A teacher's life

Matthew Pike flips through the pages of his memoir, of his life as a math teacher along the Labrador coast, with the restrained pride of presenting a portfolio to a prospective employer.

Like the years, the passing pages - depicting schools since demolished and innumerable teaching awards - tell the story.

The 78-year old recently completed the memoir, entitled 'The Rewards of Being a Teacher', through Community Voices, which offered a beginners computer course at the Community Access Program (CAP) Site in West St. Modeste, where he lives.

Through the course - his first real experience with computers - Mr. Pike learned the basics, such as how to type and use e-mail.

"This was the first time I used a computer," he said, adding that, initially, he didn't know what he would do his project on.

When he considered his choices, he found a practical application.

"I thought it over, thought it over: 'I've been teaching for years, best thing to do is get that down, because once I goes, dies and gone, it's all gone.'...When people dies out it's all gone. I just did it for my family, for myself and my family, to let them know what I did, because later on, if you don't get it together, it'll be lost one of these days."

Mr. Pike began his teaching life in L'Anse au Loup in 1947-48, after he obtained his Grade 10 certificate from the Department of Education.

In 1949-50, he attended St. Bonaventure College in St. John's, receiving his Grade 11 certificate.

When completed, he headed north again, to Black Tickle in the summer of 1950, to teach ages 6 to 18.

The school, he describes in his memoirs, was about 10 by 12 feet, with a wide board along the wall for desks and one long wooden bench, with all students sitting on the same bench. A pot belly stove was used for heat, although the school needed little extra heat in July and August.

"Managing school for the summer with very little supplies was par for the course," his memoir reads.

From 1951 to 1985, Mr. Pike finished his degree in summer school and taught in Pinwar, West Ste. Modeste, L'Anse au Diable and L'Anse au Loup.

In 1952-53, he taught in an old wooden one-room school, built by Thomas O'Brien and other families in the community, in West. St. Modeste.

He retired from teaching in Our Lady of Labrador, still used as an all-grade school, in 1985, though he continued to substitute teach until 1995.

For his efforts, Mr. Pike won the Bancroft Award, given in recognition of, and appreciation for, outstanding service to the branches of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, in appreciation for his dedicated service to the people of Labrador, named Mr. Pike a member of the Grenfell Regional Health Services Board.

There were other honours.

"You learn, if you're teaching students, you got to respect them; if you give respect, you get respect back," he said.

"What makes you feel good is that, through the years, as they grow up and leave, you see they're into all kinds of fields. I've had students in my class, a doctor, a captain, engineers; you get a feeling that you did something, in other words, that you got through to them."

Last year, Mr. Pike was asked to give the graduation speech at Our Lady of Labrador.

In his speech, he quoted Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, who said: "I studied the lives of great men and women, and I found that the men and women who get to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy, enthusiasm and hard work."

Mr. Pike's speech read, "Just reflect on that for a moment..."