Tom Sawyer country boy. High school slacker. RCAF two years. West coast logger three years. Hippie dreamer three years. Married a woman from Paris. Got educated, drove the Alaska Highway to Fort Nelson in 1979. Taught 6 years. Drove South to Chetwynd, taught one year. Drove east to Dawson Creek. Three kids. Taught 15 years. First day of school each year: "You can call me Mr. Dyke, the Canoe Master, or Sir. I like 'sir' the best. Any questions? No? Okay, let's get started". Students are complicated. Made thousands of mistakes, but had thousands of good times. Retired early at 55, travelled eight years throughout the world, 77 countries. Wrote hundreds of stories. Lived, loved, and worked 5 years in China. At 65, hung his hat in Victoria and watched world pass by, aging, keeping hope alive. His motto was "Rust never sleeps".
At his request, a memorial will be held at a later date. Donations in Spencer's honour may be made to 360Kids, supporting homeless youth, at http://bit.ly/2xxi9LH. Appreciations and funny anecdotes for his memorial may be sent to spencerdykememories@gmail.com.
"Life is sad, life is a bust, all you can do is do what ya must" (Bob Dylan). The trick is to do it well, even though all our ideas, feelings, actions are dust in the winds of change.