Thomas Campbell View Condolences - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario | Morgan Funeral Home
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Thomas Campbell
In Memory of
Thomas Grant
Campbell
2018
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Condolences

Condolence From: A. Mixon
Condolence: I am very sorry to learn that Thomas has passed away. He will be dearly missed by many and always remembered fondly. I hope a passage at John 5:28,29 brings comfort to all who are grieving his passing. May we look forward to seeing our precious loved ones like Grant again healthy on a Paradise earth
Wednesday September 26, 2018
Condolence From: Chelsea Wiens
Condolence: My love and deepest condolences go out to the entire Campbell Family, as well as Grant’s extended family at LLC and throughout the DSBN. I was lucky enough to work alongside Grant at LLC, and I will always be grateful for his guidance, support and friendship. He was a dedicated and passionate educator, who had such a widespread positive influence/energy that will never be forgotten.
Wednesday September 26, 2018
Condolence From: Barb passero
Condolence: Laurie I'm so sorry to hear of your loss... thoughts and prayers
Tuesday September 25, 2018
Condolence From: Mary-Rose Jadwiszczak
Condolence: I am truly sorry to hear about the passing of Grant...my heart is filled with sadness. My thoughts are with you Laurie and your family at this time.
Monday September 24, 2018
Condolence From: Janice Cox
Condolence: To: Laurie & Family

So very sorry for your loss and my sincere condolences to you and your family at this very difficult time. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Monday September 24, 2018
Condolence From: caron Strauss Blom
Condolence: I`m so very sorry to hear of Grants passing at such a young age.
On behalf of Mike and I please accept our sincere condolences
thoughts, Caron Blom
Monday September 24, 2018
Condolence From: John Gartner
Condolence: A wonderful man and father of a lovely family.Will be greatly missed.God bless.
Monday September 24, 2018
Condolence From: Larry Stewart
Condolence: So sorry to hear of Grants passing. He was way too young. Though I had not seen Grant for over 30 years I was aware of his great reputation as a teacher, and coach. He will be missed.
On behalf of the entire Stewart family (25 Castlereagh Street gang) please accept our sincere condolences.
Larrt Stewart
Monday September 24, 2018
Condolence From: Charleen Ferron
Condolence: Laurie, David and Jacquelyn please know you are in our thoughts at this devastatingly difficult time, much strength and love to you, the Ferrons
Sunday September 23, 2018
Condolence From: Dave Leighfield
Condolence: I was lucky enough to have the privilege of being in Grant's final PLAR class at the Lifetime Learning Centre in the fall of 2017. I remember entering his classroom in total terror. My fear of returning to high school after almost thirty years was almost paralyzing. The last time I had done long division had been during the first Bush Administration! How could I possibly step back into that world?
It didn’t take my class and I long to see that Grant was going to be an extraordinary teacher. The outline for his course was brutal: two years' worth of courses in five subjects condensed into three months. You could see the panic on the faces in the class. Every last one of us was thinking the same thing. “I have just make a huge mistake. There’s no way I can do this after being out of school so long.”
The only person in that room not on the verge of a major panic attack was Grant. He knew what we were all thinking, and he calmly addressed our fears and matter of factly assured us that we could do it. He showed us a blueprint for success and repeatedly told us that we were going to do this.
We, of course, realized that he was completely nuts.
The thing was, he was right. We were able to do it. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, but it was doable. At times it felt like we'd been dropped into the middle of an educational landmine field, wearing snowshoes, and under orders to tap dance our way out. But we didn’t really need to worry, because we had Grant as our guide. He loved that minefield; it was his home. He had lived there so long that he knew every danger and every hazard by heart and could calmly show us the way we needed to go to get through it.
“I could show you the hard way to do this, but you’ll never have to use it in the real world, so we’re going to do it the easy way.”
And in the end, most of us made it through. We were psychologically battered and bruised by the experience, but we had made it through, largely because Grant wouldn’t give up on us. And more importantly, wouldn’t let us give up on ourselves.
“We’ll write the exam tomorrow,” he said to me the day before the math final, “and if you fail it we'll write it again. And if you fail it, we'll write it again. There’s no limit to the number of times you can write it, so we'll just keep writing it until you pass. Don’t sweat it. You'll be fine.”
He refused to accept defeat in his life or his students’ lives either.
Other than his determination to see us succeed, there was one other quality of Grant that we came to love: his Rants. Grant’s Rants were the things of legend. If you had the privilege to see Grant in full rant, you really got to see him at his finest. It didn’t really matter what the subject was, once Grant was wound up and ready to go, he was poetry in motion. We learned pretty early on that watching Grant ranting about credit card interest rates, inflated real estate prices, or the evils of cell phones was infinitely more entertaining than discussing the Appalachian Mountains or integers. More importantly, a well-timed rant was the best way to get through the last forty-five brutal minutes before we could get a fresh cup of coffee. So entertaining were his rants that other staff members would often stand in the hall and watch as Grant would draw diagrams on the chalkboard to prove without a doubt that the bands of the 1970’s were so much better than the computerized garbage they call music today.
In the end, the challenge of setting Grant off was just not enough. It was decided amongst some of us to literally make a game of it. And Grant’s Rants Bingo was born. The idea was to try to steer Grant into five of his favourite ranting subjects in an attempt to fill a line on a bingo card. Thus, in one class students would try to bring up varying subjects such as: Those Idiots in Toronto, Young People Today, or Cogeco (Those Crooks!). Sadly, due to poor planning, the same bingo card was photocopied for every participant, effectively killing any real competitive nature of the game. It was never played.
Grant’s Rants Bingo may not have gotten the chance it deserved, but the simple fact that it existed just goes to show Grant’s incredible passion, a passion that he brought to every part of his life. It didn’t matter if he was discussing The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, commas, or his kids, Grant cared deeply and passionately about everything in his life. When he discussed his cancer and its possible outcome he did so without fear. He said to me the last time I spoke with him that he had no regrets, and wouldn’t change a thing. “They gave me six months to live the first time around. Every day since then has been a gift. The fact that I lived even this long has been a blessing. I won’t do a thing to change how I live. I won’t live in fear of what could happen. That’s not really living.”
Of all the lessons Grant taught in his thirty-two year career, this was probably the most important one. I consider myself blessed to have been lucky enough to have learned it from him.
Sunday September 23, 2018
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