Coach's Conference

Football coach Tony White confers with players Chris Hurst (back) and Andre Grotenhuis (foreground).

Brian McNeely

Brian McNeely is outside on a snowy day leaning against the bicycle rack. A song by Brownsville Station later covered by Motley Crue comes to mind.

More Minor Niner Initiation

Woe betide an attractive young minor niner. The boys will flock to conduct initiation rites on her. This photo is soooooo politically incorrect these days.

Election

During a provincial election campaign in 1971, we had the local candidates in to speak on the issues.

Pictured left to right are Clifford Pilkey (NDP incumbent), Michael Lisko (Liberal), Dr. Charles McIlveen (Conservative and eventual winner), student coordinator Peter Ten Haaf, and Tony Seaver.

At The Assembly

Whatever is going on here is lost to my memory. This is at an assembly in the auditorium. Note the flower power posting fronting the stage. Also in the corner of the pic, is a bale of hay on stage. Unless remembers what this was and leaves a comment, it will go down as an unknown memory of the memory keeper.

Ted Van der laan

This is not what you think it is. Ted Van der laan doesn't have a Gene Simmons' tongue. He was playing euchre and eating a drumstick ice cream at the same time. What you see coming out of his mouth is the short end of a sugar cone.

Changes

Compare this photo of Henry Kowalewski to the one in the posting below. You will see the difference between a Grade 9 student and a Grade 12 student. High school comes along at one of the most formative periods of our lives.

Henry Kowalewski -- Grade 9

Henry Kowalewski and I met at a hockey tournament. We we opposing goalies for the floor hockey teams of our respective primary schools. He went to St. Francis, and I went to St. Joe's. We have remained lifelong friends.

This is Henry in Grade 9. Tomorrow, I will post a pic of Henry in Grade 12 and you can see the contrast between Grades 9 and 12.

Henry's older brother Andy Kowalewski is also an alumnus of OCHS.

Mike Bukoski

This is Mike Bukoski. He was a good friend of mine all through high school. He had a quiet personality coupled with a wicked sense of humour. He introduced me to the Charlie Farquaharson (Don Herron) series of books like "The Jogfree of Canada".

Junior Girls Sports Team -- Volleyball (I think)

Here Pat O'Brien, the coach of this junior girls team sits surrounded on the gym floor. I am almost certain that this is the volleyball team, but my notes are long gone.

The only students that I can identify are in the back row: Carolyn Corrigan and Lynn Belton.

Edit: Thanks to the reader who left the following comment: The girl on the bottom right of the photo is Linda Judovalkis

Here is the canonical list of names. Back row: Carolyn Corrigan, Pat Duignan, Rayna King, Patti O'Brien, Pat McLaughlin, Joan Taylor, Lynn Belton (coach). Front Row: Judy Greenaway, Kim Gedge, Lisa John, Ita Kelly, Linda Judovalkis. This is in fact Grade 9 girls volleyball.

Candy Knox and Ron van de valk

This is Candy (Candace) Knox and Ron van de valk in math class. I can tell that it is math class because of the textbooks on Ron's desk.

Ron always spelled his last name in lower case. He said that it was the correct way to do it in Dutch.

A Reader Writes ....

I recieved the following comment for moderation on this blog:

I had a horrible experience with ******** as a young woman.

******** went and badgered me about a poem that I wrote about another young lady like myself who died from cancer.

My poem about this student has touched many lives...

But ******** made me feel that I had done something wrong by writing it...

Its a good thing I didn't take ********'s opinion to heart.

For if I did, I would not have been inspired to Donate Blood, Join the Bone Marrow Registry, reach out to a young woman who had leukemia who became my friend and touch many many hearts with my story.

The sister of the girl that I wrote my poem about thinks that my poem is beautiful...

But ********'s words are very hurtful and insensitive to me to this very day and I vow to NEVER be like ******** when I become a teacher...

I never liked the idea of censorship, but I couldn't bring myself to publish this comment under the teacher entry to which it was directed.

Many teachers exposed their fears and prejudices in the classroom, often with hurtful results to the students. I don't think that I found myself in that situation. At least I don't remember it.

It is regrettable that a certain teacher marred an event in your life that has profound significance to you. You have every right to be judgemental.

However, you have to understand that different folks were value-programmed differently. And in the context of the 1970's, you have to remember that in Bob Dylan's words, the times were a-changing. I remember being told that a certain graduating class of priests from the Saint Augustine's Seminary in the mid-1960's has now lost almost 90% of its priests who actually quit the priesthood in the intervening years. It was a time of major social upheaval and those who were disturbed by the shifting ground, clung more tightly to the value programming that provided significance in their own lives. It certainly is no justification for what happened in your case, but rather a possible explanation.

I am sorry that you had a negative experience, but it sounds that you have moved on, and gained positively from it. Time has a way of healing all wounds, and I hope that in the years to come, you look fondly on the education experiences that shaped you as a person.

Rocketry Club

This is a photo of the Rocketry Club. They fired model rockets into the atmosphere.

Ruth Nicholls

Ruth Nicholls taught languages. I had her for English. She was an amazing teacher who triumphed over medical issues and had a long teaching career.

It was Shawn O'Driscoll who wrote "Teacher" on the blackboard.

Cathy Jones

I suspect that this student's name is Cathy Jones. However if I am to be corrected, please leave a comment.

This negative comes from the "On the Bus on a School Trip" series.

Cafeteria At Feeding Time

The students would buy their food in the canteen and come out of the doors at the far left into the cafeteria. I think that I stood on top of the jukebox to take this picture.

(you can get a larger view of the picture by clicking on it).

Cheerleader Cheryl Hambly

Cheerleader Cheryl Hambly frames football player Andre Grotenhuis on the home field.

Bert Hoefs at the Dance

I'm not quite sure what is going on here with Bert Hoef's hair. Was he caught dancing, or turning his head? Cathy Clinton looks on.

Judy McClinton and Peter Gibbs

This is Peter Gibbs with Judy McClinton at a dance. Wait a minute -- wasn't there a pic of Peter making an entrance with Cindy Germanis a few postings ago?

Kangaroo Court Crowd II

This is a general crowd shot of the students attending the kangaroo court proceedings for student initiation. By clicking on the pic you can get a bigger image. If you recognize anyone, leave a comment.

Teacher Initiation

During kangaroo court and student initiation, there was an initiation of sorts of new teachers. They weren't egged or anything like that.

Pictured here are a new crop of teachers. Richard Wietfeldt, a religion teacher is far left. Bill Langley is standing next to him with Pat O'Brien on his left. Edit: The teacher on the far right was identified as Jack (Giacomo) Macchione. Thanks to whoever left the comment. I should have remembered him, since he taught me.

Sister Marie Howorth

Sister Marie Howarth is pictured here watching student initiation. She taught me Latin and English. As for my opinion, she was a great teacher.

Latin was a breeze for me, because I was indoctrinated in Latin as an altar boy.

Sister Marie's partial biography reads like this:

I grew up in Toronto in a devout Catholic family with six children. I attended St. Joseph's School on Leslie St. My highlight was when I was in Grade 8, I was chosen to crown Our Lady in our school's outdoor procession. I have happy memories of my childhood as we did many things as a family. For example, my father always made a rink in our back yard, so the neighbours joined us for fun.



Then I attended St. Joseph's College School. In Grade 13, I was on Student Council. I was impressed by many of my teachers, who were Sisters of St. Joseph. After I went to Teachers’ College I taught grade 1 and 2 at the same school where my mother and grandmother had taught. Three generations!



In my second year of teaching, the principal, Sr. Eileen Mohan, asked me if I had ever thought of becoming a Sister. I replied that I had but I was not ready to do anything yet. I had two aunts who were Good Shepherd Sisters and we went frequently to visit them, since they were cloistered. I taught another year and then I felt God was calling me, so I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph.

The complete text can be found by clicking on this link:

http://www.csj-to.ca/Join_us/sr_marie_howorth_story.php

Tony Seaver Hamming it Up

After I typed the title to this entry, I realised that it comes from the Department of Redundancy Department. Tony Seaver hamming it up ???? NO !!! Say it ain't so.

Gary Ranalli

This is flamboyant French teacher Gary Ranalli arriving at school. He was green long before being environmentally conscious was cool. He would take his classes outside. He thought outside the box. He covered the curriculum with discipline, but still made class interesting and cool.

The above photo appeared in a yearbook, but not in that incarnation. I took the negative to my darkroom, and I projected the image onto photographic paper with the easel tilted. The net result was as below:

Graham See was the staff coordinator for the yearbook that year, and he labelled this pic "French is an uphill drag".

Gary thought nothing of inviting us to his house. His family was as egalitarian as his classroom. He had a child in the high chair, (a toddler) and the toddler said "Gary, I want a drink". I was mortified to hear a toddler call his father by his first name. It didn't faze Gary at all.

Ingulf Trettin

Ingulf Trettin was a biology teacher. He taught either Grade 12 or Grade 13 biology. He was a quiet sort of person, and I was pleasantly surprised to find him an interesting person once you got through the reserved veneer.

Peter Gibbs and Cindy Germanis

Peter Gibbs and Cindy Germanis make their entrance at a school dance.

Herbert Gentry

Herbert Gentry had the patience of Job and was a saint. All this came about in his later life when folks tend to get more crotchety and have less patience. Instead, he took a class of ill-behaved, tone deaf kids and turned them into a band (eventually). The first couple of years and especially the first few classes sounded like a torture and killing chamber for screaming cats.

I played the tuba, and Damien O'Brien, who played the euphonium used my tuba for basketball practice. He would roll up a potato chip bag (they were made of aluminum foil in those days) and sink a longshot in my instrument. I wasn't aware of it until I hit a very low note and emitted a wicked rattle.

Mr. Gentry could play any instrument, but he was a master on the trumpet and violin. When he did lose his patience, he would yell at us "Were you brought up or brang up?".

I always like music because it was a constant drama. It was amazing how red Mr. Gentry's head would get when he hit high C on his trumpet. I always expected a Monty Pythonesque blowout of his head valves with blood covering the walls.

And woe betide the flute players in the first row when he opened the valves and blew the spit out of his trumpet. I was amazed at how much collected in that small cavity.

Mr. Gentry was a gentleman, and a music scholar and a valuable asset to OCHS.