Reverend George W. Spady
Reverend would take street people home to dinner
Monday, January 18, 2010
There are not many celebrities who visit the George Spady Centre in Edmonton's inner city, a place that provides men and women with alcohol and drug addictions a warm place to sleep.
But when Rev. George Spady stopped by the centre named in his honour, a sense of excitement would inevitably wash over some of Edmonton's most marginalized citizens.
"When clients knew he was coming, they were very excited. It was like a celebrity was coming," Lorette Garrick, the centre's executive director, said Sunday.
"They saw him as a man with great compassion. There was a sense that this was a man with a vision who really wanted to help them."
Rev. Spady died Jan. 11. He was 96.
In the 1970s, when most facilities had zero tolerance for alcohol or drug use, he pioneered the opening of a shelter for intoxicated men. His compassion and commitment to helping the less fortunate were his hallmarks through years of work as a United Church minister and shelter director.
"I think he always had this deep compassion for others," said his son, Al. "He was very passionate about that and instilled in us a caring for others."
Born to a German family in Russia in 1913, Rev. Spady grew up poor and survived a famine. His family moved to Canada in 1924 and lived in the Edmonton area. Rev. Spady was the only child to further his education. He attended St. Stephen's College before becoming a minister.
One of his first postings was Pouce Coupe, B.C., where he travelled by horseback to minister to surrounding communities. He also met his wife of 63 years, Betty, in the small town before they eventually found their way back to Edmonton.
It's a long way from rural British Columbia to inner-city Edmonton. Through it all, Rev. Spady lived the lessons he preached.
During his tenure as a shelter director, Rev. Spady would sometimes welcome men from the shelter into his home for a meal with his wife and four children.
"He'd sometimes bring some pretty unique strangers home for dinner," said his son Jim. "It was just because he knew they had nowhere to go."
Rev. Spady was passionate about hockey and continued to skate until he was 85 years old. He loved to tinker on building projects, and spent two decades after he retired in 1980 building a log cabin in rural Alberta. He also loved the apple trees that stood in the yard of his old home in Edmonton.
"A few days before he died, he said, 'Alan, I'd like a good apple,'" recalled son Al, laughing.
Rev. Spady is survived by three of his children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
His legacy in Edmonton's inner city continues today, said the Spady Centre's Garrick.
Homeless people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are particularly vulnerable to the climate and other groups on the street, Garrick said.
Rev. Spady was among those who supported the opening of the Edmonton Men's Shelter to help intoxicated men in 1973 and was the director until his retirement.
Three years later, a new facility was opened and named in his honour -- a tribute to which the humble minister only reluctantly agreed.
The centre has evolved over the years. It now provides detox treatment and transitional housing to thousands of men and women every year. While many social service agencies assist people under the influence of alcohol and drugs, the Spady Centre remains a place that takes in some of the toughest cases.
Rev. Spady's picture still hangs on a wall.
"He really believed it was society's responsibility to take care of people who were vulnerable," said Garrick. "And he'd be passionate that we all have that responsibility."
azabjek@thejournal.canwest.com
Webmaster note: George W. Spady was born on December 2, 1913 in Norka, Russia. His family survived the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the terrible famine of the early 1920s in the Volga region before immigrating to Edmonton in 1924.