Living the good life

A lifelong passion for history has left retired Seneca College professor John McIntyre right back where he started – acting as Curator at the Sharon Temple, just up the road from Aurora, where he grew up.

McIntyre started working at the Sharon Temple – one of the oldest historic sites in Canada – when he was a teenager. After a 35 year break, he’s returned to his first love. And he credits his CAAT Plan pension with giving him the flexibility to pursue some of his dreams.

“I guess it’s unusual for anyone to be still living in the area where they grew up, and to be continuing with interests they had when they were in high school,” McIntyre says.

He adds that his pension has allowed him to get back to where he started, and to mix in some other paid and volunteer activities…including teaching the occasional course at Seneca. “It’s the best of both worlds,” he says.

McIntyre grew up in Aurora, and worked at the Sharon Temple as a cleaner, gardener and tour guide. He became Curator while earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. He then left his home region to complete his Masters, and later PhD, thanks to scholarship opportunities at the Winterthur Museum at the University of Delaware.

His PhD thesis was on the Children of Peace, the breakaway Quaker group that built the Sharon Temple. He maintained his connection during that time as a volunteer on the Board of Directors.

A perfect location

McIntyre took a teaching position at Seneca College in 1975. He was among the first instructors in “Historical/Natural Interpretive Services,” a new program at King Campus. “We trained people who would work in museums, historic sites, conservation areas, parks. We had students from almost all provinces and territories.”

Seneca’s King Campus was “the perfect location” for the program, McIntyre says. “We had our classes at that time in Eaton Hall, a beautiful location for anyone who was interested in either natural interpretation, or historic interpretation. And it was exciting to be involved in the early years.”

The small number of job opportunities meant the program had little room to grow, and it was phased out in 1983. McIntyre then moved to the School of Communication Arts, where he taught courses in Canadian history and the history of architecture and design. “Students could take my course just out of general interest,” he says, “or, for the design students, the history of design courses were relevant to them professionally.”

McIntyre was Chair of English and Liberal Studies at the Seneca at York campus from 2001 to 2005, at which point he chose to take early retirement under the CAAT Plan’s 50/20 provisions (he had reached age 50, with 20 years of service).

Making the change

McIntyre says he didn’t think about his pension 35 years ago. “When I started out, I had no idea that I would be working for Seneca College for 30 years. I thought, maybe I’ll work for the college for a few years, and then maybe I will work for a museum. And I did have an offer, actually, from the Royal Ontario Museum at one point. But I found I liked teaching too much not to continue.”

However, he was thinking about his pension as he approached early retirement age. “At least two years before I made the final decision, I was talking to people in the pension office, asking about the possibilities. I had a desire to do other things, and I thought some of those things would pay me a bit of money. But everyone needs to be sure there will be enough.”

Although just over one more year of full time work would’ve given McIntyre an unreduced pension under the Plan’s 85 points provision, he says this wasn’t an incentive to stay for him. He views his pension as a tool that permits him to do other things. “I’d been able to use my fascination with museums in the classroom. But I wanted to get back to the hands-on experience of working with a museum collection, with an historic site.”

The right balance

After retirement, McIntyre returned to a more active role, ultimately as Curator, with the Sharon Temple. He’s also worked with Black Creek Pioneer Village, Rideau Hall in Ottawa, and museums in Mississauga.

McIntyre spends some of his time on cruise ships, lecturing on historical topics such as design, architecture, and antiques. “I tend to get bigger turnouts for those lectures if it’s raining, he says. “You have to accept that.”

He also continues to teach an occasional course at the Seneca at York campus, to stay connected. “I couldn’t imagine retiring from Seneca and then the next day having nothing,” he says. “You have to have some connections with your community, with the outside world…whether it’s through volunteer work, or part time employment, or in my case both.”

McIntyre lives in a house in Aurora that belonged to his grandparents. It’s been in the family for 109 years. He says with a smile, “I’ve been very much involved in hands-on restoration with that.”