Today I nipped out of the office for a couple of hours to immerse myself in some science at UBC. The the first Randall Lecture to be given following Dave’s death last year was taking place, and it was being given by an always equal parts entertaining and brilliant research scientist who identified Dave as having been a father figure to him.
Before introducing the speaker, the host introduced Dave and his amazing career to those in the audience who had never had the pleasure of meeting or working with him in some way. Though I didn’t grab a shot of the list of former students … it was long and contained so many world-class researchers still engaging in fish physiology today, and mentoring the next generation on our very large family tree.
The first third of his seminar was a deftly woven story of all the ways that Dave had supported his career and how Dave was interwoven through the lives of so many successful former students. He shared the original letter that he’d received from Dave offering him a PhD in his lab. I was sitting between two of Dave’s early PhD students, one of them listed on the letter as a pending lambaste….the nickname was appropriate as that individual had ended up being my Sensei both in the lab, and in the dojo.
He’d spent some time in Dave’s lab years after his degrees were under his belt, and I’d met him during that period. In addition to being part of my PhD thesis committee, I’d also worked for Dave between my two graduate degrees, so there was an intersection, but I’d not seen him again until 2018 when I attended a conference in Calgary and we caught up.
I expected the seminar to be excellent, and it was, and knew it would be nice to see the speaker again, but I was not expecting my former (and now long retired) graduate supervisor and own academic father figure (whose father figure was Dave Randall). In total, four retired professors who shaped parts of my life in different ways were in attendance and so a very interesting seminar was also filled with hugs and updates.
I’d intended to catch up with a graduating student looking for some information on summer projects, but ended up remaining in the seminar room with three former mentors for the better part of an hour after everyone else had gone to lunch with the speaker. It was good to spend a bit of time to hear and feel how they are spending their time post-retirement and engage in their reflections on everything from aquaculture in BC, to the state of the organization that I currently work for, to the actual cost of heat pumps in older homes.
I’ve spent a fair bit of time this week reflecting on where I have been and what the next steps in my life are going to be.
The future always seemed so far away, and now it feels so much closer.