Victoria College Reunion 2025
The Honoured Years’ Luncheon: The More Things Change . . .
The Isabel Bader Theatre stands where students once shouted 15–love on Vic’s tennis court. The Cat’s Eye lounge now hosts video games and pool instead of the very competitive rounds of bridge of days gone by. The traffic lights around Queen’s Park make dashing to class far less harrowing. It is, however, still physically impossible to get from Old Vic to the Lash Miller Building on St. George Street in 10 minutes or less!
There were stories galore as alumni gathered at the Honoured Years’ Luncheon on May 30, 2025, to celebrate having graduated 50 years ago or longer. Meet some of Vic’s alumni who returned to campus and shared their stories!
As a young student hitchhiking to Victoria College from Oakwood Avenue and St. Clair Avenue West, Arnold Bailey Vic 5T5 never imagined he’d end up in a private seminar with one of Canada’s greatest thinkers.
Bailey, who studied English language and literature and served as editor of Acta Victoriana from 1952-55, was part of a tight-knit cohort of just 13 students. Frustrated by the lack of Canadian content in the curriculum, the group pushed—unsuccessfully—for a course in Canadian literature. But their passion caught the attention of Northrop Frye Vic 3T3, Emm 3T6, who was then a professor at Vic.
“Professor Frye shared a mutual interest with us,” Bailey said. “We would meet in his office once or twice a week to discuss Canadian literature in the form of an unofficial course. It was so generous of him to do this.”
Bailey vividly remembers Frye lecturing without notes, gripping the back of a chair as he spoke.
The experience left a lasting impression. Bailey went on to become an English teacher and librarian specialist, crediting his time at Vic—and moments like those with Frye—with teaching him how to navigate complexity and staying grounded when things got overwhelming.
Stephanie (Bilyk) Szumlanski Vic 6T5 spent her first six weeks at Vic trying to figure out what subject area to major in. She bumped into a friend from high school who was on her way to a French class. “My friend said, ‘Why don’t you come?’ Her words changed my life!” said Szumlanski. “It was fate. I took to French like a duck to water.”
By second year, Szumlanski wanted to study in France. Her professor recommended the Université de Tours where she studied for two years. “That wonderful professor really opened a door for me. He pointed me in the right direction and I followed!”
Szumlanski became a French teacher after Vic and worked in the profession for 30 years in Burlington, Brampton and Bolton. Vic instilled a “love of language and culture” that she passed on to her students. “Vic was my starting point—I can’t say enough good things about it!” she said.
Ron Stagg Vic 6T5 (pictured left) recalled antics from an initiation activity where freshmen had to find the president of VUSAC hiding “somewhere” on campus: “The guy was hiding in a garbage can in Queen’s Park covered in newspaper! It took us forever to find him.”
He also recalled putting soap in the water fountains all the way from Vic towards the Ontario Legislative Building. It was a sight to be seen: “They just kept bubbling, and bubbling and bubbling!”
Lecterns at Vic were not safe, either. Stagg recalled the story of a professor who really, really hated lecterns: “He was on the third floor of Old Vic and he just threw the lectern out of the window! Luckily nobody was hurt!”
Stagg studied history and English as an undergraduate student. “Vic taught students how to think and analyze—that was particularly true for me with history,” he said. Stagg went on to earn a PhD in Canadian history and became a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University with a special interest in social protest and Canadian-American relations. Stagg, now a professor emeritus, still speaks to domestic and international reporters providing insight on current events.
Speaking on behalf of the Class of Vic 7T5 at the Honoured Years’ Luncheon, David Wardlaw offered heartfelt remarks about the enduring impact of his time at Victoria College. “Vic is not an institution but rather a home,” he said. “Over five decades, I’ve often reflected on my university experience. It was such a formative time in my overall development and an overwhelmingly positive part of my life.”
Wardlaw studied chemical physics and became a math TA by his fourth year. “My love of learning was reinforced at Vic, and I realized teaching others could be part of my career,” he said.
Wardlaw went on to earn a PhD in theoretical chemistry and held a post-doc fellowship at CalTech. He pursued a career in academia and was successively the chair of Queen’s University’s Department of Chemistry, the dean of science at Western University, and the provost and vice-president (academic) at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
During the Honoured Years’ luncheon, Alfred-Patrick Johnson Vic 6T0 unexpectedly rose from his table and addressed the alumni: “I thank you deeply, unbelievably deeply, for a formative experience at Victoria College which was completely beyond my comprehension at the time to appreciate.”
Johnson came to Vic via Kingston, Jamaica. He chose to live at Knox College while he studied English and intended to become a Presbyterian minister. Everything changed when he fell in love with a fellow English student. “It came home to me that love of a human being was a kind of spiritual experience,” he said. “The foundation Vic provided me led to my spiritual understanding of life.”
Johnson won the Webster Prize in English while at Vic, which gave him a “boost in confidence.” This led him to a career in teaching rather than ministry; however, Johnson has spent his life dedicated to his own spiritual practice. He has, in part, studied the writings of his former teacher, Northrop Frye Vic 3T3, Emm 3T6, to carry out his vision of spiritual life.
(L-R: Alfred-Patrick Johnson and Victoria University President Rhonda McEwen)
Sheelagh Whittaker Vic 7T0 arrived at U of T with a BSc in hand from the University of Alberta. Her plan was to pursue an MSc but her heart wasn’t in it. A friend convinced her that Vic was the place to be. Whittaker took the dive into humanities and earned a BA in history and English. “I really liked the opportunity to study in small groups,” she said. “I had one English professor who I thought was amazing. At the end of the course he told us that we could write a long essay or we could write a poem. And I thought, ‘All right—here comes a poem!’ That was really great. It was so encouraging. I write books but I still write poetry and I think that is, in part, because he presented poetry as a valid alternative.”
Whittaker earned an MBA after Vic and became a business executive and author. She was the first female CEO of a TSX-listed company (Canadian Satellite Communications) and held senior positions at the Royal Bank of Canada, CanWest and Standard Life.
The Class of 6T5 came out in full force to celebrate its 60th anniversary! Before lunch they also held a pre-reception at which many fond memories were shared.