Comment
County man
I didn’t know Steve Campbell well. We chatted occasionally over the years. Argued some. Good-natured poking and prodding. About things that seemed important at the time—but surely were not. We laughed often. We shared a fondness for this place—though his connection was always more deeply rooted, more plaintive, more profound.
I mostly knew Steve through his writing, in these pages and County M a g a z i n e—his progeny, his jewel, his mark on this world.
He was passionate, keen-eyed, observant, optimistic, and funny. He proved to be an essential witness to a community that was changing so rapidly, so thoroughly, that its stories and traditions were at risk of being lost. Forever.
Steve had a front-row seat at the County’s profound transformation over the past 40 years. He observed a community he once knew slipping away to be replaced by folks from elsewhere. (Your correspondent included.) A population that did not change in number, but whose bodies were exchanged with those from away. The newcomers were bringing with them a different outlook. A different backstory. A different ambition for their new home. The pace of metamorphosis threatened to erase County memories. A common pattern, but an uncommon pace.
In other places, the newcomers are mostly additive—slowly, gradually, reshaping the community over a long period. Unnoticed. Undetected. A slow transformation that occurs over many generations.
In Prince Edward County, the transmutation happened over a much more compressed timeline. It looked similar. Felt similar. It offered the same natural beauty and pastoral charms. Yet the place was radically and comprehensively remade. Its DNA was wholly altered.
It made Steve’s role as witness, his purpose as a storyteller, crucial. Necessary. Essential. He ventured across his community to hear the stories. To bring them back and array them in the pages of County Magazine each season. Not a clichéd sepia-toned telling of the olden days, but an earthy, personal, occasionally heart-rending chronicle of triumph, of struggle, and of muddling through. Joyful. Celebratory. Human.
His will be the record of Prince Edward County over this remarkable era. Janet and Richard Lunn’s The County: The First Hundred Years in Loyalist Prince Edward will always have a place on my bookshelf. The Settler’s Dream too. Other writings also offer a distinct and affectionate window into the place. But the canon that is County Magazine will surely serve as the official story of Prince Edward County over the last part of the 20th century and its first tentative steps into the 21st. It will be the resource that reminds us of the rich texture of the place we have inherited.
Steve’s legacy is the story of Prince Edward County. Of what it was. What it could be. And what it might be still.
Occasionally, Steve was prescriptive. On proposed remedies, we sometimes disagreed. But he had earned the right to pose solutions, to suggest a way forward. His word count, his steadfast earnestness, his passion, his energy, and good humour had formed a worthy pulpit from which to share insights. He had earned the right to survey his dominion and to ask his readers to consider his prescriptions.
It seems fitting he left this world at his desk. Writing, reporting and documenting about the County to the very end. He leaves behind a rich trove of history and human experiences. Steve leaves behind the story of this place. He leaves a grateful community.
Thank you for this beautifully written piece on Steve Campbell, the best student I ever had. He was in the Journalism Program at Loyalist and I taught him Public Relations. Even then, he had the wry twinkle and hint of a smile when he thought he was on to something. I left my Dear County for many years, but when I was home, I would make a point of dropping into The County Magazine office just to tell Steve how proud I was of him – and I have several treasured copies of the magazine which featured members of my Family over the years. I remember that Steve would confer with my Father, the Late Chris Lockyer, to be sure he was getting it ‘right’ when researching an article. I am glad I bothered to tell Steve that he was the best student I ever had. And in the tradition of Steve himself, it is very important that we do ‘speak’.
Respectfully, Lana Lockyer Holmes. Kingston