As many of you know Boyd (Gramps) passed away in the early evening of February 20 at his beloved Montreal General Hospital. After a wonderful family Christmas, he had a fall and the recovery was difficult: his mobility was affected and he wasn’t able to get up and out for his daily walks. Thankfully he had no hospital stay, no wheelchair, no convalescent care and wasn’t a burden to anyone. That was the way Boyd did things. A tick in the box of “a life well lived”.

To say that Boyd led an active life was an understatement. He could hardly sit still and could not stand seeing idle labour, should any of us be found sitting around when he had something better for us to do! Boyd was never without a ‘job list’ and always took advantage of ‘available muscle’. He loved life: he skied both downhill and cross country, he cycled, he curled and loved his daily walks, “The lake” was a beloved part of his life from the age of 8, where he and Sue welcomed friends and family over the many years. There was a rhythm to these years: swimming and wharf time, churning ice cream, the Job List, the Best Boat, cutting wood; each fall culminating in ‘the Boys Weekend’.

All Sedberghians and staff and friends of Sedbergh will be saddened to hear of the death of Boyd Whittall, yesterday, February 20th.

A long time supporter and benefactor of our School. Boyd arrived at Sedbergh in 1939, one of the first eleven students. The group were known as the Charter Members. Throughout his long and illustrious life, Boyd promoted the School. He was the Chairman of the Board at the time of the Great Fire in 1980, and one of the major benefactors and sponsors in the rebuilding of Sedebergh.

An obituary will be forthcoming, but I felt all Old Sedberghians should know as soon as possible and we all send to Wendy Hartley, his daughter, and the entire family, our profound sorrow in the news and our grateful thanks to Boyd for his unending care and interest in our School.

- Tony

Bob Chambers, the Guest Speaker at the Sedbergh Closing in June, 1981, the year following the great fire of April 9, 1980, stated to the parents sitting on the front lawn in front of the newly-constructed school, “To rebuild is not as important as the decision to rebuild. The decision to rebuild is in itself an act of imagination and faith.” A little over a year before, while the School was still burning, the Wood family – the Old Man, Madame, Tom, Ann, Debbie, and Ken – had already made a decision and the Board of Trustees had agreed to it: rebuild in exactly the same place. And now – the result was there in front of the parents. The phoenix had risen!

The original Sedbergh, from 1939 to 1980, is a story in itself, told in remarkable detail by Ramsay Derry in his gripping tale, Sedbergh, the Founding of a School. It reminds us of the details which were responsible for building character in boys in a country setting, of teachers who believed that the out-of-doors and the environment were crucial elements in building that character, and of Founders who had dreams of a “country school” and who, when asked by disbelievers whether there was value in this idea, simply quoted the Gospel of St. John – “Nathanial asked, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ and Philip replied ‘Come and see.’”

I did just that in 1950. Having then passed my student years in the Valley, most of my teaching career was spent at Sedbergh. After reading Ramsay’s book in 2014, I somehow knew that there needed to be a sequel to his story. After all, Sedbergh continued after the fire for another thirty years, closing only in 2010. Didn’t the students and teachers of that era need to know they had not been forgotten? What about their story?

The object of this website is to honour and maintain the spirit of the Sedbergh through your news and participation in events. Check out the site; check out the calendar of events; check out the news of other Old Sedberghians; check out the list of lost Sedberghians; check out the Obituary page; and keep yourself informed of all things Sedbergh.

Check it out often!