Former BCI teacher killed on Africa aid trip

A beloved Brantford teacher died Wednesday moments after realizing her long-time dream of visiting Africa.

Sandy Wilson, a retired BCI art and drama teacher, was ecstatic after landing in Malawi where she and companions were travelling to the Home of Hope orphanage.

But as Ms. Wilson and her companions —- former Pauline Johnson principal Jane Enticknap and Elise Destein of Toronto —- neared the orphanage, a tire exploded on their van. Ms. Wilson was thrown from the vehicle and died. The other women were injured but safe.

“Going to Africa was one of Sandy’s all-time dreams,” said Jeff Glaves, a close friend of the family.

“She talked about it forever and after she watched Out of Africa she always wanted to go. She wanted to teach the teachers how to teach art to students.”

With bags filled with art supplies donated by local teachers and friends, Ms. Wilson and her companions planned a six-week stay at the orphanage which is a special project of Brantford’s Jane Glaves and has been in the news lately after visits by pop star Madonna, who adopted a child there.

Glaves said this has been particularly hard on his mother, Jane Glaves, and family since they feel responsible for Ms.
Wilson’s trip to Malawi.

“My mom is devastated by this.”

He also noted that arrangements to have Ms. Wilson’s body returned to Canada are enmeshed in red tape since there is no Canadian embassy in Malawi to help facilitate things.

“Everything takes a great deal of time there so it may be a week or two to get her back. We are dealing with the embassy next door in Zambia but things go at a snail’s pace.”

Ms. Wilson loved travelling, according to her daughter Lesley White, who spoke through Glaves.

A painter and sculptor who loved birds, Ms. Wilson spent every weekend she could at a cottage in Pike Bay.

She had a long and devoted teaching career in Brant County and was known for her intense interest in her students, especially those from Six Nations. Many students continued to keep in touch with her over the years.

“She was known for her dry sense of humour and how caring she was,” said Bobbie Henley, a teacher/librarian at BCI who worked with Ms. Wilson for years before her 1997 retirement.

“Sandy did a lot of work with native kids here, taking them to Albuquerque and the Grand Canyon. She really touched people with her art.”

Henley was one of those who donated art supplies and money to Ms. Wilson’s trip.

“She took lots of paints and scissors and paper. She told me Saturday that her suitcases were bulging.

“It was such a good cause and to have it end before it even started is so sad.”

Valerie Leanage, Ms. Wilson’s best friend and life partner, said Ms. Wilson’s plans for this trip consumed them over the past four months.

“She had containers of pigment, a paper-making machine, millions of brushes, stickers and pencils,” Leanage said. “But the most prized items she carried were murals painted by the students of Queen’s Ward school in Paris that were prepared as gifts to the children who don’t do any art. Also kites made by the kindergarten class.”

Leanage said Ms. Wilson believed in expanding learning experiences for students through travel and had helped organize and participate in trips to Italy, Greece, New Mexico and, in Ontario, to Midland and Georgian Bay, for art, archaeological and Native issues.

She loved all types of music and had recently renewed her interest in the theatre by painting sets and designing costumes for some theatre companies in Hamilton and Burlington.

About 15 years ago, Ms. Wilson battled a serious bout of cancer and believed in living each day fully.

“I see her as a victory figure,” said Leanage, who admitted she was coping by believing Ms. Wilson is still on a big trip in a far-off land.

The others in the crash, Enticknap and Destein, are currently travelling back to Ontario and are expected to arrive home sometime Sunday morning.

Jane Glaves, who spoke to Enticknap by phone, said the former principal had injured her back and both women had cuts on their heads.

Glaves said she was feeling sick for the driver of the van who is the orphanage’s executive director and has been trying to reach her to comfort her.

Ms. Wilson leaves behind her daughter Lesley (Barney) White and grandchildren Ethan, isabel and Alice along with her best friend and life partner Valerie Leanage and Leanage’s daughters Neluka and Vanessa Leanage. She is also survived by her brothers Jim and Mike and many nieces and nephews.

Arrangements will be handled by Beckett-Glaves but a date for services will not be set for some time.