John Phillips (BASc '63) had no idea that being laid off from his toolmaker apprenticeship in 1957 would turn into a pioneering post-secondary adventure. A new university was starting up in Waterloo and they would provide a year of pre-engineering to meet the entrance requirements. That $10 investment to write the entrance tests seemed a stretch at the time but before long, he was on his way to a degree in mechanical engineering.
Not only was John a part of the earliest years of the University, upon graduation in 1963, he would be hired by IBM where computers were also beginning to arrive in the commercial environment. “You might say that I grew up with the computer industry,” John explains. That pioneering experience at UWaterloo helped in those early years at IBM where employees were given a lot of latitude if they proved themselves. “It was a great company to work for. I can say that I never had a bad day at work in all my thirty years working there.” When thinking back to how far they came over those years, John remembers his very first client, Texaco Canada, whose entire credit card accounting operating system was developed in just 4000 bytes of code.
Retiring from IBM in 1992 didn’t mean John was going to stop working. He worked as a freelance consultant in PC application development in Dallas and then in Silicon Valley. When it came time to officially retire, his wife, Donna, suggested that instead of going back to Peterborough they consider trying the west coast. They haven’t looked back since.
Vancouver has proven the best of all worlds for John. His two sons live in Vancouver and Whistler so family is very close by. They enjoy the climate and activities the area offers, particularly the ski hills. But you won’t find John on skis heading down those hills. Snowboarding is his passion.
Back in 1991 when John brought the boys out to Whistler during a school break, they first noticed someone snowboarding and it looked like fun. “We tried it and I found it more challenging than skiing so I stayed with it. I eventually got certified and I now work for Whistler Blackcomb as a snowboard pro.” In fact, John is the oldest certified snowboard pro in Canada and maintains a very active lifestyle in general, playing hockey three days each week and badminton one day, plus snowboarding on weekends. “I appreciate the life I have and spending time up on the mountain with my board. Life is too short for anything other than what’s fun or enjoyable!”
