25 August 2000 Recording the ebb and flow of time and life

A tenth anniversary has been taken as the right time to rededicate a sundial on the Lincoln University campus which stands as a memorial to a staff member killed in an avalanche in the Craigieburn Range.

The sundial, refurbished and repositioned for accurately recording the passage of time, was rededicated on 24 August to the memory of Clif Collister, a Senior Computer Consultant with Lincoln University's Centre for Computing and Biometrics who died in an avalanche on Mount Olympus in August 1990.

A B.Sc. and M.Sc. graduate in computer science from the University of Canterbury, Clif began work at Lincoln University as an Assistant Computer Programmer in January 1980. He took a year's leave from Lincoln in 1984 to be national coordinator for computer courses for the National Council of the YMCA. Close involvement with the YMCA and its activities both indoors and outdoors ran parallel with his Lincoln work.

In 1987 he spent two months at the University of the South Pacific then later that year resigned from Lincoln to set up his own consultancy. He returned to the University in 1989 on a job-sharing, half­-time basis.

During his years at Lincoln Clif was involved in many aspects of providing computer services on the campus and his life is also commemorated in the annual Clif Collister Prize for the full-­time student who achieves the highest final mark in the subject COMP202 Computer Concepts and Organisation. Clif taught this subject.

The sundial memorial to Clif reflects his great love of the outdoors and the mountains. He was a keen and experienced skier and a qualified ski patroller. He was treasurer of the Windwhistle Sports Club which runs the Mount Olympus Ski Field.

The rededication service was conducted by Lincoln University Chaplain Canon Lois Warburton and along with present and past staff members Clif’s brothers and other family members were present. Representatives of the YMCA and Windwhistle Sports Club also attended and spoke of Clif’s involvement with their organisations.

The sundial was for many years a feature of the garden where the University's Commerce Building now stands. However, flourishing shrubs and trees long ago obscured the sun and it fell into disuse. Senior Technical Officer Lionel Hussey of the University's Information Technology Services Centre took a personal interest in the relic from Lincoln's past and ensured its salvage, restoration and new placement. It now stands, accurately placed for time-telling, on the edge of the forecourt in front of Ivey Hall.

The Community Diary is produced by the Strategic Communications Centre, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand