MONTGOMERY, Peter C. November 5, 1940 – May 1, 2016 It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of a much loved family member, good friend, cultural seeker, and spiritual wayfarer. Peter was beamed up to heaven May 1st. While born in Edmonton, AB, Peter was to find his true calling in cultivating an active mind that bit into life with passion and wonder. He began this calling at St. Michael's College, at the University of Toronto, where he met one of the seminal influences of his life, the Canadian communication visionary Marshall McLuhan. Peter went on to complete his MA (1967) and later received his doctorate in English Literature in 1971 from the University of Alberta. His thesis was on the works of T.S. Eliot.

MONTGOMERY, Peter C. November 5, 1940 – May 1, 2016 It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of a much loved family member, good friend, cultural seeker, and spiritual wayfarer. Peter was beamed up to heaven May 1st. While born in Edmonton, AB, Peter was to find his true calling in cultivating an active mind that bit into life with passion and wonder. He began this calling at St. Michael's College, at the University of Toronto, where he met one of the seminal influences of his life, the Canadian communication visionary Marshall McLuhan. Peter went on to complete his MA (1967) and later received his doctorate in English Literature in 1971 from the University of Alberta. His thesis was on the works of T.S. Eliot. Shortly after graduation he began his long teaching career with Camosun College in Victoria, BC, where he educated hundreds of students in the love of the English language from basic composition to creative fiction, from playwriting to the Moderns. He often quipped that he suffered from logomania, an extreme love of "the word," because "the word" created the unifying resonance with life itself. For anyone who knew him, he manifested his logomania with a razor sharp wit punctuated with puns and contranyms. Besides publishing numerous works on everything from Eliot to Bob Dylan, Peter produced several radio dramas and was very active in the local theatre world as an actor, director, producer, stage manager. Taking his intellectual cue from McLuhan, Peter looked with curiosity and hope into what technology and science fiction (especially Star Trek) had to offer the human project. Fascinated by the advent of computing, he "cut his programming teeth" on Camosun's first big computer, a DEC PDP-11. Up until his starship left planet Earth, Peter honed his computer skills and developed numerous websites for various organizations like the Island Catholic News. During his career, he served on various boards including the International Visual Literacy Association, Canadian College for Chinese Studies and the St. Andrew's Regional High School. After his retirement in 2004, Peter travelled and continued his community service serving on the boards of the Laren Society and Birthright. Peter's last "hurrah" for McLuhan is in the recently published "The Medium Is the Muse" (2014). Underpinning his entire life, however, was perhaps his most important love, the Catholic faith and its theology. His spirit ran with Aquinas, Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Merton at the same time-always yearning. Where shall the word be found, where will the word Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence Not on the sea or on the islands, not On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land, For those who walk in darkness Both in the day time and in the night time The right time and the right place are not here No place of grace for those who avoid the face No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice … Ash Wednesday, T. S. Eliot. A Prayer Vigil will be held at Holy Cross Catholic Church on Sunday, May 8th, 2016 at 7 pm followed by recitation of the rosary. A Mass of Christian Burial was  celebrated for Peter on Monday, May 9th, 2016 at 1pm at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 4049 Gordon Head Rd, Victoria, BC. Donations can be made to the organization Development and Peace.