ROBERT FIFE MEETS BISHOP TOM CORSTON 44 YEARS LATER AT CHAPLEAU HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

When Robert Fife was in Grade 9 at Chapleau High School in 1968-69, Tom Corston was in Grade 13 and president of the Students' Council. During the initiation a photographer captured Bob holding an umbrella over Tom, while also sneaking a smoke at the bottom of the hill at the new CHS.

Over the next 44 years they went their separate ways but they met at the 90th anniversary reunion festival of CHS, where Tom, now the Rt. Rev. Thomas A Corston, the Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Moosonee, invited Bob, now the Ottawa Bureau Chief of CTV NEWS, to participate in an ecumenical service.

Thomas A. "Tom" Corston, born and raised in Chapleau, Ontario, the son of Frances (Jardine) and the late Henry "Chicken" Corston, was elected the ninth Bishop of the Anglican Church Diocese of Moosonee at a synod in Timmins in July 2010..

He had been serving as an  archdeacon in the Anglican church and also Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Sudbury, Ontario, in the Diocese of Algoma.

Growing up in Chapleau, Tom was active in St. John's Anglican Church, as AYPA president, which is a parish in the Diocese of Moosonee, he now leads.. Tom becomes the first Chapleau boy to have become an Anglican priest to have been elected a Bishop. Tom was also a president of the Students' Council at CHS.

He graduated from Lakehead University with the Bachelor of Arts degree and Wycliffe College with a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a deacon in the Anglican church in a service at St. John's Anglican Church, Chapleau, in 1974, and became a priest a year later.

He started his ministry in the Diocese of Moosonee and then served in several parishes in Atlantic Canada and Ontario.

Tom's grandparents John and Lydia (Swanson) Corston, came from James Bay in the Diocese of Moosonee to Chapleau in 1907 where his grandfather began work with the Canadian Pacific Railway. They established their family home on Grey Street.

Bob, who was born in Chapleau,  is the son of Margaret and the late Clyde Fife. Bob's grandfather George Fife was manager of the Chapleau Electric Light and Power Company and served as reeve of the Township of Chapleau from 1938 to 1942. Bob's father Clyde was later the manager and then of Chapleau Hydro.

After graduating from CHS. where like Tom,. he had served as president of the Students' Council, Bob attended the University of Toronto where he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1978, Bob started his journalism career in the parliamentary bureau of NewsRadio and then he worked for United Press International.  He then became a senior political reporter for the Canadian Press and later spent 10 years as Ottawa Bureau Chief and political columnist for the Sun Media chain. At one point in the 1980s Maclean's magazine called Bob the best investigative reporter in Canada.


After the National Post was founded he joined it in 1998, and he became Ottawa Bureau Chief for CanWest News Services and the National Post in 2002.. He has won the Edward Dunlop Award for Spot News and two National Newspaper Citation of Merit for political reporting.

In 1991, Bob's first book, 'A Capital Scandal' which he wrote with John Warren came out. In 1993, Bob's second book, 'Kim Campbell: The Making of a Politician' was published. She became the first female prime minister of Canada. Both books remain a must read for a better understanding of politics in Canada. 

However, it has been since  Bob became Ottawa Bureau Chief of CTV News in 2005 that he has become a household name in Canada.

At the end of the service, a photo op was arranged where Bob and Tom would pose for a photo, although in so doing, I neglected to let them know that the 1968 photo would  play a role in this column. Thanks to Dr Bill Pellow for arranging for the photos to be taken. My email is mj.morris@live.ca.

Thanks to Dr. W.R. 'Bill' Pellow for arranging the photo shoot and providing the photos from the reunion.. Dr. Bill and Bob are surely discussing the major events of the day. Dr. Bill also attended CHS.

SEE STORY ON ROBERT FIFE: http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2011/01/robert-fife-from-chapleau-winner-of.html

SEE STORY ON TOM CORSTON http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2010/04/tom-corston-elected-ninth-anglican.html