Abbotsford teacher keeper of J.O. flame

An Abbotsford teacher and amateur historian, 58-year-old Ken MacLeod is the loyal heart, detail-retentive brain and non-stop driver behind the John Oliver Historical Society. Ask MacLeod for a little background on John Oliver and its South Vancouver roots and invite reams of paper-e-mails that run to multiple pages, anecdotes complete with characters and dialogue, booklets, photos and other memorabilia.

"Ken MacLeod. He's it-our leader," says 1943 John Oliver graduate Effie MacLean Abrahamson.

On a Mac G4 computer in his Langley home, MacLeod, a divorced father of two, maintains an ever-expanding list of John Oliver graduates, teachers, staff-even children and parents of grads and non-grads that lived in South Van and attended for a time. The list currently runs to 14 printed pages. MacLeod regularly scans the Internet for more finds, using the Gradfinder and Classmates web sites.

He e-mails notices such as: "Mary Cochrane turned 96 Wed., Jan. 9"- singling out a former track champion. When renowned coach and former J.O. teacher Ruth Wilson died at 82 last October, her lengthy newspaper obituary immediately went onto the society web site (jayohistory.com), and e-mail contacts were reminded of the memorial service.

Last fall, MacLeod organized a 91st birthday party for former John Oliver secondary school principal, teacher and student Eric Kelly that attracted more than 100 people to an Oakridge church.

"I love older people," MacLeod says. "I feel they have a lot to offer."

History is an obsession for MacLeod, who has led 12 veteran tours of Europe, one of which resulted in a commercial video of a First World War pilgrimage.

Since 1975, he's been interviewing West Coast salmon fishers, including the original row-boaters, all now dead, with a book in mind. "My goal is to preserve history from the point of view of the man-in-the-street," he says.

-Alison Appelbe