Gary Wilcox
— a brief pictorial history —

The
Wilcox family
moved to Oak Bay in
the fall of 1951
and Gary enrolled
in grade four at
Willows.

Willows Soccer Team
— city champions —
1954

* * *

He attended
Oak Bay Junior
and
Oak Bay High
and graduated
with the
Class of 1960.

Oak Bay High School
— graduation class —
1960

* * *

At UBC
Gary served as
president of his
undergraduate society,
sat on the
AMS student council,
and graduated with
a degree in
Physical Education.

Presidential Duties
— escorting Homecoming Queen —
1964

* * *

Following
graduation he
developed an
interest in
graphic design
and published
Off Beat
– one of
North America's
first teen
newspapers.

Roy Orbison
— reading Off Beat —
1967

* * *

While working
as graphic designer
for the Social
Planning Department
of The City of Vancouver,
Gary was
project manager
of Urban Reader
magazine.

Urban Reader
— special historical issue —
1975

Special
historical issues of
Urban Reader
evolved into
Vancouver's
First Century
published by
J.J. Douglas.

Vancouver's First Century

* * *

Gary left city hall
to create and publish
Photographer,
considered
by some to be
one of the top three
photography magazines
in the world.
Subscriptions were
requested by both
The White House and
the Kremlin.
The United Nations
was involved
in the issue
pictured below.

PHOTOGRAPHER
— United Nations issue —
1976

* * *

Working in
desktop publishing,
his interest in
family histories
led to the
Family Gazette
– a pictorial style
of family
archiving.

Personal Histories	Home Histories
click on above images to view newsletters

Gary has also
explored comic strips,
as a fun way of
archiving family photos
— especially kids!

Feeling Peckish	Beluga Dreams	Magic Hamburger
click on above images to view comic strips

* * *

Gary's interest
in music history
has resulted in
The Online Roots of Rock
– a website that chronicles
the development of
popular music
in America
over a 350-year
timeline.

The Online Roots of Rock

* * *

Working as a
commercial book designer
Gary is very involved
with local histories:

2006 marked the
centennial year of Oak Bay
and of many other
municipalities in BC.
Gary designed the
lavishly-illustrated
commemorative book
UBCM: The First Century
for the
Union of British Columbia
Municipalities.

UBCM: The First Century

Also in 2006,
Gary was design consultant of
Westwood: Everyone's Favourite
Racing Circuit — a pictorial
celebration of Coquitlam's
world-famous racing
circuit.

WESTWOOD:
Everyone's Favourite Racing Circuit

He designed
the dust jacket for
The Knights of Winter
— the remarkable story
of the Patrick family and
ice hockey in BC
prior to Lester Patrick's
move to Victoria in 1911
to re-shape
the game of hockey
in Oak Bay's
Patrick Arena.

The Knights of Winter
click on image to view dust jacket

Gary was
honoured by being asked
to accompany
Rosemary James Cross
when she received
the Hallmark Society's
"Mark Madoff Award"
for her book,
The Life and Times of
Victoria Architect,
P. Leonard James
— the story of her father,
the renowned Oak Bay
architect.

* * *

Gary has now retired
from commercial work and is
concentrating on three major
personal projects —
Pacific Northwest Coast
TOTEM POLES:
From Cosmos to Curios;
an animated dvd presentation,
Stanley Park: A Nostalgic Tour
with Vintage Postcards;
and closer to home,
Oak Bay:
The Formative Years

OAK BAY
The Formative Years

* * *

Receiving increasingly
more of Gary's time are two
very personal interests
he developed as a teenager
in Oak Bay — songwriting,
and developing a comic strip
for a character he created
when he was fifteen,
STAN FOOGLE.

STAN FOOGLE
click on comic strips to view enlargements

You can click here
to visit Stan's website
that offers two free downloads
that help introduce this
hapless hero.

"It's my hope to
publish a book of my
Stan Foogle comic strips,
The World of Stan Foogle,
but that's down the road.
In the meantime, I've
created a preview look
at the book. Click here
to see the Preview art print
and here to have a quick
look at the Preview
ebook."

* * *

And songwriting?
Gary was offered a
songwriting contract with a
big American music publisher
when he was barely
out of his teens.
At the time he chose
not to go down that road,
and pursued publishing instead.
But now, after a fulfilling
publishing career, he wants to
reconnect with his music.

This is the instrumental track
of a Country song written and
recorded decades ago.

Your Country Heart (Gary Wilcox)

This is the instrumental track
of a Christmas song written and
recorded decades ago.

Thank the Lord for Christmas (Gary Wilcox)

. Despite the title,
it's not a religious song,
but rather an inspirational piece
that celebrates
the spirit of Christmas.
Click here to see
the lyrics.
Click here to see
the simple inspiration for
the lyrics.

* * *

Outa My Mind
click on image to view wrap cover

In 2016
Gary put all his current
projects on the back burner
to publish Outa My Mind
— an interactive, multimedia,
retrospective eBook
of his personal creations
to date.
Click here to visit the
Outa My Mind
website
to download this free
eBook and the companion
eGuidebook.

* * *

Summer of Love
click on image to play video

In 2017
the Hallmark Heritage
Society of Victoria celebrated
the 50th anniversary of
The Summer of Love
with an in-depth,
multimedia presentation
that discussed “the shift
in Canadian culture
that began during 1967
in Victoria.” The
presentation focussed on
the local and national
influence of
Off Beat magazine,
of which Gary was
editor and publisher.
Click here to download
video.

* * *

In 2018
Gary was honoured by
the Hallmark Heritage Society
with the prestigious
Hallmark Communication
Award for creating
The History of Oak Bay
Website.

* * *

. Virtual Website .
Website on a flash drive! .
click on image to view enlargement

In 2019
Gary assured the
legacy of his research
by migrating The History
of Oak Bay Website
onto a flash drive.
The research and
presentations will now
exist long after the
online website is gone.
Such a virtual website
is a world first! It
offers several novel
benefits: it requires no
internet connection;
it allows for a personal
copy of Oak Bay history
(that can be copied
and shared); it’s a
permanent record; and,
if copied to the desktop,
download times become
a thing of the past.

* * *

Gary Wilcox
has over fifty years
experience in research,
writing, editing,
design, and publishing.
His work has received
international awards
and distinctions.

The History of
Oak Bay Website
is Gary's centennial
legacy gift
to the community.

The History of Oak Bay Website
A CENTENNIAL LEGACY PROJECT