High school guidance counsellor set the trend in career counselling for youth
Marc Verhoeve of Kitchener Born: Sept. 19, 1947, in Belgium Died: Sept. 25, 2017, of cancer
— When nursing student Karen Weber spotted the handsome young pharmacy aide on the floor at St. Mary’s General Hospital, she asked the other nurses if they knew him.
She was given some rather disappointing news.
“They said ‘forget him, he’s going to be a priest,’” recalled Karen.
But Marc Verhoeve really wasn’t as invested in the priesthood as he thought. His father was dying of cancer so he had taken a year off seminary to help his parents, then extended his leave and eventually left the program. His faith, however, would remain integral to Marc’s life, though both his career and personal life would follow a new track.
Marc and Karen had seen each other at the hospital over the span of a couple of summers while she was in training and he worked part time as a pharmacy assistant. They started dating and married Aug. 23, 1974, in a highly inclusive ceremony that included elements from the Catholic, Lutheran and United churches.
Marc’s father, Raymond Verhoeve, a broad-minded man, had taken Marc to different churches when he was a boy, exposing him to other schools of thought, other doctrine. This desire to explore the best of what faith had to offer became the cornerstone of Marc’s future, the solid foundation on which he built a career as a high-school guidance counsellor.
Marc was born Sept. 19, 1947, in post war Belgium. His father’s brothers had migrated to Canada, establishing themselves as farmers around Tillsonburg but Marc’s father, Raymond, was a leather worker and finding work was difficult. When Marc was five, the family immigrated to Canada, direct to Kitchener, where his father had been hired by Lang Tannery. Marc’s sister Joanne was born in Kitchener.
His mother, Maria Verhoeve, was an expert seamstress and set up a business in their home, where her skills were soon in demand.
“She had customers like (TV personality) Betty Thompson,” said Karen. “She was very well known.”
Marc’s father had died when he was 18, and the young man first decided on a teaching career, completing an undergraduate degree in French and philosophy from the University of Waterloo followed by a bachelor’s degree in education and finally, a masters of education in guidance from the University of Western Ontario.
After graduating, Marc was hired as a secondary school counsellor and French teacher at Waterloo Collegiate Institute where he worked from 1975 to 1982 then transferred to Forest Heights Collegiate as head of counselling services.
Frieda Heibein was hired by Marc and worked with him for more than a dozen years.
“As a person, he was amazing,” said Frieda. “He was a really nice man, he would listen to the kids.”
In terms of his role as counselling head, Frieda called her friend “avante guard” in his leadership.
“He brought the counselling department into the computer age,” she said.
Marc was always the go-to guy when anyone had problems and he was so well connected, there didn’t seem to seem to a problem he couldn’t fix. The kids also liked him.
Marc had a particular skill helping students find just the right career path, a career they would enjoy and that would suit their personalities but it didn’t always involve pushing them toward university.
Daughter, Sarah Beingessner, said her dad would bring in trades people to career days so the students would have a broader understanding of what possibilities were out there for them.
In 1985 Marc was honoured with a Morgan D. Parmenter Memorial award, which recognizes a counsellor who has made a significant contribution to guidance and career education in the province.
Marc’s passion for helping kids find just the right path went beyond the school. Known far and wide for his expertise, Marc wrote several articles on career counselling and was a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, using the latest technology to make his presentations zing.
Starting in 1979, Marc became a practitioner of JVIS, the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey, a series of questions that can reveal the participant’s strengths and vocation. Marc wrote the handbook for the survey, published by Research Psychologists Press, and ran a private practice as a career path consultant.
A lifelong learner, in his free time Marc dove into books, a passion he learned from his father who would take the boy to the Kitchener library hoping it would improve his English and spark a love of reading. It did.
Sarah said among her fondest memories are of crawling into bed when he was reading, often with her brothers Jonathan and Adam, the whole family absorbed by the prose.
There were also languid reading sessions at the family cottage on Lake Conestogo, a little place Marc lovingly labelled “Sans Souci” French for worry free.
At age 60 Marc retired from Forest Heights and Karen retired from her job as a public health nurse.
The couple travelled but he also had more time to devote to volunteering at the library, St. Mary’s General Hospital and Habitat for Humanity Restore. He was a real people person and loved feeling useful.
Even after he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour requiring surgery, Marc didn’t stop volunteering.
“He didn’t want to be ‘that guy with cancer,’” said Karen, explaining her husband’s desire to maintain a normal life while undergoing treatment.
Unfortunately, the cancer spread and on Sept. 25, 2017, Marc died. In his last gesture of generosity and giving, Marc had signed up as an organ donor. Though because of his cancer and treatment, the organs were not viable but Trillium did request his eyes, one to each of two patients which is standard practice.
“He wasn’t ready to die,” said Karen. “He wasn’t finished being a dad, he wasn’t finished being a grandpa. He wasn’t finished with his life.”