A personal reflection on Chuck Davis….
By Erick Villagomez, re:place Magazine
The past weekend was a somber one for us at re:place Magazine with news that our friend and avid supporter, renowned local historian Chuck Davis, had passed away. As many of our readers know, he joined the team early in the creation of our magazine – contributing the popular weekly Year in 5 Minutes.
Given that the media articles covering his passing are filled with biographies and lists of his wonderful contributions to our city and region, I think the most fitting thing we can contribute to his memory is a story of how he became a part of the re:place team and the important lesson I’ve personally learned from him, given that I was the one who interacted with Chuck the most.
Our relationship began shortly after re:place launched. I was looking to have somebody contribute historical pieces on a regular basis, unsuccessfully at the time. It just so happened that my search coincided with the soon-to-be-launched amazing City Reflections DVD project by various members of the Vancouver Historical Society.
Upon hearing about the project, I immediately contacted the Historical Society stating that we would like to support their initiative by promoting it through our website. After a slew of email swaps and discussions I was encouraged to get in touch with Chuck Davis.
I contacted Chuck to see if he would be willing to meet up and chat. Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about it. To my mind, Chuck was well above our humble initiative. After all, he had years of journalism experience behind him and created The Greater Vancouver Book – one on the most well-known and comprehensive books on the Vancouver region….and consequently the first one I bought when I moved to Vancouver a decade ago. Why would he bother with a fledgling online magazine?
My concerns were immediately dissipated when we first met on that rainy winter day in the Starbucks at Granville and Broadway. Chuck quickly sprang into discussing the history of Vancouver, how he fell in love with the subject, and the importance of spreading it to the younger generation. He was working solidly on his upcoming book – The History of Metropolitan Vancouver – that had grown to an encyclopedic 2000 page document at that time. This was due to his constant research that continually turned up “amazing new information” for him to include. Accordingly, he readily admitted that his passion for the subject was both a blessing and a curse -especially when it came to finishing something like a book. 🙂
Eager to share the vast collection of information he accumulated for his book, he created a wonderful website that organized a small fraction of the data and made it accessible to the public. Although the funds to keep it updated ran dry last year, his use of the internet made him was no stranger to the benefits of using it to reach a diversity of readers. In fact, I was blown away by the number of web-based ideas he already had brewing in his mind when we met – ones that simply required a willing venue. One of these was the creation of a series of bit-sized summaries of the main historical events that happened every year since the inception of Vancouver. These pieces would be distilled from the research he had for the book and would eventually evolve into our well-loved Year in 5 Minutes column.
Upon completing his Year in 5 Minutes early next year, we were going to explore another great idea that he was extremely passionate about – creating a Who’s Who of Vancouver that gave short bios for various local figures – big and small – who contributed to the city and region in some way. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to flesh out the idea, but it is something we will continue to keep on the re:place shelf until the appropriate time comes.
Needless to say, Chuck and I hit it off immediately and continued meeting relatively frequently after our first outing. Not only did we email weekly for his column, but also, he was constantly a part of everything we held at re:place – from contributors meetings to Re:connect. He even graciously agreed to guest lecture classes of mine on the history of the region and with the inevitable outcome that students jaws dropped further down over the course of the talk in sheer amazement upon witnessing an encyclopedic mind at work firsthand.
What impacted me the most, however, over the course of our relatively short friendship, was not only his ability to seamlessly weave interesting stories and anecdotes about seemingly random historical incidents into everyday conversation, but his particular perspective on history.
My approach to urbanism and history, until that point, was particularly scientific – largely detached from the individual lives of its citizens. Of course, I knew that this detachment was fictional, given that it is the combined efforts and values of each particular inhabitants that ultimately shapes the a given place. But it helped me academically dissect and make sense of the urban environment.
In contrast, Chuck’s approach was people-based. He marveled at finding out, and sharing, the minutia of the lives of everyday Vancouverites who, in some way -big or small – contributed and gave meaning to the urban landscape he found so fascinating. Many of the people he mused over were known to only the most avid historians, and rarely discussed within popular media.
To me, that made his particular approach to history both unique and invaluable – one that recognized wholeheartedly that not only does every individual play a role in the evolution of a city, but that, in fact, these people – we – are the city. The buildings, streets, open spaces, houses, and all the other built objects we surround ourselves in are simply the collision of our collective values with all those who came before us. This is a lesson I hold dearly and that has definitively shaped my view of the built world.
So it is with a heavy heart – and the greatest indebtedness – that I bid an early farewell to one of my newest friends. Although his contribution to the historical research of Vancouver will surely be recognized, I think he lived his life knowing that it is the everyday people who were lucky enough to be immersed in his passion with – those whose life stories intersected with his – that will ensure his legacy lives on…
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Erick Villagomez is one of the founding editors at re:place. He is also an educator, independent researcher and designer with academic and professional interests in the human settlements at all scales. His private practice – Metis Design|Build – is an innovative practice dedicated to a collaborative and ecologically responsible approach to the design and construction of places.