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Celebration of life for Ted Rhodes, pillar of Cowichan music scene

Loved classical music and chemical engineering

People in Cowichan will remember Dr. Ted Rhodes as an accomplished singer and lover of music, but his wife Rae also wants to let people in on what a successful professional career he enjoyed, and hopes others will take inspiration from his life.

Rae will be celebrating the life of her late husband on Jan. 18 at the Christian Reformed Church on Trunk Road in Duncan at 2 p.m. Ted, who was 86, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Aug. 15 of last year and died peacefully in his Duncan home on Sept. 5, leaving behind a son and a daughter and grandchildren. Most in the community will remember him for his voice, and love for classical music. 

"We had very little time, hardly time to say goodbye or talk about it, " said Rhodes. "People from here only knew him as a singer."

The couple both originally hail from across the pond. Ted attended Manchester University where he earned his BSc, MSc, and PhD and upon earning these three degrees spent time as a lecturer with the university for a short stint after.

Following the lead of many of their friends the Rhodeses embraced the opportunity to see the world in the early 1960s, which Rae said was much easier to do back then compared to nowadays. They used an atlas to decide on stops for their globetrotting adventure which included places such as New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, and Africa before eventually making their way to Canada in 1964 when Ted was offered a job to teach chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo, which had just opened its doors in 1958. Rae said when they first arrived there were only nine professors, which quickly increased to 29 over the next few years. Rae said Ted loved teaching, not to mention being afforded the opportunity to do research, and have research assistants and post grads working for him.

Ted was a chemical engineering professor with the University of Waterloo for 23 years, with 11 years as department chair. While he was chair for the department, he was approached by the Kitchener, Waterloo Oktoberfest where he was asked to sit at the table as the managing director of a series of six professional operettas which were produced for the festival and cost between $200,000 and $250,000 per production. It was also during this time that he was in charge of 11 research labs around the world for a large petrochemical company, and in 1978 received an award for his distinguished contribution in the field of chemical engineering in Canada. Other career highlights include a short stint in Calgary where he held the position of Dean of Engineering and while living there sang with the Calgary Opera Chorus.

According to Rae, Ted was a phenomenal classical singer who got his start singing in church at the tender age of eight. While there were periods in his life where he wasn't able to devote as much time to his singing as would have liked due to professional commitments he did make the time to write his own book titled Musical Memories of a Chemical Engineer.

"He had it printed off and those who he felt were interested received a physical copy," said Rhodes.

Before retiring at the age of 60 Ted also did a short stint as the president of the Technical University of Nova Scotia from 1994 to 1998. 

By 2006, the Rhodeses made the Cowichan Valley their home where Ted quickly became well-know for his rich voice and passion for classical musical. He not only was a chair with the Cowichan Symphony Society for 11 years, but also sang with the Cowichan Consort Choir where he first met fellow musician Yvonne Gillespie, who he worked alongside for 10 years and who will be the pianist for his upcoming celebration of life. 

"He was an operatic singer and loved to sing; he truly had a beautiful voice," said Gillespie. "He had a way of getting people engaged as well as a real keen sense of business which only helped to fuel his passion and get ensembles going."

"He had a passion for the music and was very involved with orchestras and symphonic music and would sing on a weekly basis to keep his voice in shape," said Rhodes. "He was a tenor, and tenors are rare creatures. By the age of 86 he was still singing beautifully, and I was really just amazed."

Rae said Ted was singing right up until the end of his life and even took part in a huge choir which had been assembled to sing Mozart's Requiem in a Victoria cathedral this past July.

Ted's praises will quite literally be sung at the upcoming celebration of his life on Jan. 18. There will be some special soloists at the Stories and Songs Celebration who have had remarkable careers singing internationally with major orchestras.

"These are some of Ted’s dear friends, and this will be a wonderful opportunity to hear them," said Rhodes.

Letters from former University of Waterloo professors will be read, and music from the original CD he recorded titled Music We Love will also be played.

"We will be performing pieces that he loved ranging form different concerts that he had done and there will also be songs played from his CD," said Gillespie.

"I want people to know and see what an amazing man he was," said Rhodes. "What I want people to learn is that he was not only a singer, but also a brilliant chemical engineer, and had an amazing professional life as well. There won't be a lot of young people there which will be a shame because what I'd love people to know is that young people should have that feeling that they can do anything, if only they work hard."



About the Author: Chadd Cawson

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