Gavin Elbourne
Gavin came to Montreal three months before the rest of his family in 1973. Feeling quite lonely he went to the Cathedral the first Sunday after he arrived. He was welcomed, taken out to lunch by John Foreman, and immediately embraced the Cathedral as a second family and spiritual home. If you talk to people who knew him they will mention his gaudy ties and tone-deaf but vigorous singing, both, however, symbolic of the passionate enthusiasm with which he embraced life, even during the two years when he was dying of lung cancer. The sermon he preached on the first anniversary of his diagnosis is on the Cathedral website and has helped many people facing crises. He called it “Therefore Choose Life.”
Gavin was totally committed to his faith which he shared as a lay reader in his sermons, prayers, liturgical celebrations and retreat meditations. He believed that faith should lead to action and that a true Christian must become involved in social issues. He got things moving, for example organizing the Christmas wrapping table in les Promenades during the last year of his life. He was a courageous leader and a meticulous administrator, devoting endless hours to perfecting every detail of the projects in which he was involved. He was always practical. Constance Middleton-Hope commented about his many years on the Board of Directors of Auberge Madeleine: “While we were preoccupied with the concerns of the women in the shelter, Gavin made certain that our financial picture enabled us to maintain the establishment.”
Nevertheless, Gavin had great sensitivity towards people in need of a helping hand. He was chairman of the Cathedral Refugee Committee which brought a Vietnamese extended family and a Cambodian family to Montreal and supported them for a year. The committee raised money to provide clothes, furniture, apartments and jobs and helped the families integrate into Quebec society. Gavin and I welcomed the Trac family into our house for their first few days in Montreal and heard something of their story of escaping Vietnam in a leaky boat. At that time my daughter had two guinea pigs which lived in a cage in the kitchen. It was clear that the Tracs expected them to appear on the dinner table!
Gavin loved to champion the under-dog. He was one of only three male members of the support group for women in ministry which was formed at the Cathedral in the late 70s. Later, he chaired the Bishop’s Committee on the Diaconate which has resulted in the recognition of the ministry of lay deacons. He was chairman of La Passerelle, a support group for unemployed white-collar workers – Gavin was no stranger to unemployment. He also worked closely with Canon Bryan Pearce helping him put together the Montreal Pastoral Institute which offers faith-based counseling. Gavin was chairman of the board for 10 years, making sure its finances were stable, but also insisting on bursaries for those who could not afford the fees. As you can see, he was involved in outreach stretching from the Cathedral to the Diocese. He felt strongly that the members of the Cathedral congregation should initiate and support diocesan-wide programmes. He was lay delegate to Synod for several years and vice-chairman of Diocesan Council.
We came to Montreal at a difficult time when language issues terrified and angered many people. Gavin embraced French, took lessons and became bi-lingual (with a tendency to adopt an enthusiastic Quebecois accent). He thought the Cathedral should reach out to Francophones both Catholic and Protestant. He was always supportive of the French priests and the French congregations in the diocese. He was active in Le comité pour la pastorale en français, a diocesan initiative. He was also connected with Sentiers de Fois, established by Irénée Beaubien, a Roman Catholic priest, as an outreach of the centre canadienne d’oecumenisme/ The Canadian Centre for Ecumenism and worked with another priest, Jacques Bossière to establish Rencontres, a dialogue between French and English, Catholic and Protestant. Gavin wrote a pamphlet explaining Anglicanism to French people – La communion anglicane: un apercu pour les chrétiens d’expression française. With Michael Pitts he created Partage anglicane, a weekly broadcast on Radio Ville Marie which was the precursor of the broadcast evensongs which began in the summer of 1997. When he died he left some money to the Cathedral to support its French ministry. Sadly, I don’t think it was ever used for this purpose.
What else did Gavin do? Well, he was a warden, a member of Select Vestry, a sidesman, lay reader, an active member of the Social service Society and a member of the More Brief/Script editorial board from 1974 until his death, being the editor from 1974 to 1977, Caroline Roper wrote in the Annual Report for 1997: “The Editorial Board still misses Gavin Elbourne who was always on top of current thinking as well as the activities of just about everyone around us, and who always seemed to have an article already written or begging to be written and always well ahead of deadline.” In the same annual report John Bradley wrote “Gavin’s love, energy, intellect, enthusiasm, organization and faith marks nearly every aspect of our life together here at Christ Church Cathedral.” I think that sums Gavin up rather well.
Gavin Michael Tregaskiss Elbourne died on the feast of St Michael and All Angels. A thunderstorm was raging at the time. Faith Wallis saw “in every arcing, livid bolt Michael, the captain of the hosts of heaven, coming to claim his namesake.” A few months later the family planted a chestnut tree in Murray Park – a living, growing symbol of a man who made so many things grow and flourish in the church he loved.
Ann Elbourne
July 2009
