Bearspaw's Nipper Guest says he worked hard for the money he has been generously donating for the past 25 years.
Bearspaw's Nipper Guest says he worked hard for the money he has been generously donating for the past 25 years.
The self-described ‘grumpy' 91-year-old man sat down in his home last Thursday as he talked about going to war at 17, writing a book detailing his travel adventures titled No Place for a Married Man with Kids and briefly noted owning an engineering company.
But the main reason for the visit was to talk about the generosity the veteran has shown Cochrane and Calgary for the last two and a half decades.
“You can be generous and grumpy, ” Guest said with a laugh.
After raising sons with his wife, Eleanor, - who died in 2012 - Guest explained how he sold the shares of his company decades ago, leaving him with “more money than I needed. ”
“I used to give back to the drop-in centre which was a no brainer and then I thought, ‘how do I stop people from going to the drop-in centre?' - get ‘em when they are kids, ” the Bearspaw resident explained.
He started the Bearspaw Benevolent Foundation in 1992 and has since donated annually to 11 different agencies in Southern Alberta.
Among his charities of choice are the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area, the Bethany Care Centre Cochrane and a Cochrane High School student that he gifts a bursary of a full four-year scholarship each year.
The Cochrane charities are dear to Guest, as his children attended school in the community and his wife suffered from dementia.
Not leaving any inheritance to his sons, Guest, who explained he made his money honestly, said the decision to give back to the community was a “no-brainer. ”
“I had a very successful company and I shared the profits generously - I feel good about that, ” Guest said.
And so do his recipients.
This year's bursary recipient was Cochrane High School graduate Alexis Miskiewicz-Tomaszyk, 18, who said she is still in disbelief after receiving $20,000 to go toward her post-secondary schooling.
“I still can't believe it - it's incredible, ” Miskiewicz-Tomaszyk said.
With plans to attend the University of Alberta in the fall, majoring in neuroscience, her goal is to be a pediatrician, a path she was inspired to after a health scare a few years ago.
“I got septic shock and almost died in Grade 10 … seeing the doctors save lives really amazed me and I wanted to follow in their path, ” Miskiewicz-Tomaszyk said.
The New Year's baby, who also graced the cover of the Cochrane Eagle in 1999, said she is grateful for the bursary.
“This is going to help my education so much and take off a lot of stress, ” Miskiewicz-Tomaszyk said.
Each year, a committee of teachers, who have a list of requirements including financial need, chooses the high school bursary recipient and the graduate must be taking a science degree.
“People aren't allowed to take basket-weaving - it has to be a real science, ” Guest said.
“The teachers decide (and) they can have an axe murderer for all I know but those are few and far between. ”
While Guest is not involved in the selection process for the recipient, he did note that he invites whoever receives the bursary to stop by his house and have some tea.
“I started off by being anonymous and after five years I stopped being anonymous and started the practice of inviting the recipient over, supposed to be with their mother too, and have tea, ” Guest said.
“It's been quite enjoyable - I just want to meet them and get to know them. ”
And some turn into life-long friendships.
Guest's living room features a photo of him holding a baby that one might assume is his grandchild but it is actually the child of former bursary recipient, Jesse McLean.
Graduate of Cochrane High School in 2001, McLean said he was very appreciative of everything Guest has done.
“He's a good guy, a really cool character and he totally helped out, ” McLean said.
“At the end of the day, if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have gone to university. ”
Raised by separated parents in a family with five kids, McLean said “money was tight ” growing up.
“I worked a part-time job ever since I was young and volunteered throughout high school and also played for the local hockey team, the Cochrane Generals, and Nipper gave me the scholarship, ” McLean said.
The now half-owner of an EPC (engineering procurement construction) company reflected on how he almost didn't attend university 17 years ago and nearly opted to continue working manual labour for a construction company.
“Nipper kind of saved me. He started his own company and was super successful … he is kind of an idol to me, ” McLean said.
Self-described as a surrogate grandfather to McLean, Guest said the local company owner is now “just like family. ”
“It's just a natural relationship … his wife was a really nice lady too, ” McLean said.
After an afternoon of discussing bursaries that Guest said it's “fun to be a part of, ” he offered some parting words of advice to students and adults.
The Bearspaw resident talked about a book he thinks everyone should read, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich written by a Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The book outlines the day-in-a-life of a prisoner in a 1950s Soviet labour camp.
“Whenever you think you have a horrendous job or are having a bad day, well, Ivan would probably think it was a pretty good day, ” Guest said with a smile referring to the book's main character.
“Don't take yourself too seriously. ”
While Guest is in the latter part of his life, the charity will continue when he dies and one of his sons takes the reins.
