Married teachers practise what they preach

Leave before you’re ready. That’s what Victoria school educators Tami Dowler-Coltman and Greg Dowler-Coltman have been telling their students for decades.

Now, the married couple — respectively the principal and a co-leader of the arts program at the school — are following their own advice.

The two (who joined their names when they joined their lives in 1988) retired at the end of June.

Their combined years at the school add up to more than 40, and now they are taking the same leap of faith as generations of students they have tutored.

“We both want to go before it’s too late to start anything else,” said Greg Dowler-Coltman, 55. “We have taught our students about embracing the unknown. It’s about what’s next.”

It isn’t easy to walk away. The sprawling, well-worn hallways of the historic school (which first opened in 1911 and has been in transition more or less ever since) are dense with memories.

“There is something pretty unique about the culture, and the sense of home here,” said Greg, who joined Victoria School of the Arts staff 20 years ago after a theatre career that included administration, acting and directing with Theatre Network.

The pair have played a big part in the creation of the Victoria culture, and have been beneficiaries of it, too. Their three sons, 28, 26 and 24, are all professional artists who attended the school.

Tami, 60, was part of Victoria’s transformation in the 1980s, under principal Bob Maskell, from a technical institute with low enrolment into a kindergarten-to-Grade 12 experience that embraces the arts, providing thousands of attendees with the certain knowledge that their gifts are valuable. The school also has an International Baccalaureate program for all grades — a rarity in Canada — and a $2.8-million foundation that offers awards and scholarships to students.

Greg directed some 25 major theatrical productions in the 20 years he taught drama, applauding as scores of Vic grads went on to successful careers as performers. Grammy-nominated singer/ songwriter Kreesha Turner was a Vic student.

Graduate Brenna MacQuarrie (also known as iamhill) just won for top dance/electronic recording of the year at the Edmonton Music Awards.

You can’t twirl a top hat on an Edmonton stage without hitting Vic alumni, including Jana O’Connor of Teatro La Quindicina.

But the couple insists that creating professional artists is not the goal of the school.

They point to one student who was accepted at the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, only to decide that a law career was his preferred choice. Then he became a psychologist.

Another big talent is now a police officer.

“It’s about launching people,” says Greg Dowler-Coltman of what Victoria does best.

“And giving them the confidence and courage to lean into what they (can) be,” adds Tami Dowler-Coltman, and, yes, they finish each other’s sentences.

As their final week in the school wound down, the D-Cs (as they are affectionately known) found themselves drawn to the theatre crossover, a tall and narrow space behind the stage of the school’s 684-seat theatre.

There, for the past 30 years, graduating students have been invited to take a brush and leave their bright mark on both sides of the brick passage.

This day, students with tin cans of paint in hand bump past each other as they compose their thoughts.

Students cluster around the couple.

One proudly tells Mr. D-C that she has been accepted into the music program at MacEwan.

A much smaller girl waits to say goodbye to Mrs. D-C, presenting the principal with her favourite book and a hug while her mother smiles nearby.

It’s unlikely the Dowler-Coltmans will be idle in their retirement.

Both are recent graduates of Royal Roads University’s executive coaching program in Victoria. They plan to use those certifications to help others realize their passion projects.

Both look forward to travel, and new theatrical projects.

They have painted their own goodbyes in the theatre crossover.

Tami brushed the years she worked at the school onto the brick wall. Greg shared a simple message: “Breathe. Just breathe.”