2012

Former educator and salmon enthusiast Dave Chitty died Monday July 9, 2012 after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 71.

Chitty taught at Cherry Creek School, among other places, for 30 years and was one of the early proponents of the Salmonids in the Classroom program, which began in the 1980s, "raising salmon fry in garbage cans."

He launched the fry counting program that allowed thousands of Grade 4 and 5 students to be educated on salmon culture, forestry, and aquatic insects. Chitty was also an active dragon boater.

"If you dragon boated with him, you would remember his wry sense of humour," said Fiona Currie, Chitty's daughter.

"If you worked with him in regards to salmon, you would remember his passion for fish and the environment. If you worked as a teacher you would remember him as a beyond dedicated teacher and someone who was a leader," Currie said. "If you were a student, you would remember a wonderful teacher who actually cared about every child."

One of Chitty's major projects was his work with the Alberni Valley Enhancement Association, which is dedicated to the restoration and protection of fish in the Alberni Valley.

In February, the AVEA renamed the McLean Mill National Historic Site hatchery in Chitty's honour and at the ceremony, fisheries biologist Dave Clough said to Chitty, "You've been my inspiration. I am who I am because of you."

Chitty was born in New Zealand, but moved to Canada in 1967. Four years later, he married his wife, Anne.

"He was always thinking about other people," Anne said. "He was a very thoughtful and kind - almost all the kids liked him.

"They'll always say, 'Mr. Chitty, he was my teacher.'" Currie said she would remember her father's quiet strength.

"He embodied goodness," she said. "He was a good dad and a good person and led us through example of how to be a good person and part of the community."

When Chitty was in the hospital, Currie said all of the nurses attending to him had some connection to him through his teaching.

"He's affected countless people in the Valley," Currie said.

Arliene Klock, who had known Chitty for 40 years through the teaching community, described him as a "get things done kind of man."

She said that because she was one of the people who joined a class of Grade 6 students who travelled to Japan in 1993 in order to observe Japanese fish practises. Chitty organized the excursion.

"Bureaucracy and red tape never stopped him," she said. "He had a really good sense of humour with a deep bass voice and that kiwi accent.

"He was a good dad to his two girls and was proud of his little grandson. "He could be blunt when necessary, but he was always compassionate."

Each spring since 1991, when Chitty initiated the fry counting program, volunteers, including school children, have counted coho fry and other native species as they migrate out to sea.

SMckenzie@avtimes.net
© Alberni Valley Times 2012