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Teacher nominates astronaut for BCs highest honour

Dr Robert Thirsk traces passion for space to grade three
Laura Walz

In order to be awarded the Order of BC, someone has to work behind the scenes to nominate the candidate.

In the case of Dr. Robert Thirsk, who received BC’s highest form of recognition on September 6, that someone was one of his former elementary school teachers, Shirley Cole.

Thirsk, astronaut, mechanical engineer, physician and role model, traces his passion for space to 1962 and Cole’s grade three class at Grief Point Elementary School.

“I remember talking to the kids about space, because I had just come out of UBC [University of BC] and Sputnik was very much in the forefront at that time,” Cole said.

The class listened to a CBC radio broadcast of John Glenn, who flew the first United States manned space flight, speaking to Mission Control. “Thirsk said that’s the time when he decided he was going to be an astronaut,” Cole said.

Thirsk was a business-like student, Cole recalled. “He came to school to learn,” she said. “He didn’t get involved in anything except what he wanted to do. When he went outside to play, he had something in mind. He was a very positive student and did very well in grade three. He got along with the other students as well.”

His grade four teacher at Grief Point, Eleanor Anderson, told Cole that she had to cover the board with mathematics questions for him, over and above what she gave to the other students, because he was so good at math.

After grade four, Thirsk’s family moved and in grade five, Dorothy Grant was his teacher in Surrey. Grant, who moved to Powell River in 1974, said she taught an accelerated class that year and Thirsk fitted right in. “I had this class full of really highly intelligent people,” she said. “It was marvelous, because I got to make sure they had the basics covered, understood them, then we could just go off. It suited him and a lot of the other kids in the class to do that.”

Thirsk knew more about space than Grant did, she said. “I had to work to keep up with him.”

Thirsk honours education, Grant said, and has kept in touch with former teachers. Before his first flight on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1996, he contacted Cole and herself to invite them to the launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida. “He was very generous with his time when he was going to go into space,” said Cole. “He involved all sorts of schools in BC and across Canada in doing experiments.”

Thirsk returned to Powell River in 1996, when Stewart Alsgard, former City of Powell River mayor, was the president of Powell River Chamber of Commerce. Alsgard took Thirsk on a tour to the house where he had lived and to Grief Point. Cole met him there and Thirsk told her about how his interest in space began in her classroom.

When he was on the International Space Station in 2009, Thirsk, along with the Canadian Space Agency, organized a live video and audio downlink at the Max Cameron Theatre, which gave Powell River students an opportunity to ask questions. Scott Fisher, who was then vice-principal at Grief Point and master of ceremonies for the event, said that he has never seen a better educational experience for students than the one they had with Thirsk, Cole added.

It took Cole about a month to put together the Order of BC nomination. She wrote the reasons for nominating Thirsk as well as a biographical sketch. She also asked for supporting letters from Alsgard and Fisher.

“For me, it was a very positive exercise, because I became aware of how much he has accomplished,” she said.

Cole pointed out that when Thirsk applied to the Canadian Space Agency, there were 4,000 applicants and only six were accepted. “To me, that’s impressive, just in itself.”

Both Cole and Grant attended the Order of BC investiture ceremony at Government House. Grant said it was impressive, especially to hear what people who received the honour had done with their lives.

Cole said the ceremony was uplifting and positive. “Normally we listen to the news and hear about all the crises in the world,” she said. “This was very positive as we heard about all the wonderful things people are doing in the province.”