Private Fred Tancrede Victor Savard (1910-1992) enlisted in the Canadian army and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) in 1944. Because of his artistic abilities, he moved from a rifle company to the Intelligence Section. In 1945, he was sketching (in charcoal) the ruined cathedral in Kleve, Germany, when he was approached by an artillery officer who asked if he could photograph Fred sketching. The officer took a photo or two and went on his way.
Years later, Fred taught at Danforth Technical in Toronto. At a reception, a new staff member asked Fred if had ever been in the army and in Kleve. As it turned out, he was the officer who took the photo. Private Savard's sketch accompanied by the photograph now reside together in the Savard Room along with his other wartime efforts: numerous oil sketches, several watercolours based on them, charcoal drawings, and charcoal portraits.
Some of Fred’s other paintings can be seen in Danforth Technical's auditorium – he painted portraits of a few of the school’s principals. The oil on canvas portrait of George Stephen was painted circa 1950 and signed and dated by the artist in 1953. Fred passed away in 1992.
From 1909 until 1987, the back room of the Officers' Mess of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) was known as the "card room," "back room," or "games room." In 1986, as part of the Black Yesterdays Project (an oral history effort with the Regiment's Second World War Veterans), Private Fred Tancrede Victor Savard was interviewed, at the behest of Captain Claude Bissell, CC, who was the wartime Intelligence Officer. Private Savard, an artist, was a reinforcement to an Argyll rifle company and later joined the I section, which had vehicles and, thus, places to store the paints, brushes, and charcoal given to him by the Dutch. Fred had kept most of his wartime oil sketches, charcoal portraits and drawings and wanted a home for them. He met with the Regiment in the Mess and pleased by the proffered home for his work. For the most part, he donated his work. There was a nominal price for the collection and money was raised by the 1st Battalion (wartime) officers. It was called "The Savard Collection." The stunning collection quickly took ownership of the room itself and people started to call it “The Savard Room” by the power of the collection itself.
