St Joe’s renames gymnasium for the late Eugène Roach

A Yellowknife school has renamed its gymnasium in honour of a former teacher, Eugène Roach, who passed away at the age of 45 in 2022.

Eugène served for nearly two decades as a physical education teacher at École St Joseph School. A ceremony to formally name the Eugène Roach Gymnasium took place on Thursday evening.

A plaque unveiled during the event declares that Eugène “dedicated his life to ensuring that all students understood the values of character, integrity and sportsmanship here in Yellowknife and throughout the Northwest Territories.”

“For many schools, including ours, the gymnasium is such a focal point when it comes to physical fitness and particularly physical well-being,” said Paul Kelly, the principal at St Joe’s, who called Eugène a friend and colleague.

“Eugène played a huge part in that when he taught here at our school,” said Kelly.

“Even though his influence permeated through the school and the district, I think it was best seen through sport and physical activity. And so the gym, being that learning space, is the ideal setting to remember him in.”

In the summer of 2018, Eugène was told he had a stage four lung cancer named adenocarcinoma. At the time of his passing, Yellowknife Catholic Schools called Eugène – an NWT hall of fame educator – “an amazing teacher, coach, colleague, mentor and human being.”

From 2022: Eugène Roach, beloved Yellowknife teacher and musician, passes away

Cynthia Roach, Eugène’s wife, thanked the friends and staff members who organized the naming of the gymnasium, and said reading the “countless letters of support that poured in once the idea took off” had been heartwarming and emotional.

“To see the impact that Eugène had on families and kids was overwhelming. If he only knew,” she said.

She said the school’s students themselves had “continued to support and inspire Mr Roach and allow him to truly shine each and every time he was present in this gym.”

“He often talked about many of you. He followed your stories, and checked up on you while he was in treatment. He needed to know how you were all doing,” she said in a speech at the ceremony.

“May each and every one of you that enters the Eugène Roach Gymnasium take away a little bit of Eugène, remember his spirit and strength, and remember his love of sport. Continue the legacy that he started.”

Kelly said Eugène had been an active sportsman himself and “took ownership” of his own fitness and well-being, which allowed students to see that being modelled by an educator.

“For kids to be able to go to the rink and see Eugène coming off the ice, or to see Eugène going to do professional development to get certified in different fields like archery and stuff like that, so he could come back and coach them – that’s really important,” he said.

“We had a short ceremony here today for our students and we explained that some of them may feel sad and upset, and feel like Eugène was taken too soon, but we wanted to remind people that this is actually a real, incredible honour for Eugène, and I’m sure he’s looking down with pride.

“Obviously, his family, friends and co-workers are super proud of Eugène as well, and this is a much-deserved recognition for his efforts and who he was as a person.”