A Son’s Tribute to His Father (by Paul Bode)
Today is the 80th birthday of my father, Fred Bode, seen here enjoying one of his favourite activities; exploring the desserts of Southern California.
My father grew up just outside Hollywood during the post-war boom culture of movie stars, beaches, and the cutting edge of modernity and social change.
My grandfather, Fred Bode Sr., poured their moderate means into travel, the great outdoors, and education. This allowed my father to see the world at a young age, gallop horses across the US southwest, and to get the best liberal arts education the country could offer at UCLA, George Washington, and Yale.
In his early teaching assignments in the American bible-belt, he got involved in radical politics, supporting Black Power worker movements. This contributed towards his chosen academic field, the history of slavery in the US, for which his expertise has been recognized by many peers.
He made his best decision in 1970, when he accepted a teaching job in Montreal. He got off to an exciting or dubious start (depending on your point of view), as just a few weeks after arriving, some radical sovereignist friends had him participating in a Patriote reenactment of the Battle of St-Denis, which was followed just a few weeks later by the October Crisis.
Despite this, he flourished in the history department of the nascent Concordia University, where he met my mother.
My sister Sarah and I came on the scene some years later, and like his dad did for him, my dad poured our family's resources into travel, the great outdoors, and education, allowing us to see the world just as he had. My own formal education didn't amount to much, but I know that I could receive no better education than to simply be in proximity to my father for extended periods.
My father is a true Renaissance Man, with a famously encyclopedic knowledge spanning the entire breadth of the liberal arts. He has an insatiable thirst for learning from books and media, but especially from the places he visits and the people he meets. He then generously and gleefully shares that knowledge with anyone and everyone nearby, whether they want it or not.
His many friends around the world like to joke that when he visits their city, he’s the tour guide.
His childhood friend Bill Allen put it best, saying that the two words which best describe my dad are curiosity and imagination.
I used to think that my dad simply knew everything. I've since discovered that that is not the case, but that one of the biggest joys for both of us is when I get to tell him about something interesting that he doesn't yet know.
In normal times, he and my mother lead an incredibly active social life full of concerts, museums, academic lectures, the life and governance of his church Lutherans Downtown (St. John's), and dinner parties. The famous parties at their own home are a hot ticket for intellectuals who dare to cross swords with my father over the dinner table.
Despite his wide knowledge, my dad is also incredibly humble. He speaks with confidence, but without pretence. When he's explaining something, he does so with a seemingly naive assumption that the person he's explaining to, whoever they are, has the same level of understanding of the subject that he has. Some have reported that this actually makes him more intimidating than someone who would speak down to them. It would also confound many of hist students, because he had a habit of lecturing to undergrads as though they were doing their post-docs. But it was never to show off. He just assumes that you're smart and that you love learning.
In his later career, my father's academic interest turned towards his lifelong interest in cinema (he averages three visits to the movie theatre per week), and the Hollywood of his youth. In retirement, he's spent years working on his magnum opus, a working class history of Hollywood during the Golden Age of Cinema. Progress is slow, because he's far more interested in researching and learning the subject than he is in putting pen to paper. But I'm pleased to say that my father is in excellent health, with a sharp mind and a straight back, so I expect that he'll have many, many years to complete his work.
My greatest privilege is to be his son.
—Paul Bode
