Three generations of the Northover family meet up on campus to swap memories
Abed Zeibdawi, left, Barbara Acheson, Francis Northover, Joanna Northover, Stephen Northover and Anita Acheson have all studied or taught inside Herzberg Laboratories. (Photo by Jim Des Rivieres)
Not many Carleton alumni can say their time on campus began in infancy, but Joanna Northover, BSc/08, is one who can. When she was a few months old, she was crawling along the halls of Herzberg Laboratories. Her parents, Stephen Northover, BCS/86, and Anita Acheson, BCS/87, first met in a Herzberg computer lab. When Joanna was born, they would take her to the library in a bassinette when they were studying.
As a child, Joanna tagged along with her aunt, Barbara Acheson, BSc/91, MSc/95, to help process rock samples for Acheson’s research in geologic chemistry. Another family connection was made on campus when “Aunt Barbie” met her husband, Abed Zeibdawi, BSc/92, in a statistics course.
When Joanna came to Carleton to study earth sciences, she spotted a familiar face on a wall of framed photographs. The gallery of retired professors, on the fourth floor of Herzberg, features her grandfather, Dr. Francis Northover, who taught in the mathematics department from 1957 to 1981. Described by his granddaughter as the “quintessential befuddled math professor,” 89-year-old Northover was so pleased to hear that Joanna, now a master’s student, often passed by his photograph that the family decided to visit campus as a group. So in July, three generations of the Northover family gathered at Herzberg for an informal reunion.
These days, Joanna Northover works as a teaching assistant in an office in Herzberg, continuing a family tradition that began more than a half century ago.
This story was published in the Fall 2010 issue. Tags applied to this article are: Family. Leave a comment, bookmark the permalink or share the following short URL for this article via social media: http://cualumni.carleton.ca/magazine/?p=405
