CARDIAC ARREST CLAIMS POPULAR FORMER BEECHGROVE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
MUSKOKA — The school community is mourning the passing of a popular retired kindergarten teacher.
Doug Kamachi, 59, who taught his entire career at Beechgrove Public School in Gravenhurst died of a cardiac arrest last week — after “his heart just stopped,” said his wife who with his family was at his side at the end Sunday.
“People are saying ‘There’s just no way,’” said Jennifer Kamachi.
“We’re reeling, we’re just in shock because of his healthy lifestyle.”
Kamachi died Sunday, four days after collapsing while playing weekly pick-up hockey in Bracebridge with other teachers. He died four days later at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie.
“There was nothing they could do,” she said, due to the length of time his brain was without oxygen doctors told her.
He essentially died at the rink after coming off the ice following his first shift.
Team-mates applied CPR and used the arena defibrillator, which apparently doesn’t work when you “flat line,” before paramedics arrived and took him to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.
A celebration of life Nov. 11 at the United Church in Bracebridge, at 2 p.m., is certain to be a full house given the outpouring of grief seen in comments on the Reynolds Funeral Home website.
Expressions of condolence for him showed the huge impact he had on hundreds of students, parents, friends, family, fellow teachers, players and people across Muskoka.
“Doug’s sudden passing has knocked the wind out of us,” wrote neighbour Heather Spurling. “If ever there was a person who deserved a long life, it was Doug. Humans don’t get any better than him. And most of us will strive to be half the person he was. We’ve been lucky enough to live next door for many years and have Doug and Jenn in our daily lives. Every time we’d have one of our chats on the front lawn, I’d always leave feeling better, regardless of what we talked about. Just being in Doug’s presence was enough to settle your heart and mind. What an amazing gift.”
“I loved playing hockey with him; but he was even a better person off the ice,” said David McGuey. “A true gentleman in every sense of the word. He enriched the lives of the many students that he taught and he made the world a better place to live in.”
Perry Lepage, a retired arena worker, added “Doug was always a pleasure to deal with at the arena. Never in too much of a hurry to chat. Some users I would avoid after I retired, but when I saw Doug I was always drawn to him. Sorry for your loss I’m glad he was a small part of my life.”
Johanna Tilson said “I remember thinking over 20 years ago, ‘How can a man be a kindergarten teacher?’ But being in his classroom quickly changed my view. He was very calm and quiet and oh so caring with his classes.”
Kamachi’s passing was a “total shock,” said his mother, Jean, who lives in North Bay with her husband Yosh. Both are 90 years old.
“Because we always considered him healthy and well. He ate well, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink — exercised. There must have been an underlying health issue that he didn’t know about and we didn’t know about.”
Kamachi was born in Chiliwack, B.C., where his father was stationed with the Canadian Forces.
The family was eventually stationed to North Bay where their son began kindergarten.
“I think he always wanted to be a teacher,” said his father.
After a few years working for CN Rail he applied to teachers’ college at McMaster.
In the late ’80s when there was a surplus of teachers “there was a small window for hiring teachers and Gravenhurst was the first place he got a job and that’s where he went stayed,” said Yosh.
“He said ‘I was once promoted to Grade 4, but they always wanted me to teach kindergarten.’
“And he loved it.”
“His passion for teaching impacted the lives of many and was equally rewarding for him,” said the death notice. “Doug’s empathy, and ability to listen and quietly lead the way made him so respected by people in all aspects of his life.
Kamachi and his wife met at McMaster University where they got their undergrad degrees the same year. In 1989 they graduated teachers’ college at Nipissing University in North Bay — shortly before the “best friends” married. Then both taught 30 years, retiring together in 2018 before COVID.
“Jenn” spent her first 10 years teaching in the Huntsville area and the final 20 years as a kindergarten teacher at Macaulay Public School in Bracebridge — near their home.
She said her husband’s passing “wasn’t the result of hockey. It wasn’t a heart attack. It was a cardiac arrest — which is different. That means his heart stopped.
“Unfortunately he had an unlucky heart.
“We just want to make it clear that he was a really, really fit person who exercised every day.”
She said he didn’t have any pre-existing health condition.
“He didn’t know and none of us knew. And he just went out that day and that’s where he was.
“We were thankful for the medical attention he got there. His team-mates performed CPR and used the defibrillator…. But he didn’t get oxygen to his brain for way too long.”
After being taken to SMMH he was transferred to RVH, where he died Oct. 22.
“So during those four days there was really no chance of him recovering. There wasn’t a decision to do anything. He had pretty much died at the arena,” said his wife.
Jenn said the couple retired on the same day in 2018 — five years ago this Christmas.
“We taught in Muskoka for 30 years.”
The couple also did a teaching exchange to Australia and Doug did a couple of other years at Gravenhurst Public School and Glen Orchard.
He was “just a participant in everything,” said Jenn.
“He canoed and hiked — and walked every single day. Cross-country skiing was huge. He wasn’t competitive in hockey. Hockey was social.
Bruce Dart, of Gravenhurst, who taught phys-ed 20 years with Kamachi and also played in pickup hockey with him, said he last saw his friend in September just before the NHL season for the annual hockey pool player exchange and that they planned to have coffee together soon.
He said Kamachi was a “really nice guy,” who would come out afterwards, “but never drank.”
Dart said his passing reminded many of another former teacher, Doug Leonard, who died while also playing hockey with teachers in Bracebridge around the 1980s.
Jenn said: “He was such a family man — a quiet listener.”
Lovely pictures of him, his family and year-old grand-daughter, Lia, “who was such a part of his life,” said his wife, fill Jenn’s Facebook page
She added: “I just want to make it really clear, we don’t want it to be about hockey. He’s a family man who was very active in sports and the community and in his life. We don’t want it to be related to ‘oh, he went out and played hockey that day.’
“His heart could have stopped on our Wilson’s Falls trail.
“He’s been a member of the old-timers hockey community and the Baysville hockey group, which are all his friends; but they’re almost all teachers. He got into it through teaching.
He was also president of the Muskoka Old-timers hockey team.
“We’re reeling, we’re just in shock because of his healthy lifestyle and he because he’s only 59,” said Jenn. “No one plans for this. He’s got 90-year-old parents and (had) a 105-year-old grandpa.
“Just sitting in our house we feel people’s pain, because when they hear it’s Doug Kamachi I’m sure they just go ‘There’s just no way.’”
Jenn referred to one Facebook post early this week that best captures most of what has been said and written about the so likeable man: “If you don’t smile when you hear his name or talk about him, then there’s something wrong with you.”
Kamachi is survived by his wife and “best friend” Jennifer; daughters Megan, who rushed back from being in New Zealand; and Sarah (Jon Slaughter, of Orillia) and grand-daughter Lia “who was such a big part of his life,” brother Stephen; and parents Yosh and Jean.
The celebration of life service is at the Bracebridge United Church, 46 Dominion Street, November 11 at 2 p.m. To be followed by a reception at the Muskoka Highlands Golf Course. A family interment will take place at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations to South Muskoka Hospital Foundation https://www.healthmuskoka.ca/donate/ or the Manna Food Bank https://mannafoodbank.ca/donate/ in Bracebridge would be welcomed.
EMAIL: [email protected]
30th year of ‘Local Online Journalism’
Twitter: @muskokatoday, Facebook: mclairmont1
Leave comments at end of story
SUBSCRIBE for $25 by e-transferring to [email protected]
Or go online to https://muskokatoday.com/subscriptions
