Stone masons dedicated their lives to building magnificent cathedrals that wouldn't be completed until long after they'd died. Cathedral thinkers build on ideas that will live on long after they’re gone.
And that’s why Bard on the Beach’s Christopher Gaze calls Rick Antonson “a good mason of Cathedral Thinking.”
On April 22, Gaze joined city and provincial politicians, a former premier, business owners, devoted staff members and friends in sending Antonson off on his journey from president of Tourism Vancouver to full-time author.
It’s fitting that the event was held at the Vancouver Convention Centre because Antonson was one of the people who fought to get it built. He was the one who shepherded the crazy idea of hosting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver through to fruition and then realized that if we’re inviting the world to our city, we’d better make sure there’s an easy way to get them from the airport.
“It was his charm, his shrewdness, his ability to motivate people” that made it all happen, said former Vancouver mayor and BC premier Mike Harcourt. “He convinced us we should go after the Olympics. Do you remember how hard that was to sell?”
“He saw the future,” said John Furlong, the president and CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee. “Rick was the holder of the idea of his times.”
Gradually, Furlong says, Antonson’s confidence in the city’s ability to host the 2010 Winter Games spread to a belief that “no matter what came our way, we could achieve great things…. [His] legacy will be profound.”
Antonson’s belief that tourism can be a force for peace has its roots in his own life choices. He always told his two sons, Sean and Brent, that they could do or they could have. “We did things,” Sean said. Their house was filled with maps and books and when they weren’t camping in far-off places across Canada, they were taking train trips across Siberia or evading their watchers in North Korea. “Dad has a way of being in the moment,” Sean said. No matter how much chaos was happening around them, he’d stop, throw open his arms and say, “Ah, we’re here. Take a moment to think about it.”
“He taught us that the world is bigger than what you can see from your doorstep.”
While Antonson loves to sleep “under a million stars,” he often jokes that his wife Janice prefers beds in a five-star hotel. Together for almost three decades, their beds have not always been on the same continent. She’s currently general manager of aeronautical development and marketing for North Queensland Airports which is why, after Antonson officially retires in June, he’ll be moving to Cairns to join her.
“He’s always been there for me through all the time zones,” Janice said.
And while her husband always deflects praise by saying he’s the one who gets to take the collective bow, Janice outlined some of his accolades: a member of the Canadian Tourism Hall of Fame, the recipient of an Honourary Doctorate of Laws from Capilano University, and recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal.
(Recognizing that the last thing an inveterate traveler needed was more “stuff”, Bob Lindsay, the chair of Tourism Vancouver’s board of directors, announced that a $1,000-a-year bursary for a student who demonstrates “leadership potential” has been established in Antonson’s honour at Cap U.)
As is his wont, when it was Antonson’s turn to speak, he said “Tonight’s about the many, not the few.”
Addressing the 600 people in the ballroom, he said, “I see people who think of the bigger things.” He praised their willingness to “play for higher stakes…. You wanted more and were willing to take that risk…. My great good fortune has been to live in the same time as you.”
The Olympic bid could have died from a thousand cuts, given the many arguments against it, and reports of not only its death, but that of the convention centre, were often greatly exaggerated.
But as he prepares to retire, Antonson said it is not time to stop. The “fight to get it right” must continue.
The convention centre should be expanded on the east side. Looking out through the floor-to-high-ceiling windows that provide a stunning view of Coal Harbour and the North Shore mountains, “I think of the people who want to build up those mountains. You’d lose the reason why people say Vancouver is spectacular by nature.”
Antonson dreams of the camping trips his grandsons, Riley and Declan, will take across Canada and then getting their passports so they can explore the United States and then “dozens and dozens” of countries. But why can’t that freedom to explore be shared by children around the world? Children living in Syria and the Sudan can’t even travel to the next village without their lives being in danger.
And that’s where the message of tourism being an ambassador for peace comes into play.
“Tourism, more than any other industry, takes down barriers,” Antonson said. “We’re about bringing people together and celebrating our differences.”
His books — Route 66 Still Kicks, To Timbuktu for a Haircut and the yet-to-published Full Moon Over Noah’s Ark — are not armchair guides to the places he has visited. They are an invitation to share his quest to better understand “the 260 nations that call this tiny planet home.” Once we do that, we can join his call to action to ensure “that safe passage and freedom to assemble are fundamental rights.”
These are the words that were used to describe Rick Antonson at his retirement farewell: Outstanding leader, wise, thoughtful, kind, motivational, visionary, full of charm and grace, smart, intuitive, genuine, creative, one of the good guys, a walking ambassador, mentor, teacher, careful listener, dedicated, enthusiastic, great friend, gift from God, adventurous, outstanding contributor to the vitality of our city, humble. To sum up: “If the world was full of Ricks, it would be a much better place.”
