One story leads to reunion of a teacher and student after 22 years at Wildpine Residence

(On September 29 and October 1, 2024, Wildpine Residence had a very special visitor. Barbara McKenny was visiting to reunite with her favourite teacher, Peter Boyd. They had not seen each other in 22 years. Photos: Wildpine Residence and Barbara McKenny)

In mid-September, 2024 a call came into Wildpine Residence from Barbara McKenny who lives in the United States – a message was left for General Manager, Frances de Beaumont – leaving her name and telephone number in the hopes that her favourite teacher, Peter Boyd, a resident at Wildpine would return her call. Barbara had found Peter through Stittsville Central’s July article on Wildpine’s free little library Frances got in touch with Stittsville Central and said, “it’s because of your article on our little library that she found him”.

Frances did not want to just pass the message onto Peter. She called Barbara to ensure the connection to Peter was legitimate and, once confirmed, invited Barbara to surprise Peter with a visit and to stay overnight at Wildpine. Always wanting to make cherished and meaningful memories for her residents, Frances said, “I could have not just pass her number to Peter … I knew it was one of those strong life moments”.

Peter and Barbara had last seen each other in 2002 when Peter was teaching science and had been a coach for many of the sports teams at Alton High School in New Hampshire, USA. Peter had taught Barbara in grade 7, 8 and 9 and had been her sports coach until grade 12.

It was agreed that Barbara would arrive on September 29, departing on October 1st, as she was in Canada for a business meeting.

Now a plan had to be made to surprise Peter. Frances convinced Peter that they would prank Lucy Di Santo, the Assistant General Manager at Wildpine. Lucy is always up for fun so was enthusiastic to get in on the plan. Unbeknownst to Peter, he would be the person on the receiving end of a huge surprise.

Peter was blindfolded and the game began with Lucy asking questions of Peter in a game of Guess Who. Lucy shared, “just as I was called up by Frances to be “pranked” to question Peter, I see this woman walking into the Cafe and I thought it was Peter’s mystery guest. So Catherine ran interference only to realize it was Peter’s daughter. I had met her a few times but in that moment, her face and name didn’t connect. She knew nothing about what was going on. She just happened to show up at the right moment. It was definitely kismet!”

Finally, the moment – Barbara had arrived at Wildpine. Peter was asked one more question and the blindfold was removed. Standing in front of him was Barbara. Peter had nothing to say, only tears of joy rolled down his cheeks, along with many of the other residents and staff. This was the special moment that everyone had been waiting for!

Afterwards, Peter’s daughter thanked Lucy, “she thanked us immensely for coordinating this surprise for her dad. In her words ‘you can’t imagine how much he needed something like this right now.  Thank you, thank you, thank you'”.

Lucy said, “I think it’s so wonderful that a student remembers a teacher from so long ago who had an impact and went out of her way to thank him….wow!”

In the morning, Peter and his wife Roberta, met with Barbara for breakfast and Frances joined them. Frances told us, “this is an example on how I think and how I always work to have my residents experience those moving moments. I will remember this day for the rest of my life! On that note I want to invite any past relative, friends or associates to our residents to reach out and to make their moments. It’s so important to re-connect.”

Upon departing, Barbara told Frances, “when I left school after graduation, and at that young age, I did not know how important Peter Boyd would be to me in my life. Today I now know that his biology and science classes have served as a foundation to my career today.”

Twenty-two years later, Barbara McKenny reached out to reconnect with her former favourite teacher and coach, Peter Boyd, and the meeting was a time of great joy and excitement for everyone involved.