Jane Oldfield, University of Toronto

I began working in the administration of the Centre of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Toronto in 1978 by which time Professor Skilling was already retired from "regular" teaching duties. He would, however, come to the Centre almost daily.

He was after all the one of its founding members and its director for over 15 years. He was very much its creator. When I told him that I was a native speaker of Czech, he began to share with me some of his thoughts on the developments in the country and before too long I realized that his involvement in the human rights movement and especially in the Charta 77 movement went well beyond academic research. He was absolutely passionate about the Charta 77 movement and deeply respectful of the people involved in it. His eyes would come to light each time I asked him if there were any news from the "old country" . He would launch into a very detailed account of the most recent developments.

I would often see him in lively discussions with students in the corridors of the Sidney Smith Hall where the offices of the Centre were located. An hour later he would still be involved in the conversation leaning slightly against the wall. His passion for the human rights movement in Czechoslovakia was most certainly infectious. I can still see him entering the Centre's reception holding documents often under both arms. They were of various sizes, some hand handwritten , others typed, then books and articles. He could barely carry his load. And he was always apologizing that most of the material would go to the library next door. He would pull out some of the documents for which he needed to verify his own Czech translation or asked me for a quick translation of other short notes. It helped that the Director of the Centre at that time (1979-1984) was also a Czech ex-patriot, Prof. Gleb Žekulin and that the production of the Canadian Slavonic Papers which was housed at the Centre , was handled by the 68 Publishers.

Although I lived in Canada I did not feel like a spectator, Professor Skilling made me feel very involved in what was going there behind the Iron Curtain. One could certainly hear Czech spoken in the offices of the Centre every day. There is no doubt in my mind that Professor Skilling;s placed the Charta 77 movement into the forefront of the day to day business of the Centre. Although I never studied under Professor Skilling he did become my teacher in a sense. I personally am grateful to him for reviving my hope for the country I consider "má vlast" and for not forgetting my roots.