Teacher’s empathy and care remembered
One of the first questions most old boys ask when visiting the college is, ‘‘How is ‘Dougie’?’’ Then they relate their misty-eyed memories of hours spent going up hill and down dale in the wilder regions of the top half of the South Island.
As a maths teacher, Stu specialised in working with lower ability year 11 and year 12 students. Many of these boys owe their ongoing success to Stu’s dedication and passion for mathematics and his ability to build their confidence in the subject.
Stu took his outdoor education boys on some epic trips in the hills and mountains, many accomplishing feats far greater than they had expected. Stu’s students gained outdoors experience and, with it, the bonus of confidence and maturity. A good deal of Stu’s ‘‘counselling’’ occurred in our national parks over the course of long days in the mountains, the outdoor experience being just as important as his patient encouragement and the wise thoughts he shared with his fellow trampers.
A keen and dedicated mountain biker, Stu initiated many colleagues and boys into his high standards of distance, verticality and speed, taking teams to compete in inter-school competitions.
A serious accident on the Botanic Hill’s downhill track did not put him off either. He was back on his bike remarkably quickly. Stu also enjoyed running, often setting out for a 16-kilometre run or further early in the morning.
He would arrive fresh at work, putting to shame those of his colleagues who aspired to a fit and healthy lifestyle.
Stu was born in 1950 and raised in Oamaru in one of those ‘‘salt of the earth’’ families that then populated the smaller centres of New Zealand.
He attended Waitaki Boys’ High School where he played for the 1st XV and, post school, gained a University of Otago physical education diploma along with university ‘‘blues’’ for athletics.
He qualified as a teacher at Christchurch Teachers College. In 1973 he began teaching PE at Nelson College and got involved in Cadets. He was known as a very speedy tramper who expected everyone else to keep up. One tramp that Stu organised for the boys at a year-10 cadet camp in the early 1970s based at Marahau was from the camp up to Holyoake’s clearing, down to Anchorage and back to camp. Not a bad trip for a day.
Stu took time out from teaching to work at Anakiwa’s Outward Bound. It was typical of Stu that when on exchange with the Spirit of Adventure sailing programme, he cycled north to Auckland, sailed for two weeks then cycled back to Anakiwa.
After his OE, he eventually made his way back to Nelson College via Twizel High School. When that school closed at the end of 1984, he was offered a supernumerary position at any school he wanted. He chose Nelson College and was a member of staff from 1985 until his retirement due to ill health at the end of the 2013 school year.
Stu had a rich life outside his teaching career. His weekends and holidays were as full as term time, as he tramped, climbed or mountain biked the length and breadth of New Zealand and abroad. Stu’s wife Linda says he climbed in Nepal and Europe and summited all the major peaks in New Zealand, including a couple of first ascents. He was an accomplished ‘‘amateur’’ builder, building two houses for his family in Nelson and renovating another. He was a skilled wood turner, a bee keeper, a passionate and successful fisherman and he kept an extensive and productive vegetable garden.
He loved art and music and built close friendships with the many people who were hosted by him and second wife Linda in the boutique accommodation on the hills above the Maitai River they ran as a sideline to their busy teaching jobs.
A large crowd filled the Nelson College Assembly Hall to farewell Stu in mid-January. Appropriately, his casket rested in the rowing dory he built off plans from the internet.
As a teacher he made a significant and lasting impact on his students, colleagues and on the institutions in which he taught. That so many people, including many former students, from so many places and from such varied backgrounds and occupations came to say goodbye and support his family, speaks to Stu’s generous and loving contribution to all those whose lives he touched.
Stuart William McDougall, November 18, 1950 – January 18, 2015, survived by wife Linda, his son and daughter, a stepson, stepdaughter and two grandsons.