Rodger Hargreaves is being remembered as a popular educator and a conscientious neighbour following his death in a motorcycle crash Monday in Saanich.
The 58-year-old North Saanich man was an instructor in the trades in both the Saanich and Sooke school districts, having started at Parkland Secondary School when he first moved to the area. For the last four years, Hargreaves was a career co-ordinator for the Sooke School District and is being remembered as a popular instructor.
“Rodger was full of positivity,” says Sooke School District Superintendent Jim Cambridge. “Whenever he walked into a room, spirits were lifted. He was really well-liked.”
Hargreaves was riding a motorcycle when it collided with a truck at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 11 near the intersection of Boleskine Road and Whittier Avenue in Saanich. Saanich Police Sgt. Jereme Leslie announced in a release just after 3:30 p.m. that Hargreaves had succumbed to serious injuries after an ambulance crew had taken him to hospital.
For the last two years, Cambridge said Hargreaves has been seconded to Camosun College, where he had been their transition co-ordinator, working with high school students entering trades courses at the college.
It was the trades where Hargreaves excelled, working with students to help give them a direction when it came time to choose careers. Cambridge said Hargreaves connected with students.
“He could talk with kids and tell them about what their future might hold. He offered career possibilities.”
Cambridge said Hargreaves will be missed and is being mourned by the people he worked with, and by former and current students he had an impact on.
Graham Debbling, a neighbour and friend of Hargreaves in North Saanich, said he knew the family for 13 years.
“We bought our tools together and our families even traveled together,” he said.
Hargreaves taught at Parkland Secondary when his family first moved to North Saanich and was a member of a local yacht club. Debbling said Hargreaves helped introduce young people to the trades — he was also a member of the Industry Trades Authority in his role as an educator — and was a socially-conscious person.
“He would help anybody he knew that had a problem,” Debbling said.
Hargreaves is survived by his with Kathy and two daughters, Krista and Jamie. A celebration of life for Rodger Hargreaves is planned for this Saturday, September 16 at the Capital City Yacht Club at noon.
