Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (May 30/05) - George Collins is a firm believer in the importance of literacy.

Collins, the South Slave representative on the NWT Literacy Council, says the ability to read is vital for people's health, self-confidence and lifestyle.

Hay River's George Collins is the South Slave representative on the NWT Literacy Council.

"If people can't read a prescription from a doctor, that can be disastrous," he notes.

Collins is confident the literacy council is making a positive difference. "There is a greater appreciation now of the importance of literacy than there was when I joined the board."

That was in 1994, and he served until 2000. He returned as the South Slave representative last fall.

Collins says he is optimistic the council will continue to make a difference. "You have to be. It's not a quick fix by any means."

His belief in the importance of literacy is not surprising since Collins has been an educator all of his adult life.

"It was in 1955 that I started teaching in a one-room country school in Ontario," says the Toronto native.

Collins retired from teaching in 1990, the same year he married his wife, Eileen.

For a year, the couple lived in Macao, then a Portuguese colony on the coast of China, where George was co-ordinator of a Baha'i school.

In 1991, they moved to Hay River, where Eileen owned a house.

Collins says he had no plans to teach in Hay River, but happened to drop in to the Community Learning Centre of what was then Arctic College.

Even though he was not looking for it, he was offered a job as a math and science instructor, which he filled for two years. "I was then hired as the adult educator," he says, noting he filled the position, except for a one year's gap, until 1998.

Not sitting back

Collins, 73, says his approach to retiring is not to sit back, put his feet up and read the newspaper. "I've never felt I've retired in the stereotypical sort of way."

Along with the literacy council, he is on the board of the public library in Hay River and a Justice of the Peace.

In February, he was hired by the library - prior to becoming a member of its board - to teach English as a second language, and has also been hired by a Hay River company to tutor a worker.

When not volunteering or working, Collins is, not surprisingly, an avid reader.