Klondike Sun ~ June 03, 2009
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Bob Sutherland Retires
after Three Decades
Story & Photos
by Dan Davidson
The initials RSS usually stand for Robert Service School, but for the last Good News assembly of the year, something new was added. For this year Bob Sutherland is retiring from the profession after spending 30 years prowling the halls of the two different incarnations of the school, and some bright students noted that RSS could also stand for Robert Sutherland School.
Former and current students plotted to surprise Bob at this last assembly. These events are usually organized to celebrate student achievements, but this time it was clear that something else was up when Jim Leary (valedictorian for the class of 1979/80) and Ted Hunter (valedictorian for the class of 2008/09) stepped up to the microphone.
Leary, you see, was a graduate during Sutherland’s first year in Dawson, the year after the 1979 flood that turned the page on the town’s long decline. “Bob was a dedicated teacher who spent many years giving to this school,” Leary said. “He organized sporting events such as the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament and for many years took students up the Dempster Highway to Engineer Creek on a camping/hiking trip.”
For these accomplishments and others, Bob Sutherland was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award when they were first issued in 1990.
Leary recalled Sutherland as a teacher who ruled a classroom by his presence rather than by discipline. “Students always knew when to shape up or pay attention. That never changed from what I’ve been told.” Ted Hunter spoke of Sutherland as a fair, honest teacher who showed respect to his students.
These introductory remarks were followed by a slide show covering many events and classes over the thirty years of Sutherland’s tenure. It was clear that his beard grew longer and bushier as his hair retreated.
The soundtrack for the slide show was, of course, provided by Bob’s all time favorite band, the Beatles, interspersed with recorded memories and best wishes from former students. Live accolades continued after the video, in a combination of praise and good natured kidding. “From here on,” said former student Nicolaas Jansen, “while theschool will remain physically intact, it will nonetheless find a pieceof itself missing. That piece leaves with you today.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of ironic,” said another former student, Brian Naef, “when a teacher becomes his subject. Well look who’s history now.”
At that point the new meaning of RSS was announced and current students Sonny Parker and Daniel Naef walked out with a new school sign, done up in the official style used on the front of the building.
In conclusion, the school’s rock band, Out of the Black, offered a tribute of three numbers, the Beatles’ “Let it Be” and Neil Young’s “Hey, Hey, My, My (into the Black)” and “Rockin’ in the Free World” while Sutherland’s well wishers gathered around him at the back of the gymnasium (no way would Bob ever walk to the front and address the crowd) for a group photograph.
That wasn’t the end of the farewells. On May 29th, the last day of the school year, there was a late afternoon gathering in the packed bar at the Midnight Sun, where the slide show ran once more, and a further celebration in the RSS decorated lounge at 7 p.m., featuring a reunion of local band Cabin Fever and a special song for Bob and departing principal (also retiring) Philip Cull.
These events were supposed to be surprises, but nothing much gets past Bob Sutherland.
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