In
Memoriam
Professor Albert Watson
Bannister, M.A., was born Sep 1851 at Pine Grove Farm in Townsend,
and passed away 30 Apr 1918 at Pomona, California.
Of a religious nature and
studiously inclined, he made the most of the educational advantage
of his day, often preparing his lessons while following the plow. He attended Wilsonville
public school, Scotland grammar school, Simcoe high school and
Albert College in Belleville. From the last institution he received
the degree of B.A. and the Gold Medal in classics. Afterwards
Victoria College in Toronto conferred upon him the degree of M.A.
He entered the ministry of
the Methodist Episcopal church, but being called to teach in his
Alma Mater, he soon decided that teaching was his vocation. After several years there,
he taught successively in Brockville high school, as president of
St. Francis College in Richmond Quebec, a college affiliated with
McGill University in Montreal, and as a member of the faculty of the Methodist University of Los Angeles, California, where he
moved in 1892.
Within recent years he
bought an orange ranch near Pomona in southern California, and was
residing there when taken ill. He passed away as the result of a
serious operation.
As a teacher he had great
ability in imparting information and encouraging research. He
inspired many young men to enter the ministry and was himself always
a S.S. superintendent or teacher of a bible class. Several times he
crossed the continent to visit his parents and friends.
He leaves a widow, the
daughter of Rev. W. Young of Ontario; two daughters, Miss Annie
Bannister of Pomona and Mrs. Guy Halderman of Pasadena, and three
grandsons.
Of a family of 10, but one
brother and two sisters survive him:
Mr. George D. Bannister of
Townsend, Mrs. E. B. Freeman of Freeman, and Mrs. E. A. Elliott of Cambridge, Mass.
