By the time he was in Grade 6, Gregg Gaylord knew he wanted to be a teacher, specifically a phys-ed teacher.
“I had two role models that offered a sports camp during the summer,” he recalled of growing up in Cardinal, Ont.
“Ken Lynch and Gary Bates were their names. When my dad, Bob, sees them in town back east, they always ask about me.”
Gaylord, a natural athlete, was born in Ottawa and adopted along with a younger birth brother.
After graduating from Brock University in 1989 he transferred to the University of British Columbia for teacher training.
It was at UBC he met his wife Gail Gardner and they moved to Williams Lake for work in 1991.
“We were back visiting my dad and were on our dock on the St. Lawrence River when my dad yelled down that Gail had a phone call,” he recalled.
Gail was offered a job in Williams Lake as a special needs teacher for Anne Stevenson Secondary School and said she would accept if they could find Gaylord a job.
As a result, he was hired to teach at Kwaleen Elementary School. Two years later he went to the former Williams Lake Junior Secondary School.
“I had a hodgepodge of courses to teach. I was hired as a majority P.E. teacher, but I had a learning support block, an alternate block and a Grade 8 woodwork block to fill my time table,” he said, noting he stayed at WLJH for five years before moving over to Columneetza Secondary School to teach P.E.
He started his administrative role in 2006 as vice-principal responsible for the dorm at Columneetza.
That year he also started the school hockey program with Harj Manhas who was the school principal at the time.
“I did the hockey training through the Hockey Canada Skills Program,” Gaylord said, noting he grew up playing hockey but stopped after Bantam and just focused on school sports. “I actually played volleyball on the varsity team at Brock.”
In 2010 he became principal at Williams Lake Secondary School and then returned to Columneetza to be the principal when Lake City Secondary School was created with the two campuses.
“When Williams Lake and Columneetza combined as one that was the biggest challenge of my career,” he recalled. “We had two different school cultures coming together.”
In 2019, he moved to Chilcotin Road Elementary for the principal position and will retire from there this year when his contract ends July 31.
Describing retiring at 57 as a “little bit early,” Gaylord explained he has rheumatoid arthritis and is worried about how it will affect him as he gets older.
“My health is good right now and money isn’t everything. It’s a healthy enough of a pension I decided to do it.”
Gail is planning to work another year, he added.
They have two children. Malcolm, 27, is in the bike industry in Courtney and has a business degree. Madisen, 26, has a kinesiology degree and works in sport rehab in Victoria.
After all the years, he said it is the connections with families he’s made that sticks with him as one of the highlights of his career.
“I hope I’ve been a positive influence.”
As a principal at this time of his career he frequently has students in the school whose parents he either coached or taught.
“It’s cyclical and comes full circle.”
Another joy for Gaylord in his career is to witness the positive impact the district’s food program is having with children in need.
“Just to see, before school, at recess, and at lunch, kids going down to that concession area off the gym and the look on their face with a plate of food … it makes your day. It’s awesome,” he said. “We know that there are kids hungry in this school, in all the schools in the district and they have an opportunity to get it, which is great.”
An avid cyclist, Gaylord pedals the 11 kilometres to work each day from their home on 168 Mile Road.
“I am proud to say, I biked in September, October, November. I didn’t get December, but I got late January, February and I am hoping I can get March.”
He said he is happy they made the decision to move to Williams Lake 33 years ago.
On his last line of the papers he sent to the district for his retirement he wrote “thank you for the opportunity to live, work and coach in the Cariboo.”
“It’s true. I am grateful,” he said.
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