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Clinton Lougheed will be remembered for his keen intelligence, and insatiable curiosity –  a good example: only weeks before his death, he enrolled in an online course on quantum physics. Clinton was a wonderful raconteur who never took himself too seriously and found humour in all aspects of life. 

Clinton was born in Feb. 24, 1922, the son of John Henry and Drusilla Charlotte Lougheed (née Dobson). Clinton grew up in the village of Thornbury on the southern shores of Georgian Bay, one of six children: Margaret, Ethel, Frank, Everett and George. He served with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942 to 1946. His dreams of flying were dashed by unremitting vertigo whenever he was aloft, and he settled for a more terrestrial existence during his service. Clinton’s university career began at Queen’s University, from which he graduated with an Honours BA in English in 1949. His MA, also completed at Queen’s University, (1950) explored James Joyce’s novel Portrait of the artist as a young man. In 1950 he was awarded a scholarship to study at Harvard University. After a hiatus teaching high school in his hometown, Clinton undertook and completed his doctorate at Harvard, studying the work of 19th Century Irish author Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu.

Clinton joined the Department of English at Queen’s University in 1955. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1963-64, and to Full Professor in 1965-66. Recognizing a need for expanded academic counseling the Faculty of Arts and Science appointed him as Assistant Dean on Sept. 1, 1967 to fill this need. Clinton was promoted to Associate Dean (Humanities) on July 1, 1969 serving under Dean Ronald L. Watts. In announcing his promotion, Dean Watts cited his ‘wisdom and devotion’ to the faculty and especially to students. After three years he was re-appointed as Associate Dean (Arts) serving until 1975. Clinton was the founding director of the Strathy Language Unit at Queen’s, endowed and created in 1981 to assemble an archive of Canadian English. In this role he edited the first and second volumes of the Strathy Occasional Papers.

Clinton’s avowed bachelor life ended in 1973 with a chance meeting with his neighbour, Rosemarie Hunter, a newly-minted Queen’s professor of German Language and Literature. Soon thereafter Clinton and Rosemarie became an item, and they married in 1977. Clinton welcomed Rosemarie’s daughters, Fiona, Barbara and Isabel into his life wholeheartedly. Both Clinton and Rosemarie loved to travel and they had many adventures all over the globe. At home, they sailed the Great Lakes in Clinton’s small boat, eventually putting down anchor on Wolfe Island. Their summers there were filled with planting, pruning, weeding and harvesting – friends and family were always welcome.  

Clinton’s love of gardening continued in retirement when he and Rosemarie moved to an acreage a few miles outside Victoria with views of the ocean. Here, they entertained family and friends from near and far, and Clinton became a doting grandfather to Morgan, Nigel, Mara and Olev, and great granddaughter, Ava.

When health issues confined him to a wheelchair in the last 10 years of his life, Clinton never complained and found ways to live life to the fullest. He took up photography, revived his interest in drawing, became an iPad aficionado, cooked for himself and others, and watched hundreds of educational programs. Books found by his chair after his death included The Universe Within by Neil Turok and The Meaning of Human Existence by Edward O. Wilson

Clinton was well loved and is deeply missed by Rosemarie and his step-daughters, their partners and children, and all of his surviving Lougheed clan, including brother Frank (Helen), sister-in-law Leslie, and nieces and nephews, Rose (Hugh), Richard (Judy), Peter (Ann), Carol, Rob, Kathy (Al), and Stephen (Anne).