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Page Updated:
October 17, 2007
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John Stephens, CD (82,83,84,99,00,01*)
 October
2007 - John began his Scouting
as a Cub at the age of seven with the 6th Scarborough West (Wilmar Heights
United Church) and progressed through Scouts (6th SW), Venturers (20th
Agincourt) and Rovers (10/107th Toronto). As a Venturer he volunteered at the
Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Service Corps which was run at the time by Dan
Peace (65-69). He attended Sir John A. McDonald Collegiate Institute with
fellow classmate Robb Duncan (72-74, 76).
In the summer of 1975, John worked for the Greater Toronto Region succeeding Dan
as the Service Corps Director and working under the supervision of the Director
of Special Events George Kerr (51-56,58-59,60,64).
After one year at
Trent University,
John accepted a position as the Beaver Project Worker in Greater Toronto Region
where he promoted and recruited youth and leaders for Scouting's newest program
section doing over 200 school presentation and 120 parent presentations in 18
months. He then became a Field Executive in GTR where he supported the Older
Youth Programs and the West Sub-Region. During this time he was also Co-Advisor
of the St John's United Church Youth Group whose membership included John
Kissick (77-80) and Eric McCormack (later to act as Will in Will & Grace.)
In his spare time, John became involved
with the Royal Canadian Army Cadet program as a Civilian Instructor in 1979 with
the #17 Upper Canada College Rifles Cadet Corps. He was commissioned as an
officer in the Canadian Forces Reserves in December 1980 and served in a variety
of positions until 1986 including Commanding Officer, and was promoted to the
rank of Captain.
John served
at HSR as Administrator (82-84) In 1983, he accepted a
challenge from English born Staff-in-Training Simon Taylor (83-85) and the first Cricket
Match was quickly organized between the "Lords" and "Loon Islanders" teams at
the Mill Site where the grass had not been cut for almost 10 years followed of
course by High Tea served in the area now occupied by the IT Cabins. A beautiful
wooden trophy (now on its third added base) built by Ted Aylan Parker
(61,63-66,71,80-85, 90-01,03-04), is
still presented annually for a match between current staff and Alumni played
during the Alumni Reunion Weekend.
In
1986 John became the
Provincial Field Executive for Quite Region (in which HSR is located) and moved
to Brighton, ON. During this time, John felt that some kind of organization
would be useful to help former HSR staff keep in touch and to coordinator their
efforts in supporting the camp. In 1989 he gathered together a number of former
staff members from a cross section of years and together the HSR Staff Alumni
Association was organized and structured. Since founding the Association, he has
served as the first Thunderbird Editor, Membership Chair,
Secretary, Treasurer, Trails Chair and Webmaster.
 When
his Scouting employment took him to Quite Region, he also continued his Canadian
Forces service as the Commanding Officer of #96 Trinity College School Rifles
(Port Hope) until 1992 when he moved to Mississauga and transferred to the staff
of #142.
He served as
Training Officer before promotion to Major and appointment as the
Commanding Officer of the
#142 St. Andrew's College Highland Cadet Corps
on May 8, 1999. In 1992 he was awarded the Canadian
Forces good service medal - the
Canada Decoration, and
the bar in 2002. He stepped down as Commanding Officer in May 2002 and
transferred to the Supplementary Reserve in 2006.
Having continued to volunteer at HSR for
many years, he officially served as Pre-Camp Director for four summers (1998-2001).
After leaving Scouts Canada in 2002, he
became the Administrator for Madison Grant Fund Inc. and is currently employed as
the Administrative and Finance Coordinator for the Assistant Deputy Minister,
Ontario Ministry of Culture in
Toronto.
John
currently lives in Toronto and can be reached at
john.stephens@sympatico.ca
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