Sister Dorothy Schweitzer

Sister Dorothy Schweitzer lived in the adjoining convent at OCHS and was a nun and teacher. I was never in any of her classes so I am unsure of what disciplines that she taught. Perhaps a reader could leave a comment and sort us out as to her role on the teaching staff.

Update: Thank you, reader, for the comment. Sister Dorothy taught English. I believe that Sister Dorothy is back in the SSJ motherhouse in Toronto now, but I could be mistaken. I gleaned this factoid by reading their website. Thanks again for the additional info.

Sunday Morning 1970's

On Sunday's not only do I try to post high school memories, but also various pictures that I snapped around Oshawa during those times.

The first is a snowy November shot of the Remembrance Day Cenotaph at The McLaughlin Bandshell downtown. It was just past Remembrance Day and you can see the wreaths at the memorial. We were out counting cars for our Urban Studies project. As a matter of fact, there is a picture earlier in this blog, of Dan Dalby and I sitting counting cars, and the picture below, is the view opposite to where we were posted. We were sitting in front of the old Canadian Tire Store on Simcoe Street South opposite the bandshell and the OPUC utilities head office.

Colleen Bulger was always a vibrant, dynamic, life-of-the-party personality. She also had a unique talent. She could mirror-write. Below is a sample of her skill:

The two aircraft pictures below were taken at the Oshawa airport, on our class trip fly day.

There is an online database of aircraft registration numbers, and I looked these planes up. The Cessna pictured above was manufactured in 1968 and still is flying. It is currently registered to a woman in Toronto named Wendy Cragg.

The small plane in the above picture has been de-registered and is no longer flying. It was an American Aviation model with a Lycoming engine built in 1969 and lasted until the 1990's

I wasn't much a fan of Ramblers in a General Motors town, but there were enough of them around:

I snapped a pic of this Scrabble game on a shelf in the high school office. I had no idea what it was doing there. When in doubt, take a picture of it.

And finally, this retro ad for honey, I just couldn't resist. It is a happy graphic.

Mixed Bag

I have a bit of a mixed bag today. In the first picture, I have Jack Cole holding a basketball, conferring with Tony Meagher. This was the Anthony Meagher that taught English for a few years at OCHS, then went and joined the priesthood, rising to rank of Bishop.

The next series of photos are a bit of whimsy about some of the textbooks in my high school career at OCHS. The classic English textbook was "Man and His World".

When I started highschool, only the first two grades (9 and 10) were supported by the provincial education system. Hence after that, one had to contribute with money, and the purchase of books. This particular specimen was well used. I believe that the majority of writing on the left hand side is my brother's handwriting.

The Latin textbook (Latin was taught by Sister Marie Howorth) is a lot cleaner. I guess that it had a less used shelf life than any other subject. Latin had the distinction of being a tough course (am I speaking Latin to you or what?).

Per Jupiter , illa statua refero bonus monumentum of dies preteritus.

(By Jupiter, these images truly bring back the memories of days gone by).

What is not visible in the photo of the inside of the book is the price. It was cut off but on the original it is still written in pencil. This textbook cost $2.59 brand new. In Rome, they would have said "Is est talis aliquantum" - (it's such a good deal!).

Student Assembly

The only person that I immediately recognize in this photograph is a young Hubert Schillings. He is the 4th from the left in the front row.

Looking closer, I see David Cooper near the center and Ann Ramreckersingh near the back left.

Midget Boys Basketball

Blair Morris and Graham See coached the midget boys basketball team.

Back Row: Ray Proctor, Gary Tenhaaf, Tom Gabriel, John Tutert, Blair Hughes, Ezio Azzano,

Front Row: Blair Morris, Ron Winterink, Pat Gill, Enzo Mazzotta, Brian O'Connell, Frank Fitzpatrick, Graham See,

Physics Class

I took the above picture in the physics lab. All of the faucets over the sinks at each experiment table obstruct the view. Directly visible in the photo is Marie O'Connor, and to the right is Debbie O'Keefe and Mary Coll. Once again, the card playing goes on to pass the time.

Benny Winterink

Benny Winterink (right) played on the junior basketball team. He succumbed to cancer at an early age. In pace requiescat.

Sunday Grab Bag

On Sundays, I try to post some locale pictures of Oshawa in the 1970's as well as OCHS pics on this blog.

The first pic is the addition of another building of Rossland Towers across the street from the high school. If you look very closely, you can see the imprint of another 35 mm negative across this picture. You can see the sprocket holes of the film strip.

The picture below comes from our big geography field trip. They had let us off the bus to examine an esker that we were parked on. Eskers make up the terminal moraine country of hills and dales around Oshawa, Peterborough etc. They are left over piles of gravel from the ice age.

I am fond of the picture of Sunnybrook supermarket on a snowy winter night, and I don't know why. Sunnybrook came to town with huge fanfare. It was the first discount supermarket in Oshawa, and its location was on Simcoe Street North near Beatrice Street, almost opposite St. Joseph's School. Sunnybrook created a stir both in the press and with my parents because of the deep discount loss leaders (Bananas @ 10 cents a pound -- such a bargain !!!).

And finally below, we have Brian McNeely in a lighter moment. The thing that I remember about Brian was that he was a heck of a golfer.

The negative of the above picture did not have a gracious trip through the years.

Tim McKenna and Sister Bonnie Ouimet

This photo looks sort of suggestive and it gets more so when I give you the back story. The woman on the left is a nun. Her name is Sister Bonnie Ouimet. What I don't understand, is that she was a nun, but she was in our Grade 13 class, as was Tim McKenna who is on the right. Tim and I shared our entire primary and secondary school career together. I believe that we skipped Grade 5 together. I think that the picture is unfortunate, and that the situation of extreme familiarity wasn't as the photo suggests.

Visible in the background is Mike Brisebois. I don't know what he was doing there as well.

Ivor Boyagoda Drinking On The Job

Ivor Boyagoda demonstrates a huge drinking problem on the job.

Mike Foley on his Throne

Mike Foley sits on his self-appointed throne. Mike is just one of a list of Foleys that attended OCHS (as is the same with my family).

Carnival King and Queen

Bonnie Filteau and Paul Smegal were the winter carnival queen and king.

Ian Mulgrew at Winter Carnival

Ian Mulgrew takes off his shirt for the sled races at Winter Carnival.

Sister Theresa Rodgers in the Library

Sister Theresa Rodgers is sitting in the library. Behind her is teacher Bill Higgins. Sister Theresa took over from Stella Barnett to teach typing and she taught me accounting. I wish more of the accounting stuff stuck with me. I could use it now when I am looking at balance sheets.

More Badminton

Once again, I am relying on readers to identify this individual. I will troll through my club photos and see if I can come up with a name.

Update: A reader left a comment saying: I am quite certain it is Michael Whorms. You are absolutely right. I remember the name now. Thanks for that.

Eva Stanko on the Bus

Eva Stanko smiles coyly at the camera from her bus seat. I remember taking this photograph. This was taken in Grade 9 or Grade 10 on a class trip. She was sitting next to Ron Yanch. They were an "item" briefly during this period.

Badminton Club Member

I shot the above picture while the badminton club was doing its thing in the gym.

I think that the surname of the above student is Vanderlaan, but I am not sure. Comments are invited to fill in the gaps.

Update: Once again, a reader has left an update via comments. The fellow in the background with racket pointed downwards is Rob Van de Valk. The foreground person is Pat McArthur , Zoltan Polya . Sorry, I am certain now that it is Ted Vanderlaan.

Thank you very much for filling in the blanks.

Regina Horrigan in the Gym

Regina Horrigan stands in the gym. She was a female Phys Ed teacher. At about the time, Elton John's album "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player" came out. For a bunch of us pimply, adolescent schoolboys, Miss Horrigan reminded us of the song "Teacher I Need You" from the album:

It's a natural achievement

Conquering my homework

With her image pounding in my brain

She's an inspiration

For my graduation

And she helps to keep the classroom sane

Suzanne Nadon

In the entry below, you saw Suzanne Nadon swinging while on a geography field trip. This is a close-up of Suzanne before getting back on the bus.

Suzanne Nadon Swinging

We were on a geography field trip and one of the stops was a conservation area near the Ganaraska River in Port Hope. We got off the bus to stretch our legs and eat lunch.

Suzanne Nadon got on one of the swings and started swinging. It was pure joy to watch her joie-de-vivre or joy of life.

At the Football Game

While the football game was progressing on the OCHS home field, I snapped a picture of what was happening on the sidelines. The bench that you see is the visiting team bench.

Student Council Speeches

Candidates for the student council were giving speeches at an assembly as to why they should be elected. As usual, I had my camera. The person at the podium was a grade or two behind me.

Picture Miscellany -- 1976 Graduation and Paul Dwyer's Chalice

I have a couple of pictures to post today. The first above, is the graduation ceremony of 1976 I believe. If someone recognizes the people or can correct the year, I would appreciate it in a comment.

Secondly, I was going through some of the images, and I came across this photo. I distinctly remember taking this. I took it inside the sacristy of St. Gregory the Great Church on Simcoe Street. It is Monsignor Paul Dwyer's personal paten and chalice that he used to celebrate Mass. I took the pic because he was celebrating a milestone in his priesthood and this was to be used as one of the graphics. I remember him telling me that his family chipped in to buy the chalice when he was ordained.
I have poured water and wine hundreds of times into this chalice as an altar boy.

GMAC - Giacomo Macchione

Uber cool GMAC - Giacomo or "Jack" Macchione stands at the new teacher introduction at kangaroo court. The ever ubiquitous head of Joe Pender can be seen popping up in the background as well. I have quite a few pics of this event.

Sunday Miscellany

On Sundays on this blog, I try to mix it up with the images and present some that are not exactly specific to Oshawa Catholic High School, but specific to my life at that place and time. I was quite a prolific and undiscerning photographer (I snapped a picture of almost everything), and strangely enough, it is those images that give a greater sense of what it was like back then.

Being Sunday, here is a shot of St. Gregory's church before Mass on a Sunday. I was always early because I was an altar boy.

The photo of the South Plant at General Motors was taken as part of my Urban Studies project. My father and some of my brothers worked at Generous Motors.

Some of the trucks from the Truck Plant await shipment to the custom shops that will finish them.

This was the urban sprawl that characterized North Oshawa. I grew up on this street. I moved there while I was in grade school at St. Joseph's and the area shown in the picture was just fields. Soon it became a cookie cutter subdivision. Each house had its TV antenna. When you drive by now, all of the little stick saplings are mature trees.

The photo below is left over from Urban Studies fly day. It is taken at the Oshawa airport. Dan Dalby takes pictures while John Ten Haaf relaxes in a chair (right). I don't know the female between them looking inside the hangar.