|
|
|
Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006
Reader tributes to Peter Gzowski
Part 5
For over two years now, my husband and I have been "ex-pats", living in England. So I just learned about Peter Gzowski's death, several days after the fact. While we love our temporary life here, we miss all things Canadian. Peter Gzowski, for me, is one of those things. I am saddened that I will not be able to hear him again, or read his thoughtful words. I raised my children listening to Morningside. His humour, humanity, his ability to reach out to all sorts of Canadians, and make their lives real to us, cannot be replaced.
Cindy Delage
Ottawa and Maidenhead, UK
I was an undergraduate at McGill when I discovered Morningside. I ended up setting my alarm for an earlier hour just so that I could listen longer to Peter Gzowski before classes started. Gzowski on Morningside sparked my love of radio and now, living abroad, I have had to find other shows, other hosts. The ABC in Australia has some good programming and so does NPR in the States. But whenever I turn on the radio, I'm really hoping to hear Peter Gzowski's voice and the Morningside music.
Andrew Kaplan-Myrth
Peter Gzowski and Morningside made me think (and still make me think) of summer. The other 10 months of the year, nobody was around by the time 9AM started. Come July and August, the kids would laze around planning bike rides, and Mom (a teacher) would perk up as the theme to Morningside played. It's still a strong auditory memory of mine - that theme song, and his gentle interviewing style. My mom died after a fight with cancer, fifteen months ago; instead of thinking we've lost Gzowski, I'd prefer to think she's gained favourite radio host in the afterlife.
Christopher Neuman
Evanston, IL
The way I will remember Peter Gzowski is as a companion on many voyages. During my early teen years my parents would usually pack my sister and I into the family car and we would head for Toronto or Cobourg to see either sets of Grandparents. I being a sullen teenager would insist on having my walkman on to the current band of the time. Eventually though I would trade the punk beats or rock sounds for the sound of Peter Gzowski's voice. I never told my parents this but all the time that I had my earphone over my head I wasn't listening to The Red Hot Chili Peppers or Rage Against the Machine, I was actually enjoying the man that was Canada. Now that I drive my self places, including school, I wish that there was still that voice on the air to guide me through my morning in the car. Thank you Peter for opening up so many doors into so many people and places I had never heard about before you.
Patrick Good
One Christmas, I wrote to Peter and ended my letter with: "So thank you for being an openly kind, sensitive, humble gentleman. God rest you merry, Peter Gzowski!" His kind reply ended with, "Merrily, Peter Gzowski." I send him the same wish now, and somehow, I think I hear him replying in the same way.
Anita Dignan
Toronto
In the cacophony of our soundscape Peter Gsowski's mellifluous transcendent Canadian voice beckoned us home, revealed and reinforced our identities, our hopes and aspirations. The master is dead. His voice remains alive. And now it's our turn as individuals and communities to continue the legacy that distilled our Canadian identity. That's the challenge Peter left us.
N. Buma
I came to Canada from the States in 1981, and started listening to Peter in 1983, as I worked in a medical research lab. I had always been an avid listener to American NPR, but this was something unlike anything I had heard before. This man actually listened to his guests. He had read their books, he was interested in what they said, and he had a warmth and intelligence and presence that made you feel as though you were there, listening, at some wonderful huge breakfast table. He moved from literature to business reports to cooking with the same zest and humour and respect and it felt as though all of Canada was participating, as he moved from East to North to West. I always wanted to say "Thank you" for all those mornings.
Jane Hobson, Vancouver
I recall that there was question recently of whether to set aside a day in remembrance of former Prime Ministers. Very few deserve that respect. Instead I suggest a day to remember the likes of Barbara Frumm and Peter Gzowski.
Bruce Beaty
I have just finished reading the stories about Peter in today's paper. A close friend "turned me on" to Peter and he became a lifeline during my four years of commuting to Toronto from Kitchener-Waterloo. When summer arrived, I always felt a bit frantic on that last day when his broadcast began their summer break. While I have grown so fond of Sheilagh Rogers and enjoy the summer replacement people, they are just not Peter. There is rarely a day when he does not cross my mind when the broadcast starts at 9:00 am. When you heard the words, "I'm Peter Gzowski, and this is Morningside", you knew we were ok and that Canada was a special place because Gzowski and CBC were available almost everywhere. He loved this country more deeply than most of us can appreciate. For those of us who are constant CBC listeners, his legacy will never be forgotten.
Mary Anne Kuntz
Toronto
His last broadcast is definitely one of the saddest mornings I can remember, I had to play hooky from work to make sure I heard "history: Keeping a grey beard, the consolation is peter kept one, Why, this man affects you so, that I could even like Conrad Black when he is being interviewed by Peter. It is still hard to hear the theme to Morningside. You shall be missed
Karim Khamis
Toronto
I'm an ex-pat living in Cairo. Thanks to the magic of the Internet I could listen to the tributes to Peter Gzowski on CBC and read the stories in the Globe and Mail. I felt somewhat homesick but was so glad that I could "share" the memories. He was a national hero and treasure but, as many have said, our friend even though most of us never met him.
Nancy Martin
As a rare tear courses down my cheek reading the eulogies and remembrances of Peter, I reflect on what he meant to me. During business trips on the road here and across Canada, he was my companion and friend who listened and with his many guests from all walks of life informed us about the diversity and strength of this land. Morningside's theme with his artful and purposeful preamble warm the heart and soul of memory. In these days of blandness, political correctness and small minded leaders, he reminds us and our supported institutions like the CBC, to question, listen, inform, promote and celebrate this country's people and diversity from Iqualuit to Hamilton; Victoria to St. John's.
D. Lacey
Pickering
One small addition to the information you already have on Peter Gzowski: he did his homework. In 1985 he interviewed me about a book I'd written on Sir John Thompson (Prime Minister 1892-1894); his questions showed clearly that he'd spent szome time with the book before ever he'd got to talking to me. He had a surefootedness that was a delight; but it came from the work he'd done before the interview ever started.
P.B. Waite. Professor Emeritus,
Dalhousie University, Halifax
As I read all the tributes to Peter the tears keep coming. We mourn for ourselves and our loss. For so many years This Morning and the other great CBC radio shows were a part of my life. Peter inspired us to be proud of Canada and of being Canadians. In particular I remember one misty foggy morning when I was driving from Toronto to visit my family back in Winnipeg. I had stopped at a Trading Post along the Trans-Canada highway in Lake Superior National Park. The Trading Post was just opening and they had a PA system that was playing music that could be heard outside in the parking lot. I had been reading one of the best of Morning Side books - the one with the CD than included an a cappella version of O Canada. I persuaded the staff to play that CD and what better way to start a beautiful summer morning in this beautiful country of ours than to hear O Canada sung in those clear, strong, loving voices. I thank Peter for this - I think he would have approved.
Eric Lemke
Toronto
Peter's great gift was to make us all able to say the same things at the same time - to bring us together, and to give us a place and a voice to express our collective self. He made us see how all of the differences and all of the parts added up to one, wonderful whole, and then invited and encouraged us to articulate the joy and comfort we feel in being together. We can honour his memory best if we promise each other to keep on talking.
Chris Trauttmansdorff
Nepean, Ontario
Wow...thank god for the online version of the Globe or I'd have never heard for ages. During and after University in the early 90s I had a horrible job doing data entry that I only survivied with a walkman and Morningside. Peter Gzowski kept my brain alive at a brain dead job. It's a sad day for this Canadian ex-pat.
Rob Begg
Cambridge UK
On return home, divorced, to Canada after 15 years, I felt quite alienated. Sometimes (in Europe) I'd hated being "the Canadian", asked to explain baby-seal massacres, unfair treatment of First Nations people and even hockey aggression. Here, family and old friends had settled into solid marriages/careers. Depressed, I couldn't force myself out of bed - then discovered Morningside. I remember hopelessly hunting for background on Peter "Zosky", and kneeling in my nightgown for an empy cassette to "possess" his rich warm humourous voice. He seemed almost like God at times, reading my mind as I got drawn into the lives of talented intelligent Canadian artists, political thinkers, activists etc. with whom I would have been far too shy to converse personally. He really helped me to find Canada/life worthwhile again - what a gift. Wish I could have repaid him somehow.
Patricia Darling
Mr Gzowski was too young to die. He will be missed and remembered by many for a long, long time. My sympathy goes out to his family from all my hart. Canada will not be the same for years to come. With my greatest sympathy,
Henry Leistner
So long Peter . salut mon vieux. For everything you`ve done. Un gros merci.
Marc Béliveau
Tokyo, Japan
When I heard that he died, I was in a car in California. He opened the door, and disappeared. I feel, though,that invisible objects in the rearview mirror are more talkative and conversational than they appear. The ride began when I would pick him up over my long drives in the Barrie area, or during my many skipped university classes, or maybe on the QEW between Toronto and Hamilton, and then when renovating the old house there. The guy was the best hitchhiker - he was the one who always ended up doing the driving, me the one listening from the passenger seat. Thanks Peter.
Paul Hoy
Sunnyvale, California
Our son e-mailed us to tell us of Peter Gzowski's death. I sat here in this little town in central Pennsylvania this morning, where perhaps no more than two people (my husband and me) know who Peter Gzowski is, and I cried. I emigrated to Canada in 1964, read him in Maclean's magazine, and when he began his CBC morning program, listened to him from his first day on the air until he retired. He was indeed a friend--wise and funny. Of the many things I owe to him, I owe my idea of Canada and what makes me care about being Canadian, especially when away for a while. I also owe my introduction to many fine Canadian writers and singers, notably Stan Rogers, whose music helps the homesickness and who also died much too soon. Of all the Canadian institutions I have missed down here, I have missed Peter Gzowski the most. I wonder if there is some way that at least some of his CBC broadcasts could be re-run. After all, the Americans re-run Peanuts comic strips as Classic Peanuts. Gzowski beats Snoopy any day!
Angela Burnett
State College, PA
My husband and I are spending the winter in Arizona. We have received several calls and e-mails from Regina telling us about Peter's death. Our friends knew how much we liked Peter and wanted to be sure we had heard the sad news. We met Peter through his Golf Tournaments for Literacy. Ken and I both worked on the Saskatchewan Golf Tournament Committee for several years and had the opportunity to enjoy his company on several occasions. I was lucky enough to attend his final radio broadcast in Moose Jaw which was great fun. Our sincere sympathy to his family. It was a joy to listen to his wonderful radio show and to have had the opportunity to know him.
Amber MacLeod
Regina, Saskatchewan
Gzowski's Morningside was my connection to the adult world from 1983 - 1986 when I was at home looking after my infant and toddler sons. Morningside was radio the 3 of us could all listen to, and listen we did..... 2 yr. old Jeff would announce "Peter Oskie! Peter Oskie!" when the familiar sound track and voice was heard -- and baby Thomas would cooperate when I'd say "Shhhhhhhhh.......let's listen to what Peter has to say." Peter provided the human landscape, taking us along as he dropped in on Canadians to see how they were doing ..... Thanks Buddy.
Carol McNeil
Hamilton, Ontario
Peter Gzowski was one of those familiar voices and names that helped us define ourselves as Canadians. His voice and oratory always came across as very soothing and reassuring to me. The man exuded common sense and class. I'm sure Mr. Gzowski has gone to a better place. A place that would never allow trashy shock-jocks or commercial interruptions.
John Monaghan
Timmins, ON
My rememberence of Peter Gzowski, and above all, my respect of him came the day I heard his interview with a representative from Phillip-Morris, I believe, one of the huge cigarette coporations. This was at the time that cigarette advertisements were setup by cigarette companies at bus stops very close to some public schools. After the initial dialogue with the Phillip-Morris Rep, he began to circle around the question of whether cigarette companies prey on young kids to maintain their product, coerce young kids while impressionable, and then have them for life. He started off this interview quite genial but began to dig deeper and deeper into the representative. He cornered the rep with the above question 'Do cigarette companies prey on young kids to sustain their product?', the female representaive flatly denied the allegation. Mr Gzowski brought the subject up again but never attacked his interviewee directly but would calmly, and steadily pick away at the answers given. And in the end when the representative would not admit what we all know (although this was never mentioned in the interview) - that cigarette companies prey on the youth to sustain their cigarette products, without them they would have nothing - Peter Gzowski, after asking the above question for the last time and the rep answering the same answer, Peter grunted quietly, almost a disbelieving sort of grunt, and purposely left a long period of silence on the radio before moving on. A very poignant display of not believing her answers to his questions and a powerful way to show the untruthfulness of her statements. Radio silence. Excellent move on his part, made his point to the public. I believe this interview very much touched him personally.
Dave Turnbull
|
|
|
|
|
Headline Index
Print Edition
