Carson Bice - remembered

Photo by Barry Wallace

Carson Bice was my Grade 8 teacher at Doris M. Patton Public School, King City, in 1955.   My family had just moved into the village when I started school on Keele Street North.   I distinctly remember being very surprised when I saw Carson for the first time.   He was a very short man.   He seemed to me to be about 4' nothing.   I quickly learned, however, it was woe betide anyone who mistook the man's physical stature for his commanding presence.   Moreover, he had a winning personality and as the plaque above states he was not only a teacher and principal to his students "...but also a friend to the thousands of young people he guided in their younger years".   I recall him as taking a sincere, personal interest in every student of the school and unofficially becoming their mentor.   The plaque on the north side of Norman Drive, adjacent to St. Andrew's Park and the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church grounds may be easy to overlook, but for many of us oldtimers in King City, the man's memory and legacy is not forgotten.
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BtheB