Student Council 1973

Back Row: Elsa Lack, Debbie Gagnon, Kathy Taylor, Danny O'Neill, Judy McLinton, Marylee O'Neill

Middle Row: Diane Ciosk, Connor Seaver, John Manley, Gloria Murrant

Front: Don Hamlyn, Joe Neal

Chess Club in Action

Pictured left to right: Doug Hamlyn's younger brother (thanks for the correction) someone who's first name I can't remember, Don Hamlyn, Francis Kreisz, foreground ... unknown, center- Kevin Duignan, sitting on desk - unknown, standing at right is Mike Ivanco.

Update -- a reader left this comment: Sitting on the desk playing chess with Don Hamlyn is Larry Burrows. Don Hamlyn is indeed Doug Hamlyn's younger brother.

Thank you. That is what I thought as well. Don Hamlyn is Doug's younger brother and another student that I have been communicating with confirmed it.

A Reader Writes:

A reader writes in response to the pic of the population of Oshawa in the 70's (click here):

I would guess its about 150,000 (current population of Oshawa). These are great pictures, amazing to look back on what my school is like from then to nowadays. I currently attend Dwyer A.K.A. OCHS, and am a Grade 12 Student. The field, gym, and front circle hasnt changed much, but the back of the school doesn't even look like the same place anymore, along with many other parts of the school, due to renovation. Any pictures of the cross country team from back in the day, that would be interesting to me. My coach attended the school back in the mid 70s, you may have known him. Kevin Dillon?

I personally have not been back to visit the school since I graduated. It is tough now, since I live in the Bahamas, and our Canadian dwelling is in Quebec. However I have a brother who is ten years younger than me and he attended Dwyer as well as most of our family. He tells me that the school is no longer "H" shaped.

When I attended, that was the case. Apparently the back which used to be two separate wings is all filled in now. I think that the population of the school at the time was around 350 when I was in Grade 9 and was 500-600 when I was in Grade 13.

As for cross country, it was featured prominently in the 1974 year book. When you opened the yearbook, the binding cover (the very first page inside the cover was a spread printed in blue ink) that looked like this:

Dale Irwin is third from left. Andy Williams is on the extreme left (thanks Anonymous).

Update: Runners from left to right (top photo) are: Andy Williams, Michael Scott, Dale Irwin, Don Hamlyn, Michael Whorms, and Tom Zavesiczky. (thank you)

And the back cover looked like this:

I have more pics of the cross country team that I will post in due time.

As for the Kevin Dillon dude, did you mean this guy?

Cheers, and thanks for the comment. If the present is anything like the past, Dwyer (OCHS) has produced some real fine people, and the Wikipedia entry on famous alumni is sorely lacking. I have a partial list of people, who are world renowned in their field, who walked in the some of the same hallways that you do now. Good Luck.

After School

Why does everyone look so down in the dumps? What are they doing?

Actually, it is an impromptu game of chess going on. A student is challenging French teacher Gary Ranalli, sitting to the right. The chessboard is on the floor.

The only student that I recognize, is facing the camera. He is Doug Hamlyn's younger brother, (someone left me a comment saying that Doug Hamlyn doesn't have a younger brother). The person is in fact Don Hamlyn.