Obituary of Dr. Clifford Wilfred Anderson

The rolling plains around the Saskatchewan town of Lucky Lake, birthplace of Clifford Wilfred Anderson in 1932, supported many farms in the 1930s and `40s. In those years, Sunray School, in Canaan municipality, often boasted more than a dozen kids, including all of dad's cousins. When Cliff started going to school it was on horseback, although he wasn't even tall enough yet to mount or dismount his horse alone. Nellie, ever protective of her charge, would carry dad back to the homestead when her young rider had dropped the reins and fallen fast asleep in the saddle. Years later, Pal did the same.

As the only child of pioneers Herb Anderson and Margaret Sutton, Cliff spent his youth working on his parents' farm: mowing hay with teams of horses, milking cows, feeding chickens, painting barns, stooking sheaves of wheat, and butchering animals in the fall. Despite his deep and lifelong attachment to the prairies, my father early on anticipated moving away from farming to further his education. He took teacher training at Moose Jaw Normal School in 1950, and for two winters afterwards he taught in one-room prairie schoolhouses similar to the one he attended as a boy.

Cliff craved knowledge, and saved his earnings to attend the University of Saskatchewan where he received his Bachelor's Degree in Education. He spent his summers working as a drivers'-permit tester, or on the farm of his Uncle Burt Hudson, who contrived to pay his determined nephew enough wages to completely cover the following year's tuition!

In 1953, Cliff left the prairies to attend McGill University. Human behaviour was his fascination, and he was also strongly influenced by D.O. Hebb's work in neuropsychology. He completed his doctorate in science, becoming an industrial-organizational psychologist with a profound interest in human motivation.

In 1957, at the same time as he was applying his mind to his studies, Cliff's heart and soul were deeply moved by Julie Devlin, a Scottish beauty queen, with whom he fell passionately in love, and then married. She was to complete his world, be his precious companion and muse, for the next 53 years. He considered every day with Julie by his side as a gift from the universe!

Cliff was teaching in the psychology department at Waterloo Lutheran University (now Sir Wilfred Laurier) when the last of their three children was born. Dawn (1965) was greeted by sister Laurie (1960) and brother Bruce (1961). Two years later, he accepted an offer from Brandon University, where he taught for the next 37 years.

He experienced these as eventful years filled with interesting developments, like new programs and courses, distance-education for northern communities, and the introduction of computers! With friend and research partner George McMaster, he plunged into computer-aided analysis of emotional tone in literature, wide-ranging in scope from Beatrix Potter's Tale of Peter Rabbit to the Brothers Grimm to Shakespeare's sonnets. Over the past thirty years, his work has appeared in such journals as Empirical Studies of the Arts, Literary and Linguistic Computing, and Computers and the Humanities. In 1994, the Manitoba Psychological Society honored him with its Clifford J. Robson Award for distinguished contributions to the field of psychology in the Province of Manitoba.

Along with his passion for teaching, my father loved the diversity, energy and community of the psychology department. Over dinner in the evenings, dad would talk about the exciting parts of his day, and mention names like Dennis, George, Barry, Bernice, Ken, Florence, Doug, Lily, Jim and others as if they were part of his family. And, in truth, they were. Despite officially retiring in December 2002, on most weekdays he could be found at the university, researching, preparing another paper for publication, or meeting with colleagues.

Cliff also loved music, and regularly attended the WSO and as many recitals as possible at the university's school of music. He would sway along with blues by BB King, Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker. Jazz moved him deeply.