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My old school

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by jamesrl

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Went back yesterday to my old High School for one last look around. It was an event by the Alumni to give us a chance to look around before the wrecking ball comes in.

http://www.bcivs.brantford.on.ca/index.htm

My old school is being partially demonlished.

The old part was build in 1910 and had lots of charecter. Concrete floor and steps were redone since I left, wooden floor replaced, but some of the structure was as it was. The old auditorium, which had bats when I went to school, had been redone but the stage still felt the same.

Originally the plans had been to demolish the whole thing and start again somewhere else, but the Alumni fought that tooth and nail. There was a major addition in 1963 that was worth refurbishing. Eventually they decided to keep the facade of the old section, refurbish the 1963 section and replace the old section with new construction.

I was happy at my high school - it was old and had traditions and was excellent in many areas. We won the provincial championships in football and a national mathematics contest in the same year. I won a school letter for participation in Band (yes I went to band camp, and this one time...), Yearbook, cross country running, student council and camera club.

We had some famous alumni, though other than the guy who played Tonto (Jay Silverheels was his stage name) only Canadians might know;
June Callwood, David Fox, Gary Summerhayes, Pauline Johnson and others.

I kept in touch with a few friends a decade or more since high school, but don't talk to them much anymore, which is sad.

I guess this old rambling has a point. My head says, all things must pass, the old must give way to the new, but my heart says it will never be the same, I will miss that old building where so many memories were made and so much personal history took place. I have to thank many teachers who helped shape and mold me - we never think of it at the time.

My wife doesn't get it, she was eager to just get through high school and move on to university. But I went from a big High School of 2000 students to a big university of 40,000 and I can't help think the high school days were better days.

Do any of you look back? Go Back?

James

42 replies

by maxwell edison

I enjoy driving around, stopping at places from my past, walking around and reminiscing. It's part of my life, and I don't want to forget it.

I used to work in one of those classic gas stations when I was a teenager. My boss was also a friend and mentor, who taught me so much - almost a second father to me, filling-in some areas where my own father fell short. I always visited whenever I went back, drinking beer in the back with the guys. I was very sad when that gas station was torn down to make way for a new building.

The building may be gone, but the memories remain.

by jamesrl

Brantford was a worldwide leader in farm equipment manufacturing, with two major makers and many parts makers sited there.

And it all came tumbling down in the 80s. Thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in a city of 65,000.

So when I hear Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown" and the references to main street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores, I can certainly relate - it happened after my high school, so I was shocked at the change which to me felt overnight.

There is now a casino and with it pawn shops and massage parlours. I want to weep.

In Toronto in the 30s they had these gas stations built to look like castles with a turret. They were iconic. Sadly the last of them was torn down about 10 years ago.

I still have my memories, and I share them with my kids. They have walked around the schools I attended and they have seen where I've been.

James

by charliespencer

I was an Air Force brat. I attended at least four elementary schools, one jr. high, and two high schools, none of them in the area I now live. I have no allegiance or affection to any of them and would recognize maybe two graduating classmates if I bumped into them today. That's all in the past and while it wasn't unpleasant, it's nothing I choose to revisit.

by jdclyde

It really is amazing how differently people live.

My brother was in the military, and his boys suffered academically and socially going to the international schools. Hard when you don't understand the native language, and that is what everyone uses at recess.

by charliespencer

All of our overseas assignments were over before I hit school age, so I didn't have to face that problem.

What you see as sad I recall as a great opportunity. I saw lived in and visited parts of this country I otherwise would have never seen. I don't understand people who don't want to move or travel away from where their family has lived for decades just because that's where they grew up. They stay tied to the same area as the economy changes and the town goes belly up without even considering the option to relocate. "What, and miss my reunion?"

by shellbot

My elementry school, i have a few nice memories.
One high school i went to was burnt down, so its a complete rebuild, so no memories there for me anymore.
The other high school I attended was only for a year, and althgouh I had a couple friend (i had moved to the city from the farm) I didn't quite fit in very well with most people.

I envy those with good pleasant memories of school..I just don't have them.

Although I admit I rememeber some of my teachers with fondness. I think a couple of them helped shape who I am today (although I didn't realise it was happening at the time)

by jdclyde

from chasing the underclass girls to partying in the darkroom. The school would never have found out if some dumbass hadn't left a whiskey bottle in the filing cabinet.

oh well.

it was quite a ride. :D

by jdclyde

kids today look at the building and say what an old dump, and you see it and remember what it once was.

I get that same feeling of "what this must have been like" when walking downtown Detroit. Once grand buildings are all boarded up now.

My boys don't go to my high school because it has fallen to an unacceptable level of standards of conduct, shall we say. They go to a school about 10 miles up the road, and are doing very well there. We do have the big rivalry ribbing's every chance we get of course, but just because we can.

They see my old school and have to admit that it is still a very regal building. It makes me sad that I find I can't bring myself to send my boys there. :(

Had a graduating class of about 380 people.

High school was some incredible highs and just as incredible lows. Still have my pic handing in the hall for Cross Country. B-) Something that is a major driving factor for ThingOne. The bar has been set by what and how I did, and he is going for it. [i] (earned three varsity letters his freshman year, not a bad start, even if he doesn't count the band letter... :D because it isn't a SPORT award )

by jamesrl

We only had two letters - the little one and the big one - and every activity counted towards them.

I competed in cross country, but got injured in competition. My teams juniors came 1/2/3 at the provincial championships - they really razzed the forth member of the team for being slow.

James

by jdclyde

my junior year when we took the championship.

Would have my senior year again, but I got caught with a beer at a football game and got kicked off the cross country team. I was the number two that year.

When I asked why the football player that got caught DRUNK doing doughnuts in the parking lot didn't get kicked off the team, I was told it was because his dad had just died. I still kick myself in the ass for not telling them how lucky I was that my dad had died 4 days earlier.

I hadn't learned to stand up to authority at that stage of my life. I won't let my boys make the same mistakes.

by boxfiddler

I head out to my hometown. There is something strangely saddening and heartening about the trip. One of the small towns I lived in is disappearing, and the other has grown and changed to the point that it doesn't have the same feel anymore.

I don't go hunting the people I knew - many of them left for the city as did I. Many others are on farms scattered for 100's of miles (it was a 22 mile bus ride to school!).

I do head out to one or another of my favorite quiet places - there are a few out that way - and spend a few hours, swim if it is warm enough. It makes for a lovely day, and picks up my spirits when I'm glum.

With the rise in gas prices, this is happening less often these days. Thanks for the reminder - I need a day trip! :)

by jdclyde

Out by the bay, there was a turn around that everyone parked at. From there, it was about a mile walk out to the point. Wooded right up to the beach. We would have our bonfire going and of course, lots of booze. (was into Yukon Jack and mt. Dew at the time).

The cops and NDR left us alone because it was a long walk out and we never got out of hand.

The trees have been cleared and is all mud now. :_|

by boxfiddler

but it is still quiet in a way that it's not around here. We are within visual range of an interstate and it is never quiet. Never.

by jdclyde

You have great memories of the places you have been.

I have great memories of the people who have been in my life.

I moved away for a year when I was 20, but came back. I have not regretted it, even though I could make more money if i moved. It isn't about the money. Will branch out SOME after my boys graduate. They have been through enough major changes in their life (IMO).

I don't think it is a matter of judgement, just preference, and nothing wrong with either. I do see that my boys have a strong relationship with their grandmother that my brothers boys don't have, simply because they only see each other once a year on average.

I don't see myself going to my next reunion. The people I wanted to see were not the people that showed to the last one. A real disappointment. :(

by bjennings59

...the places I've been and the people I've had in my life. I've had friendships that go back to high school and middle school. Scary sometimes when I think how many years it's been! And we're still in touch even though I don't see any of them very often. In fact six of us are planning a vacation together for next summer.
I visited my old HS about 10 years ago. I used to think that school was so BIG. Funny how small it looks/seems now!

by boxfiddler

A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit my first grade school. Way back there in 1st grade it seemed so large, and was so intimidating! I pulled up out front of it at the age of 40something, and though it looked as I remember it layout-wise, what a dinker it looks now! :D

What an interesting effect the passage of time has on perspective.

by jamesrl

Was an old one room school house built in 1870s that became a community centre. We played road hockey there as kids, built a fort in the trees, and went from there down the river bank, where we played, and fished.

But the river banks have eroded rapidly and the foundation of the old school shifted, so the school has been torn down, and we can't go down the bank anymore.

Very saddening, my wedding reception was held there, as well as those of my brothers, as well as many potlucks, dances and parties of my youth.

James

by jdclyde

is gone. A four lane road is there now.

I ALMOST bought the second house I lived in, but someone has just got the purchase agreement in before I could. Was a nice little house going for a GREAT price. :( Would have been much happier there than the house I ended up in. (that I am now stuck in because of the market)

by jamesrl

Our fourth man liked show tunes...

He was a figure skater who didn't attend all of our practises but was fit enough to compete. He was probably a little too much on the muscular side to win against us skinny guys.

James

by boxfiddler

gosh. That reminded me. It was on a corner, an upstairs apartment, across the highway from a train track. On Tuesday and Thursday in the wee hours of the morning and express freight came barreling through town. The whole house shook, the windows rattled. It took about 3 weeks to become so accustomed to it that it didn't wake us anymore. When we moved out of town and no longer heard the train, it took about 3 weeks for us to stop waking up when we 'should have heard it'. Very fond memories, and a moment in which I realized something about how our minds work.

That house is no longer there. :(

Great thread, this. :D

edit to add something.

by jdclyde

and only have one memory from the place, digging in the dirt with my tonka steam shovel.

We bought a house (the one I almost bought back) which we moved out of in 1978 in the middle of winter (2 feet of snow on the ground).

The next summer, I went back and asked the current owner if I could have my pine tree that I had planted four years earlier. He said I might as well, because it was making everything he planted look bad because nothing would grow for him. :D When I first planted it, I brought it home from school in a cup. When I transplanted it, it was three feet, and I planted it at the new house (where my parents still are) and it is about 40 tall. B-) MY tree. Sure, it has about a 20 foot base now and takes up almost a third of the yard, but it is COOL! :D

by jdclyde

to hopefully open the teenage tunnel vision up to see what they are living now. Hopefully it will help them appreciate somethings, and make the most of what is offered.

When it is all over, all we have of value is our memories.

by boxfiddler

first apartment that I actually paid the rent on. Moved around so much as a kid that it's a wonder I remember any of those places, or schools, or kids in my neighborhood and classes. Which, in terms of the latter, I don't. No roots. Don't know whether that is good or bad. Probably depends on my mood for the day.

I call it my home town only because it is the place I lived the longest, next to my current place of abode; and is the place attached to most of my fondest memories.

edit the usual

by bjennings59

I think I'd take the trains over closing time at the bar! Especially when some of my friends were there (without me). I'd be sound asleep and here they'd come, a bit over-served and banging on my door at 2am! I didn't last too long at that apartment.

by jamesrl

They saw the list of valedictorians etc back to 1910, and they were awestruck. They loved the size of the place - its pretty big compared to their schools. My son was awed by the trophy case and the championship banners in the gym. They added another title on Saturday, provincial champion in rugby.

James

by jdclyde

you were smaller, so in comparison, it WAS bigger.

Just like there was once a time when 25 seemed so damn old.... :0

by boxfiddler

my oldest cousins (and the ones I saw the most often) were in their late 20's and one was actually 30! They were, of course, difficult for a 10 year old to relate to and have any 'real' fun with. I thought you couldn't get much older than 30, and didn't want to.

Ha! Little did I know! :D

by sleepin'dawg

know what I expected but found I had nothing in common with anyone there anymore. It was kind of sad but I figured there must be reasons why one doesn't maintain contact with some people. I do maintain contact with one or two very old friends but find I really couldn't care less for most of them since whatever we once had in common has disappeared in the mists of time.

I have gone to several university reunions and they have proved to be quite different. I seem to have a lot more in common with most of these people perhaps because I quite often encounter many of them socially or through business.

I do attend reunions of my army commissioning class and seldom, if ever miss one. We get together every 5 years or so and the atmosphere of cammeradery is totally different. There's a certain unique bond between people with whom you have shared experiences of danger and risk. Any of these people can call me at any hour of the day 24/7 and I'd respond to them as I know they would do so for me.

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)

by shellbot

but I've expereinced similar feelings with Facebook (ya ya i know..i'm sad).

My sister kept at me to get myself on it, and i did..i then realised a lot of people i went to school with are on there so started adding them as friends.

At first I though, "oh wow, this is cool...will be great to touch base with them again" But after the initial "oh hi", I've realised I've not 1 thing in common with most of them anymore. Even one of my best friends as a child..i just move in a different world than she does.

For a bit it made me sad, to think I shared so much with some of these people and i wil never get that sort of relationship with them again.

We all change I guess..I am happy with my life now for the most part, and I presume they are happy with thiers, so thats all that counts I guess.

by jackofalltech

My elementary school was cool! It was shaped like a capital I with four classrooms at each end of the middle hallway and three floors. There were the old iron emergency stairways outside in-between the ends (Did anyone else ever play fire-escape tag? Talk about crazy-dangerous!) The basement was a warren of tunnels, wash-rooms, and storage rooms. Polished wooden floors and staircases gave it an aura of class and oh, that smell!

Years later, when they tore it down and built a modern, 'aesthetic' one, I felt lost for some reason. It was as if part of me had been amputated.

My Jr. High school is still there and still looks pretty much the same.

Get this: My high school class had 720 kids in it. I (again) live in the house I lived in back then but in the 30+ years since I graduated, I have not seen ONE person I knew other than my close friends. How weird is that? Am I the only one that didn't move away?

by jdclyde

And I still rarely run into anyone from school. Sometimes at the Mall I will see someone, we exchange a quick "hi" and keep going. No real reason for more because we generally weren't close in school, so why would we be now?

I did laugh at my 20th reunion a few years back. The head jock, Paul, came up acting all buddie buddie. I said to him "you were always a dick to me in school, why would I want to talk to you now?" and went to talk to people that were friends back in the day.

Very quickly, the old clicks started up and it was just like old times with the people I hung around are the people I still do things with anyways.

by jck

Last I was at my high school, it was my 10 year reunion. I was glad to see some of my classmates, but I generally didn't care to even be there. Neither of my two best friends from high school could make it, so I had no real interest in being there.

I went back to my junior high school a year or so previous. It's much like yours. It was built in the 1920s, and then expanded in 1933, the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. But the auditorium was this beautiful classical architecture.

My elementary school? I haven't been there since my niece was a little girl and I went to pick her up from school. About 1993. But last I saw it, it was pretty much the same.

I really don't like going back to the schools, per se. I just like going back, seeing old teachers I had. Some are still around, and those people who made a difference in my life and supported me are what I was most fond of in school.

by gsg

Where would I look? I went to 4 elementary schools, 3 Jr Highs (aka Middle School) and 4 highschools. I never had time to get attached.

I have a couple of schools that I'm more fond of than others, and a couple of teachers that made a huge difference to me in regards to learning, and even career. Thanks Mrs. Fleming in Marion, Illinois, and Mrs. Griffin in Leavenworth, Kansas!

by boxfiddler

you have me beat by one High School. I can't remember the name of a single teacher I had.

Once in awhile I think it would be nice to go to one school or another's reunion, but then I realize that if I can't remember any of them, the likelihood that they remember me is extremely small. Wallflower time.

by jamesrl

I lived in the same house until I went to university, and my parents are still there.

Some of the people I went to school with in Grade one graduated with me in Grade 13.

I went back a few times in the decade after high school - I caught the school musical the year after I left (South Pacific). I spoke with my music teacher then. I saw one of the cast on Sunday. I signed up for Classmates a few years back and have exchanged emails with a few.

One of my history teachers was also involved in politics, and while he mocked me in class for my political stances, he bought me beers outside of school (even before I was of age - horrors). I saw him a few times for a beer at the local watering hole as late as ten years after graduation.

My grade one teacher, who also was my speech therapist, moved to my parents neighbourhood later in life and I thanked her for helping me overcome my minor speech issues. I wouldn't be where I am without that help.

James

by gsg

I graduated in California with someone that I was in 2nd grade in Missouri with. That happened all the time, as our dads all worked in the same place and we'd all get transferred around, and eventually cross paths again.

I've tried to find Mrs Fleming with no luck. I'd like to track her down and thank her for being such an awesome teacher. She was tough, but she really was a good teacher. I'm sure some of her methods would be frowned on today as they try to shove everyone into the same mold.

by bjennings59

Here we are at my Grandmother's 90th b-day party. Me and my cousin, at the time in our mid-40's and my GM saying "Gosh, I can't belive how FAST it went by" as me and my cousin look at each other, a bit freaked out I might add... thinking "if she is saying this at NINETY there is no hope for US!"
p.s. SHE was 90 at the time! YIKES!!!

by av .

Hi James,

I wish I could say I have fond memories of my high school, but I don't. I was in high school during the late sixties/early seventies and it was a school that had alot of racial tensions. It was also during the Vietnam war and alot of the guys I went to school with faced the draft lottery after they graduated. That took away from the real experience that school should be. It did, however teach me volumes about life. Hard realities, hard lessons.

I think my high school experience has given me some important gifts that have served me well in life. I understand the importance of standing up for what you believe in and I am streetwise.

After high school, I decided to study Fine Arts and had a great teacher that changed the way I experienced life. It was a beautiful thing and more than made up for my high school days. She has lived in Alberta for many years. Maybe you've seen her work - her name is Eileen Raucher Sutton.

AV

by michael jay

Thanks James for a very thoughtful post.

Like you I grew up in one house that my mother still lives in, and my old school was a place of many memories, and many friends that most unfortunately over the years I have lost touch with.

We were very outstanding in sports, and won many contests.

Famous people, there were many. The most notable being Ben Stein and Goldy Hawn.

I have gone back and seen the many changes that have occurred, and Silver Spring Maryland will never be the same as it was when I grew up there.

But I cannot, and hope that I never to forget the memories that made my early years so wonderful.

The teachers, Ricucci, Moore, Klopp, Rains, Feldhaus, Ledbetter and many others including one Karen Yablonski, extra special if you know your history.

I must deeply thank all of my teachers for the care and love you showed us all as students of Montgomery Blair High School.

It was so special in so many ways, and now that that chapter is done (so many years ago 1972) I can never forget, or give thanks enough, to all of those who were there or for the memories that will always stand so tall in me.

No you cannot go back.

But you can never forget the people that meant so much to you at the time.

It was truly magic.

Now at 54 years of age I am looking towards another graduation, retirement. And just like High School I will indeed miss the many friends I have found in my many years in my current position and hope the future holds more places in my life to build friendships and memories.

This has been a rather difficult post to make and sorry to ramble on but James' post kinda touched my heart, and I thank you James.

You reminded me of what is important.

by nicknielsen

I was at a small school; we put 21 on the stage for graduation and had just under 400 students in the district that year. It was a Central school, so we were all together in one building. I went to school with essentially the same few people in my classes for 11 years and have almost no idea what any of them are doing today! Never been to a reunion.

If anybody's interested, the original building was built in 1948 and was not large. Three floors with 20 classrooms: http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n152/nnielsen/rcs.png
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n152/nnielsen/RCSbye3.png.

Each group of four windows is a classroom; the original gymnatorium is in the center of the U. I haven't seen many smaller--two minutes between classes and there was always time to stop at the locker and change books. The large building in the back is the new gym and was added in the 80s. The building is now an elementary school (K-6).

If you're not interested, why did you read this far? :p

by jamesrl

I live about an hour drive away, and I visit my parents every month or so.

I missed my grad (they held it in the fall of the next year, changed now), but I was close enough to drop in for the school musical the next spring.

I too had people who started with me and grade 1 and graduated HS with me. I kept in touch with some of them for a few years.

James

by nicknielsen

But for the most part, that's it. Most of us got along alright in school, but when we graduated, we all went in different directions. Tired of seeing the same old faces, I suspect.

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