Obituary
Philip Kenneth Isaac
Born Jan. 23, 1928, Brantham, East Suffolk, England
Died June 25, 2021, Camp Morton, Manitoba, Canada
His family is devastated by the loss but relieved that his pain is over after a relatively short but arduous battle with cancer. All four of his children were able to see Dad on his last day on this earth. The family will be forever grateful to the team of angels who cared for Dad throughout the course of his illness.
How can one capture the life of an extraordinary man in a few paragraphs in such a way that would paint a picture of the whole person? Were we children given the gift that our wonderful father possessed, the ability to use the English language in a concise and often amusing manner, this overwhelming task would come easier.
To start with, perhaps consider the words of University of Manitoba Chancellor Henry Duckworth, writing to the Dean of Science C. C. Bigelow on the topic of our father’s retirement in December of 1987:
Phil Isaac was trained, I believe, as a biophysicist. At that time Physics was mostly atoms and nuclei, whilst Biology was mostly form and function. To enter the academic world in the No Man’s Land between those two subjects was equivalent to entering the diplomatic service. But Phil has the qualities of a consummate diplomat – an engaging personality, a mastery of his subject, a logical mind and a reasonable nature. He has deployed these splendid attributes as Professor and Dean to make a major and lasting contribution to the Faculty of Science and to the University as a whole.
To know our father would be to know someone who could speak brilliantly on a wide variety of topics ranging from the celestial heavens, where his home-built telescope afforded a glimpse of the universe, to the smallest microbe or diatome viewed at the kitchen table using one of his several microscopes, and pretty well everything in between. (Dad discovered that the width of the end of a pig’s eyelash, procured from a Manitoba Hutterite colony, was the perfect instrument for manipulating these minute diatomes, the oxygen-producing marvels of life itself).
Besides engaging all of us in the outdoor, natural world, he extolled the virtue of reading, quiet contemplation, problem solving and puzzles and curiosity in all things human and the philosophies and vagaries of human nature.
In his Grammar School years, he was self-taught as the best teachers had been sent off to war. Despite this, he excelled in his studies and at the age of 23 earned a PhD at Imperial College, London, UK. He and Lyn were wed in 1950, and after successfully defending his PhD the two of them left the UK in 1952 to begin their adventure in Winnipeg MB.
For us kids, stories about their basement flat in Chelsea and their life in London – where Lyn trained as a nurse at Saint Thomas hospital – contain some of the family’s favorite anecdotes: the old Alvis with the running boards and jump-seat; the view of the sidewalk from their flat’s windows (where for a few shillings off their rent, Dad was to attend to the boiler) and the magnificent care packages from Lyn’s mother Manor Farm in Lincolnshire that arrived in time when the rations were running out. Their African Grey parrot with a profane vocabulary, Pedro, given as a wedding gift, completed the picture.
Hired first to the U of M as a research fellow, Dad provided the necessary knowledge to collaboratively save the US breadbasket from a virulent fungal disease known as wheat rust. He built Manitoba’s first Electron Microscope for the Faculty of Science and created a Masters Microscopy course he delivered lectures in for many years to follow.
Dad’s strong moral compass was both a product of his upbringing and a legitimate response to the horrors of fascism as its practitioners bombed UK cities from across the channel. The memories of WWII and before that, stories from the Great War (in which his father had his plane shot down, and his arm nearly severed, yet managed to land the plane safely back in the UK; his father’s two brothers however, were not so lucky, and lost their lives), informed his deep commitment to liberal democracy and the power of both early and higher education towards that endeavour. Science was his area and profession but he equally valued the humanities. His avid interest in good governance was informed by what post-war German academia calls Wissenschaft – the conviction that Arts and Sciences are interdependent and form the foundation of a more holistic and ethical public policy.
What about Phil Isaac’s spare time?
Perhaps the best means to illustrate the breadth and depth of his hobbies, wide spectrum of interests and curiously ingenious inventions, is to use the four elements of EARTH, AIR, FIRE and WATER as a set of pigeon holes into which we can sort them (with the fifth classical element ETHER, as the philosophical and artistic domain)
EARTH
…leads us into his profession as botanist, biophysicist, microscopist, mycologist, horticulturist, orchid and cacti expert, beekeeping and honey making, quail and poultry-raising, keen interest in geology, historical charts and chart-making, was a founding member of The Museum of Man and Nature, enjoyed traditional & international cooking, sous-vide, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, curling, foraging for fungi, lichen, berries and generally exploring the vast green spaces where he had the uncanny ability to spot four-leafed clovers as though they were lit by neon lights.
AIR
…encompasses Phil’s love of aviation, meteorology, climatology, and his growing concern over carbon and methane emissions on this warming planet. Phil loved steam engines large and small (and stationary), and the music of steam driven calliopes, or for that matter playing a recorder himself, on which he was quite adept. His great love of birds has been passed on in the family emanating like a pebble tossed into a still pond. He could often be seen looking up, with or without binoculars, or walking with his ponderous long striding gait, looking down, or up, using sonar to record bat activity at night. Thunderstorms were especially fascinating, once spotting rare ball lightning at the end of their long driveway, while accurately predicting weather using observation, and the barograph. He was a contributor to the CoCoRahs project, a collection of citizen scientists gathering precipitation data across Canada.
FIRE
…finishes with the hearth that was kept lit in the living room during his illness, and afterwards, in the fire pots and fire pits of his children and grandchildren. Granddaughters Dawn and Jaimie and the Elders of their extended family honoured Phil with a four-day sacred fire in the Anishinaabe tradition – still alight at the time of this writing. Fire, and the ability to control and transport it, was in Phil’s mind, humankind’s greatest invention. Further down that list, gunpowder, and Dad’s love of gun smithery and marksmanship: his knowledge of shotguns and rifles, gun safety and education were well known and much respected. In the early years he trained with the Winnipeg Rifles as a Reservist, then changed to the 17 Medical Corps, later representing Canada for the Bisley Rifle Team with his Enfield 303, traveling to England to compete successfully on more than one occasion.
Phil spent a good deal of personal time sharing the skillset with two of his grandsons (Mike Mackie & Simon Chapnick), who within a few short years succeeded in achieving considerable skill with their marksmanship and hunting prowess. As for the rest of us, all the siblings and grandkids were invited to try their skill at skeet, with some developing a knack, and others favouring quieter pursuits.
WATER
…brings us to various water sports, and mucking around in boats of all sizes. The family sailboat, Triskele (the symbol of the Isle of Man – home to his mother), a 50 ft LOA (39ft LWL) gaff-rigged ketch, Phil had skillfully rebuilt after purchasing it from a couple who had converted to a motorboat what was originally a sailboat (the “St. Peter” from St.John’s Cathedral Boys’ School in Selkirk). This project took four years and also provided son Peter with his first summer jobs. Having learned how to sail in the family boat in England, Dad tackled Lake Winnipeg as he would have the North Sea. As the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world, the great navigable waterway could turn quickly treacherous if one could not read the weather or plot a course. Using old-school navigation: charts, slide rule, tant and log, Triskele would become iconic to many up and down the inland sea, where Phil, Lyn and family made lasting friendships among fellow cruisers, tug and barge captains and Indigenous families. A striking picture of four rust-coloured sails and a custom dark blue hull with leeboards would appear in small harbours where Lyn’s homemade bread and Phil’s smoked carp would often be traded for fresh fish and sometimes fresh vegetables. Some of Mum and Dad’s favourite memories on Triskele are from the days when they had her all to themselves, a full month unencumbered by the needs of family.
Dad co-founded Gimli Yacht Club, serving as Commodore and Committee Boat for the big regattas. The whole family loved having their home port there, forming many friendships over the years, some family remain club members to this day.
Triskele was retired in 1988, living out the rest of her days growing older with her Captain and First Mate while parked ‘on the hard’ on their Camp Morton property. The number of family boats, homemade or refurbished, keeps expanding as various family members carry on the sailing tradition.
Phil was also a valued contributor to, and director and board member of the Marine Museum of Manitoba in Selkirk. When historical documents were waterlogged in the great flood of ’97, Dad quickly researched and implemented an HVAC freeze-drying operation on the farm, a unique system that doubtlessly saved a good part of that recorded history. He was a steady hand, seeing only challenges where most of us would only see problems.
Dad had a great interest in conserving and managing wetlands. Having been Acting Director for Delta Marsh Field Station, his retirement offered the chance to deliberate at leisure on whether to stock one of his ponds with trout or arctic char, or to provide habitat for returning geese and ducks. He managed to do both.
Most recently, a family of geese living on the southwest pond had disappeared for two weeks, causing Dad some consternation, but they returned to the pond right before he died.
For a man whose self-confessed dismal swimming skills resulted in him sinking like a stone if he didn’t keep moving, he survived remarkably well, considering all the time he spent happily mucking about on or near water. He however insisted all of us take swimming lessons starting at an early age.
ETHER
…envelops Dad’s love of philosophy and invigorating discussions, which led him to found a non-partisan discussion group – still going strong after 60 years. Invited guests submitted a topic in advance and, in a rotating monthly fashion, would host the gathering. Some of our earliest memories include closed doors, pipe and cigar smoke, the clinking of ice and a perhaps unintentional air of semi-secrecy and importance.
It surrounded his love of poetry, both classical and modern (the poems of Richard Outram being his latest study). Poetry was most often our bedtime story, the more nonsensical the better. Music was always present, as Dad would suddenly burst into a song from Gilbert and Sullivan, or the musical Cats, or whistling most beautifully as he went about his day. The landscape of Suffolk, with its earth-tones, hedges and flatness, resembled Manitoba’s Interlake, and Dad’s meticulous ink, watercolor and photography beautifully captured its essence. Phil had the artist’s eye. He and Lyn were long time supporters of Winnipeg’s arts and theater productions, chamber orchestra, symphony, opera, often discussing the nuances and twists once home.
One of Dad’s favorite humorists, besides his beloved Leacock, was Paul Hiebert and his classic Sarah Binks. Dad kept Diary of a Nobody close at hand for humorous comfort in times of stress, a go-to stalwart friend in a house full of books. He loved stories, both telling them and hearing them, meeting the people in the Interlake, going to rural harvest functions and farm auctions.
From devising clever knot-art using mathematical knot theory, to co-inventing with Lyn, the automatic rabbit-powered lawn mower and automatic fertilizer; to inverting a radial tire using one tractor, four ropes and some maths and physics; to the Super-8 filming of family outings; to playing recorders, jaw harps and a nose flute; to establishing and promoting a wood duck nest box program through Winnipeg’s river systems; to his appreciation of British cars and rebuilding engines and clutches and the maintenance of the Lister 30 horse diesel on Triskele; to antiques and old books; to his beloved cats, dogs, Guinea pigs, and recently a Japanese fighting fish – there were few areas of interest that our Dad failed to touch.
He was larger than life because he showed everyone he met just how large life could be. Phil was an outstanding Canadian citizen and a proud builder and defender of our liberal democracy. We will miss him terribly as we navigate these uncertain waters in this century. But his wisdom will be cherished in each telling of a story or in the light of a swallow’s wing in the dimming of the day.
Our Love Knows No Bounds.
A true renaissance man.
Fair winds and following seas, oh Captain.
“…singing cockles, and mussels, a-live-a-live-oh.” Molly Malone
Leaving to mourn his passing: his loving wife Lyn (73 years together) Isaac, his four children, Peter (Natalie Antonenko) Isaac, Jane (Craig) Mackie, Wendy (Mark Block) Isaac, Sarah (Cary) Chapnick.
No less affected by the loss of their Grandpa Phil [aka: ‘Grumps’ or ‘Grumpy’] were his cherished grandchildren and their families: Chris (son Hunter, deceased) Mackie; Rob (Tamara, Mairin & Magnus) Mackie; Mike (Nikki, Lachlyn) Mackie; Dawn (Chris Penner, Sacha & Niko) Isaac; Jaimie (Chris Fehr, James) Isaac; Gillian (Kevin Mozdzen & Adelaide) Mozdzen, Simon (Nikki Philp) Chapnick. Sisters: Janet (Robin, Louise & Laura) Stephenson; Elizabeth (David, James, Fiona & Caroline & families) Hatchell, Sister-in-law Sally (children: Susan, Jonathan, Joanna, Tim) Isaac and their families.
He is predeceased by his parents Kenneth and Janet and his brother Joe.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Philip Kenneth Isaac June 25 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Selkirk, Province: Manitoba