Celebrating 50 years!

On Friday, November 13th I attended the ‘meet and greet’ evening of my alma mater high school, Port Coquitlam Secondary School  … which was later renamed Terry Fox Secondary School in his honor as it was his alma mater also … exactly 10 years following me! 

me on my Graduation Day in 1966

ALL the pictures of the 50 years of Graduation Classes 
hang on the hallway walls of the Terry Fox school.

(because of the lights, this was the best picture I was able 
to get of my grad class ... can you spot me on the front row? )

I didn’t know exactly what to expect.  Firstly, I was disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to meet … or at least SEE … the old school facility on Wellington Street who’s halls and classrooms I’d walked and learned in from grade 8 till graduating in grade 12 all those many years ago!   Because of overcrowding, a brand new school was built on Riverwood Gate … and it is indeed a beautiful facility.  When you drive up and walk into the school, there is truly a sense of pride that you – and everyone there feels as we realize that we shared a time and space with the hero whose name and spirit fills the place (Terry Fox was in fact, voted #2 of the Greatest Canadians.) 

Thanks to facebook, I’ve reconnected with a few of my high school graduating class and I knew at least Elizabeth (MacDonald) Crossley was going to be attending.  A little side note here – when we first reconnected (via facebook), I told Elizabeth that my school annuals had been lost in one of my life’s many moves … and she graciously photocopied the pages of our graduation class and mailed them to me (what a lovely thing to do).

Elizabeth and I

Since the reunion was spanning the full 50 years which the school has been in existence, there were a LOT of people there and everyone was encouraged to wear a name tag, including the year they graduated … which was a big help.  After all these years, nobody was going to be too proud to be caught looking at the names and years!!  It wasn’t long before Elizabeth and I found each other, then we found Wendy Hudson and Arlene (Miss Embree) Dodding – my home economics teacher.  I ran into Skip Mint as well as Mike Forrest and Karen (Friskie) Forrest – who married and are still very active in the Port Coquitlam community.  That was about all from our class. 

Me and "Miss Embree"

Then there were the friends I knew more from the community and living in Port Coquitlam during that time – like Renata and Anita Wessel … what a hoot to meet up with them too.  Quite a few people recognized my last name (but I didn’t know them all … it was usually a friend of my brother or sister and I pointed them towards where I’d last seen Tim or Grace over the evening!)

Me and Renata

The evening held one sad bit of news … I ran into the sister of a boy I’d had a crush on and when I asked about him, she said that he’d died when he was 23 years old.  I’ve thought of Ken many times over the years (who doesn’t wonder whatever happened to a high school crush?!) … and it made me sad that this sweet, gentle sensitive artist had died far too young.

Part way through the evening, we were all invited into the gymnasium for the ‘formal’ part of  the celebration.  Several of the past Principals greeted everyone (our Mr. Brandt has passed away since).  And the highlight of this time was when Fred Fox, Terry’s older brother took the podium to greet people.  It was a touching moment when he explained – for the benefit of those who’d known the school only as “Port Coquitlam Secondary School” – how the name change came about.  He stated that the school has always acknowledged that THAT was the school Terry graduated from and that it would always be acknowledged as the original school.  The pride and team spirit was always there and Terry was part of it when he was attending.  “Terry Fox Secondary School” is based on that history and foundation … and that it is and always will be an honor to be part of that history.

 

"I wanted to try the impossible and show it could be done."

Terry Fox

Cheers!