Jean was, and still is, a mentor to me. And an inspiration. She was a supreme educator, and taught me so much about learning. What a gift was Jean Wansbrough - to her students, her colleagues, her friends, her "families", her field centres, her staffs, her organizations, and her youth leadership development legacy fund.

One story: When I asked Jean to help me get Geneva Park summer program managers to embed certain Geneva Park values into their programming during a staff orientation, she advised: "Don't tell them how to do it. Get them to tell you. Explain the values, then ask them to caucus with their staff teams, develop their plans, and then come back and tell everyone their plans."

Brilliant. Jean was brilliant, in all respects.

When Jean was director of outdoor education at Albion Hills residential centre, she also supervised the Cold Creek day outdoor education centre where I was conducting programs. For her first supervisory visit, just ahead of a visiting school group, she entered the door with rubber boots in hand and her first words were "How can I help today?"

She knew we were running competent programs and had no need to "supervise" only to support.

That started our life-long friendship, with all sorts of positive life exchanges, including her senior canoe trips in Killarney, Temagami and Algonquin, and getting her legacy fund established. I always felt I was an apprentice in positive aging whenever I was with her. The ripples of her positive values endure in so many people she affected. Thank you, Jean.

Miss Wansbrough was our science teacher in the late 60s at Swansea. I have many fond memories of her and was fortunate to have had lunch with her several years ago with some fellow Swansea alumni from the class of 1970. She was truly a pioneer in outdoor education, and a wonderful lady. She made a positive impact in a great many lives and the world is a better place because of her.