Smoking in the Boys Room

 Man, times have changed. I was thumbing through the Oshawa Times archives from during the years that I attended OCHS and immediately this cigarette ad popped out at me:

Times were really different, and looking at this makes me feel old. It was hard to believe, but our high school had a smoking area outside the gym on the far side of the school. Here is a photo of it at that time:

As you can see, both boys and girls partook of the nicotine habit. It was beginning to be frowned up, but it still hadn't attained the same stigma as gonnorhea or neglecting hygiene, so the school accepted the fact that it was a personal choice, but one had to "keep it over there".

On school trips, once the main group of teachers were no longer monitoring behaviour, the cigarettes were broken out. Here on a class trip, a gaggle of girls started puffing and chuffing on the cancer sticks:

It was an interesting class trip, because geography teacher Blair Morris chartered a private plane to take our Urban Studies class on flights over Oshawa to see urban sprawl. This photo was shot outside the Oshawa Airport, just up Stevenson Road from the high school.

A few years on, Mötley Crüe did a song: "Smokin' In The Boys Room" which epitomized the smoking area before one was created outdoors. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oVBvxA0mm0

If this video were to be re-made today, it would be: "Vapin in the gender neutral bathroom."

My Classmate Shawn O'Driscoll

 

Shawn O'Driscoll, and his brother(s) all went to Oshawa Catholic High School. Shawn was in my class from Grade 9 to Grade 12. He didn't finish Grade 13 because I believe that he went off to school in England. He is now an orthopedic surgeon at the world-famous Mayo Clinic, specializing in Sports Medicine. I believe that he does Tommy John Surgery on Major League Baseball players.

He is not my only classmate with an MD, PhD. The other is Doug Zochodne who does brain research in Alberta.

January 23, 1971

 

I remember this vividly. The 1971 Winter Carnival Queen was Anne Stovell. Runners up were Joanne Bond and Veronica (Ronnie) Brady. Both Anne and Ronnie were a year ahead of me in my brother Ed's class. Joanne was the yearbook editor that year. I was part of the yearbook team (wrongly identified in the yearbook as my brother). All of these people pictured were beautiful, vibrant, young women, and caused intense limerence in self and my male cohorts. Ahhh the halcyon days of youth .....

When I found this photo in the Oshawa Times archives, I emailed Joanne and Anne with a portion of the following lyrics:

Once upon a time there was a tavern

Where we used to raise a glass or two

Remember how we laughed away the hours

Dreamed of all the great things we would do?

Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

For we were young and sure to have our way

La la la la...

Then the busy years went rushing by us

We lost our starry notions on the way

If by chance I'd see you in the tavern

We'd smile at one another and we'd say

Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days

La la la la...

Just tonight I stood before the tavern

Nothing seemed the way it used to be

In the glass, I saw a strange reflection

Was that lonely woman really me?

Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days

La la la la...

Through the door there came familiar laughter

I saw your face and heard you call my name

Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser

For in our hearts, the dreams are still the same

Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days

La la la la...

So where were you in '72. Moi, I was having some of the best years of my life and didn't fully realize it. 

Another OCHS Hockey player that I never knew about.

 

click to enlarge

I knew that Rick St. Croix was an NHL goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Larry Hopkins played hockey, I believe for the Winnipeg Jets, but by going through the Oshawa Times archives, I found the name of Luc Bedard who played for the Oshawa Generals and went to Oshawa Catholic High School. I guess that he was never called up to the NHL. His full name is Lucien Bedard, born in Portneuf Quebec (home of the some the best cheese to come out of Quebec) and after the Generals, played with the Prince Edward Islanders and the Charlottetown Islanders of the junior hockey league in the Maritimes.

The School Today

 I got a message from one our far-flung alumnus and they asked how much the school has changed since our daze there. The footprint has expanded considerable. Since I also am far away from Oshawa, these images are from online. I think that the school underwent a massive expansion and is now undergoing a contraction. In my final year there, it got to about 600 students.

OCHS vs Dennis O'Connor High School ~ Early daze of OCHS

 

(click to enlarge)

In this Oshawa Times article, Valerie Gardynik tells of the rivalry between Dennis O'Connor High School from Whitby, and OCHS. This was a regular newspaper high school roundup written by the students. The only OCHS person mentioned was Len McAvoy. There are winners and losers in this article.

School Ring ???

 

I was totally unaware that I could have bought an Oshawa Catholic High School school ring. It is regrettable since I had an income at the time and could have afforded it. If I had one, I would have treasured it, since all of my changes happened there (or at least most of them). The other changes in Life were less pleasant.  I found this ad for OCHS and others school rings in the Oshawa Times archives and at the time, Burns Jewellers were THE jewellery store in Oshawa. Burns doesn't exist anymore. There are Burns Jewellers in the Ottawa area today, but they are not related.

Betty Anne Yanch Scholarship ~ Early Days at OCHS from Oshawa Times

 

In the early days of OCHS (pre-1970), the Oshawa Times reported on The University Women's Club of Oshawa and District gave scholarships to area female highschool students attending university. The Oshawa Catholic High School winner was Betty Anne Yanch taking a Bachelor of Nursing degree at the University of Toronto.

As an aside, her father gave away scholarships for the same purpose when I graduated. As the winner of the J.A. Yanch Scholarship for Academic Excellence because I was the Outstanding Male Graduate that year, I got $400 which was a considerable sum in the day. 

School Days Text Books and Supplies

This brings back memories of Coles at the Oshawa Center. Throughout my years at OCHS, I worked at Eatons in the mall and shopped at Coles for my school supplies. This ad was from the first year that I attended high school. I don't particularly recall buying textbooks, as noted by the ad, but I do recall buying school supplies there, including the 3-ring binder reinforcement stickers when the paper tore.

Do they still use binders in school? I don't think so. I recently attended a university lecture with my daughter and everyone had laptops, and the professor projected the lecture through a special app that let you take notes in the browser with the professors lecture notes as well. These vintage things make me feel old as dirt.
 

Pre-High School Hockey

 

This entry in the Oshawa Times is dated February 27, 1968, a year or two before the people mentioned in this article attended Oshawa Catholic High School. This was the CYO bantam hockey league with CYO standing for Catholic Youth Organization. Among the OCHS alumni mentioned are: Mike O'Halloran, Jim Larkin,Dan O'Neill, Mike Murphy,Marc Adams,Marty Reynen, Marty van Veghel,Jerry Nemish, and Rocco Ambra. Many of these were my classmates.