance.

The gardens and restored 1930s-era greenhouse were dedicated in 1999 during the 125th anniversary of the Ontario Agricultural College. A year earlier, Donald M. Rutherford, OAC ’51, made a leadership gift of $256,000 toward the $1-million project.

The surrounding six gardens are named for donors, including an Autumn Garden named for Rutherford’s Class of ’51. The class marked its 70th anniversary in 2021 by raising $51,000 for student awards intended to foster leadership.

Rutherford died in fall 2021 at age 93.

On hand for the dedication ceremony in 1999 were Rutherford’s family members, including his granddaughter Bonnie (Speed) Douglas, then studying biological engineering at U of G.

“He was proud of me for going to Guelph,” says Douglas, B.Eng. ’02, whose studies here extended the family connection.

A generation earlier, her parents met on campus as students. Her father, Grant Speed, completed agricultural diploma studies in 1973; her mom, Jean Curtis, studied science at U of G in 1971 before enrolling in teacher’s college.

Referring to the conservatory and surrounding gardens, Douglas says, “The project was important to Donald and the family because it allowed three generations of alumni to connect and strengthen their Guelph roots.”

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“It’s like going to Disney but for a vaccination.” That was a comment from one of the thousands of grateful community members who received their COVID-19 shot this spring at the U of G vaccination clinic run in partnership with the Guelph Family Health Team (GFHT).

Not that the clinic, which opened in the University Centre courtyard March 16, was offering the thrill of an amusement park ride, but that it was operated with efficiency and friendliness.

By mid-April, the U of G clinic had vaccinated 12,500 people, helping Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health reach its goal of providing at least one dose of a vaccine to 25 per cent of eligible residents in the region by that point.

By then, the clinic was vaccinating about 600 people a day, with plans to reach at least 800 daily injections into the summer months, says Ed Townsley, executive director of Hospitality Services and vaccination clinic manager. He expected total vaccinations at the U of G clinic to reach about 60,000 people by the end of June.

The weekday clinic is staffed by members of the GFHT and U of G’s Hospitality Services along with University and community volunteers.

About 200 students, staff, faculty, retirees and community members have since assisted regularly. Says Townsley: “They really believe it’s the right thing for the University of Guelph to do.”

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Rumoured to have been fired in the War of 1812, the imposing antique weapon has been pacified in modern times. Each academic year, it is repeatedly painted after dark in vivid colours and assorted messages.  

A colourful CAMPUS tradition FOR more than A CENTURY

The cannon has announced U of G events, programs, fraternities and community causes, and occasionally been dive-bombed with political statements. It’s delivered marriage proposals and giggle-inducing lines like “Have you been debugged lately?” (from the School of Computer Science).  

Over the years, the message board has been transformed into a Canada goose, penguin, dragonfly, giraffe and squirrel, and even the Titanic.   

Old Jeremiah was last fired in 1913 before its barrel was sealed. Pranksters can no longer wheel it around campus, as it is now permanently anchored to the ground. Dozens of times each year, it receives a new coat of paint.   

In 2011, Dawn Johnston, a master of fine art student, stripped the cannon of about 30 years’ worth of paint for an art project.

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New trees, shrubs, flowers and ground cover make the garden a place of great beauty and peace within the bustling campus. A haven for pollinators and a splendid place to read or picnic, the garden continues to grow in beauty and variety.   

The goal, says John Reinhart, U of G grounds manager, is to make it a true four-season garden: beautiful and inviting year-round.

He says the space is ideally located for visibility, situated next to the University Centre where up to 2.2 million people pass by each year.

“It’s a labour of love,” Reinhart says, crediting the vision and passion of head gardener Nick Colley-Lussier.

“We want to keep up to the highest standards. Most plants are chosen for different beauty effects throughout the garden. Areas that need to be planted a bit thicker will be, so that we can have a higher level of show garden all of the time. Filling in those spaces means less weeding and lower maintenance.”

The D.M. Rutherford Family Conservatory, the glass and steel greenhouse built in 1930, occupies centre stage in the garden. From it radiate 12 garden plots, each with a rich assortment of plants. Expect an even more surprising and awe-inspiring array as the garden grows.

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The result is a meticulously designed alumni “wall of fame” outside of War Memorial Hall. Unveiled during Alumni Weekend, it pays homage to alumni of all ages and backgrounds who have helped improve life and U of G, while respecting the heritage of the historical building.

Low stone and concrete walls – the materials and design carefully chosen to match War Mem — frame the space. They also provide a base for plaques inscribed with the names of honoured alumni.

Maurice Nelischer, MLA ’78 and a retired U of G landscape architecture professor, designed and constructed the space, donating all of his time and labour, with some help from U of G landscape architecture graduate students.

Nelischer came up with the idea of relocating the alumni tribute space from Alumni House to War Memorial Hall. The new prominent location gives alumni the recognition they deserve, Nelischer says, now and in the future.

“I left enough room to add names to the plaques every year for the next 80 years.”

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In the heart of Gryphon sports action, the structure’s predominantly glass, east-facing wall has an elevated view of Alumni Stadium’s football field and track. The words printed on those windows delineate the building’s raison d’être: “WHERE CHAMPIONS ARE BUILT.”

The campus road leading to the new pavilion has been renamed Lang Way for the facility’s benefactors. Stu Lang, U of G’s former varsity head football coach, and Kim Lang, artistic director of the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, provided funding for the new facility through their Angel Gabriel Foundation, which has supported many learning and humanitarian projects at U of G and in the city of Guelph.

Stu Lang, who led the Gryphons to their 2015 Yates Cup victory, envisions the new pavilion as a meeting place for sports enthusiasts and players. He says it will help U of G compete for varsity recruits with schools across North America, and “hopefully help keep top athletes at home.”

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“A University of Guelph graduate can do anything.” That was a key lesson from what Martha Billes calls her transformational education at the University of Guelph. She shared that message with new graduates during summer 2017 convocation ceremonies — her first as U of G’s chancellor.

She is the first U of G graduate to serve as chancellor.

Billes, the controlling shareholder of Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., is a 1963 graduate of the Macdonald Institute, one of U of G’s founding colleges.

The Canadian business icon and well-known philanthropist was installed as chancellor in June. During the ceremony, she reflected on U of G’s role in her life, recalling her days as a “Mac girl” and acknowledging former classmates among her audience.

“It was at Mac that our world broadened,” she says. Her professors fostered a desire to learn, she says, “but more importantly, they were always pulling us forward and inspiring us to look way, way ahead.”

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“Young people today are able to cope with and process more information and attend to more sources of new information and knowledge than any other generation,” said Vaccarino. But being constantly inundated with information from our smartphones, tablets and laptops makes it even more important to take the time to stop and think.

Vaccarino compared this deluge of data to a river flowing with new ideas and knowledge. “We need to think faster” to process this information while considering its long-term impact. U of G teaches students how to engage in both reactive and reflective thinking to improve life for themselves, their community and their world.

The University graduated more than 1,000 students during winter convocation ceremonies in February. Six ceremonies were held over two days at War Memorial Hall. –SUSAN BUBAK

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But in another way, those gourmet potatoes in your supermarket or on your restaurant dinner plate might owe something to that popular named variety developed a half-century ago at the University of Guelph.

Even just naming a potato suggested that “it was special, it tasted better than the average potato,” says Vanessa Currie, a plant agriculture technician. “It opened the door for the idea of the potato going from just being a potato with no name to something special.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the potato bred by Gary Johnston at U of G. In 1966, two years after the University’s establishment, Johnston bred Yukon Gold, which reached Canadian growers in 1981.

Johnston, a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College, died in 2000, but his idea — a potato with a name — lives on.

Earlier, a potato was just a potato. “It was sustenance,” says Currie. “Potatoes were something people ate every day.”

After the Second World War, new immigrants arrived in Canada from Europe, particularly Belgium and the Netherlands. They brought with them different tastes.

Currie says Johnston worked to accommodate those changing tastes. In the mid-1900s, that idea was a bit revolutionary.

Today consumers can still buy an ordinary 4.5-kilogram bag of generic potatoes for two dollars. But you can also buy a premium bag weighing a third as much for more than twice the price.

And many of those new potatoes are marketed with monikers that sound more like something in the beauty products aisle rather than the produce aisle.

Referring to a variety sold by one supermarket chain, Currie says, “They wouldn’t have gotten to Strawberry Blonde without Yukon Gold in between. A generation of consumers has grown up thinking of Yukon Gold. Now the bar is raised.” –ANDREW VOWLES

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Portico wanted to get in on the fun, so we asked Rotsztain to draw U of G’s McLaughlin Library, which he likes because of its “quiet bustle” and the delicate balance expressed in its architecture: “A brutalist concrete structure that nevertheless lets in lots of light.”

Just like Rotsztain’s collection, we’re also presenting it to you as a colouring page — tear it out (or download the image), dig out your favourite pencil crayons and take some time to be creative this summer. We’d love to see your finished creation — email or tweet us a picture (@porticomag) and we’ll share it online.

–STACEY MORRISON

To view all of Rotsztain’s library illustrations, visit allthelibraries.ca

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