Passed away March 27 2013 due to complications from cancer.
Born on December 28, 1933, Daryl grew up with his younger by two-years brother Warren in Stratford, the sons of Cecil and Margarite Hodgins. His connection to Wanapitei extended back to Daryl’s father Cecil who was Stanley Hodgins older brother. As most know, Stan and his wife Laura Belle bought the Wanapitei property in 1956 bringing the Hodgins family formally to Lake Temagami. The connection of the family however, extends a further 26 years. In 1930, Stan and Laura Bell together with Cecil and his new wife Marguerite (who were on their honeymoon) travelled to the Wanapitei site for the first time camping near the present day Red Squirrel cabin at the mouth of the Red Squirrel River. Daryl’s first visit was in the early 1960s.
One of the early members of the Wanapitei Board of Directors, Daryl was elected in 1973 and moved to vice-president in 1975. He played an important role on the board often providing the voice of reason or finding a middle ground when opposite opinions and strong emotions were presented which happened frequently given the emotional connection to Wanapitei most board members brought to the meetings. Following the tripping tragedies in the Northwest Territories and Northern Quebec in 1978, Daryl played a crucial role helping reassure parents that their children would be safe on future trips and updating many of Wanapitei’s safety policies.
Daryl officially served as vice president until 1984 when he had to resign to avoid a potential conflict of interest with his job at the York Board of Education when they were looking for new outdoor sites where students could go for on-site outdoor education. This however did not stop his voluntary participation on the board which he continued into the middle 2000s. He love of boards became an important part of his volunteering experience and on the Wanapitei board, he reveled in the debate and using his ability to find middle ground in disputes. He applied his school board experience by participating on several Director job searches including the initial hiring or Eoin Wood (“Woody”) in 1996 and the search committee for the new Wanapitei president Ted Moores in 2001.
He championed having his four children attend the camp as early as age six, despite the wishes of his father Cecil who wanted the grandchildren to spend the summers in Killarney. All four went on to be staff members, most led V2 trips (Glenn, Murray and Andrea), Andrea became Director from 1993 to 1996, Eric a board member from the middle 80s to the mid-90s, and Glenn a Board member from the middle 1980s to the present. Clearly Daryl’s instinct to send his kids to Wanapitei was a gain for Wanapitei, not to mention the value the Wanapitei experience provided back to his kids.
He and his wife Barbara (who had no previous camping experience other than raising 4 avid Wanapitei campers) went on several trips led by Bruce and Carol including the Killarney in 1982, Spanish River in 1984, Soper River 1996 (without Barb), and the Coppermine in 1999 with Glenn. And while the canoeing was great, Daryl’s real passion was for fishing. He had spent many years before becoming involved with Wanapitei doing canoe-based fishing trips with his university friends. Daryl also co-led with Bruce an adult trip on the Spanish River in 1995.
In addition to his formal roles at Wanapitei, he and his family ventured to Wanapitei in the winter over many years in the late 70s and 80s skiing the trail and road network. And in the summer, he and Barb were regular visitors to Bruce and Carol’s cabin on the change-over and family weekends. In the fall, he and Barb hosted the Toronto reunions at their home in Scarborough for almost 20 years and the only reason this stopped was that they moved to a condominium that made the logistics more challenging. His last time at the Wanapitei site was in 2011 where he welcomed his granddaughter Alicia back from her V2 expedition to the Yukon.
His family cottage in Killarney (built by Cecil and Marguerite in the late 1940s) was and continues to be a favourite stopping point for the Camp trips including one of the early “Co-Ed” trips in 1961 from Wanapitei to Killarney where Daryl joined the trip as the third trip leader for the Sudbury to Killarney portion. The trip spent the night at our Killarney cottage and the participants were treated to a large pig roasted on rotating spit over an open fire prepared with great ceremony by Cecil. This was not the only link between the Wanapitei and Killarney Hodgins. Cecil helped Stan purchase the 1947 Grew “Cruiser” inboard boat from the Killarney boat builder and long time friend of the family Joe Lowe in 1966.
Daryl had a significant and lasting contribution to the birth and growth of the canoeing program at Wanapitei. His participation on the board, participating in and leading trips, and that he provided his home and family cottage as destinations for Wanapitei events shows the commitment he had to the place and the people. These “gifts” are just part of the legacy he leaves in the Wanapitei community.