Rendez-Vous Fredericton

tutoris Rendez-Vous ‘07

What’s it like going back after 54 years?

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Well, the stairs are the same

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The changes hit you in the face like a sudden rush of heat from a blast furnace. Not exactly a disappointment but not quite what we expected either.

But the memories of faces we got to know so well that year— in and out of class — still haunt the stairways.

The gym is gone and the auditorium has morphed into a courtroom. So have most of the classrooms, which had been converted either into offices or courtrooms. There’s even an elevator now.

For some, the flashbacks started from the moment they began climbing the front steps.

“I remembered how nervous and scared I was,” said Maud Simpson Young, who came to TC from a small town.

Evelyn Sutherland Harper was also apprehensive on that first day. “I came from a small town (Plaster Rock) and wasn’t sure what to expect.”

Going through the doors, she was swept up by other memories ... “of everyone milling around the entranceway ... I could almost see them after all these years.”

For Suzanne Webster, coming to the reunion from Calgary, it was picturing how we all used to sit on the front steps after lunch on sunny days in the fall and spring and spring “amd remembering how I could hardly wait to see my home room”.

And for Adra McGuire Trail, the stairs seemed so wide and expansive when she walked up them for the first time. Now, she says, you have to wonder how we fitted 138 people on them on graduation day.

“I had a wonderful feeling walking up those steps. It just took me back,” said Frances Short Purdue, who now lives in Fredericton. “I was glad I had gone.”

Walking through the front door, Leona MacDonald Hallihan was suddenly conscious that these were the good old days. “It brought back aflood of memories ... of the people I knew and felt close to 50 years ago and I kept thinking who else had been in my class and also with us on the tour.

For Helen Smith Kingston, there was a strong feeling of happiness as she mounted the steps after 54 years. “I was quite apprehensive at first but it didn’t take too long to feel at home and make friends. It was a good place to be ... and a good year.”

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The Sun Grill ... for starters, it’s now called the Blue Door

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he menu isn’t the only thing that changed.

The booths are gone, replaced with tables and chairs, and the clientile is different now.

It was like being in a different time and a different place.

Other than the Sun Grill name still imprinted on the concrete doorstep at the entrance, there was absolutely nothing that would give you an idea you had entered one of the hallowed memories of our year at TC.

Rinette Albert Daigle, chair of Rendez-Vous ‘07, still finds it hard to believe she was in the same space where we had gathered after the tour of TC. “A great gathering place for students in 195253 but with all the changes, it was virtually impossible to feel any relationship with the past,” mused Lilianne Roussel Laplante. “For many of us, it was one of the great memories of TC.” Leona MacDonald Hallihan could still remember when she and Veronica McCarthy, Elianne (LeBreton) Therault and Pat Jenkins Paulo used to sit. “We used to drop in every day.”

“No more 10-cent Cokes for three people and one cigarette among us,” remarked Mary Tolan Frauley.

“But people change,” she added.

“So why not buildings and places.”

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‘I expected to see Carmen Dupont come running down the hall’ CONTINUED from page 2 Audrey Fullerton loved TC from the moment she stepped into the building in 1952. “I always liked to go there. There were a lot of interesting people inside –– classmates as well as teachers.”

Despite the changes, the old building still has the power to stir up memories, especially the energy that echoed in the hallways. “It was always pretty positive. I half expected to see Carmen Dupont come running down the hall and calling out to us ....”

It was also the first time Audrey encountered Acadians. “I really enjoyed meeting them. We were all mixed together — and it was perfect.”

Later, she talked to some of the French-speaking grads at the 2004 reunion in Saint John and again at this reunion, about how difficult it must have been having to be taught almost entirely in English.

Betty Robertson Stevenson, coming to the reunion from Cambridge, Ont., had the same epiphany.

“It didin’t occur to me then and it

Mary Tolan was one of the first to register. wasn’t until I came to this reunion that same building any more, even though I felt we were part of the building’s I really understood how difficult it history.” must have been.”

Our guide, Sheriff Keith Ball, It was also the first time she got noted that TC had been declared a to know Acadians and seeing fellow heritage building and that architects students with pierced ears. were not allowed to change the stairs Adra (McGuire) Trail, who now and bannisters. lives in Fredericton and drives by “Our hosts more than made up for the building regularly, felt the inside it. They went to great pains to prepare would look essentially the same, too. for our visit,” added Milford. “They “I expected some changes – after really made an effort to make us feel 54 years that’s only normal – but not welcome.” to the degree we saw ... I would have Despite the changes, just walking preferred to have remembered it just up the stairs and through the hallways as it was.” again brought back some great memoIt was the first thing that hit Edgar ries for Julia Gallant Bourgeois.

Haché, too. “It was definitely not the Lilianne Roussel Laplante wasn’t building I remembered 54 years ago. too surprised by the changes. “We’ve Milford Henderson had much the same feeling. “It didn’t seem quite the changed. Still,” she adds, “I would have liked to have seen my old classroom and visited the old library.”

John S. MacGillivray, recently name Grand Master of the Masonic Order’s Scottish Rite for New Brunswick, reflected that while it was nice to be back in the old building, “it would have been nice if they had maintained one of the old classrooms in the way we remembered it.”

For Germain Robichaud, nothing could change the feeling of amazement TC always gave him and renewing the friendships he made there.

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Rendez-Vous ‘07 in Fredericton Page 5 endez-Vous ‘07 was the first and only reunion I ever attended in my life.The experience was heartwarming and surreal.

I found myself stepping back in time to when we were all teenagers. I expected not to be recognized and worse still, that I would not recognize anyone else.

To my surprise and delight, I saw before me mature, attractive even beautiful fellow graduates with whom I immediately felt a special bond. We greeted each other as though it were only yesterday. Our spirit was as youthful as ever as in the “long ago”.

As we renewed our frienship – chatting, reminescing and sharing teaching and life experiences, I felt I was in a special realm and special space in time.

It confirmed that teachers are special-special people.

The visit to the former TC building was like a mysteri-

ous walk back in time. Everything seemed smaller and even the lovely staircase seemed unfamiliar. Our memory does plays tricks on us.

But it was worthwhile to tour TC realizing, that as youths we had studied and prepared ourselves as fine teachers within this grand old building.

We widened our horizons so much that year, learning not just from our teachers but from our fellow students from so many parts of the province, and above all, just how important fellowship was.To me the buidling echoed with our long ago enthusiasm and future dreams.

I am pleased I attended the TC Reunion with each fellow student who journeyed with me for if only for a little while to “bygone years” and made those memories “alive”, creating new and even more special memories.

–– Mary Pittson Vautour

ON TOUR: In one of the old classrooms, which has been coverted into a court room.

The question is: Which one?

‘I felt happy to be with everyone again’

CONTINUED from page 4

“Before coming to TC, I attended college in Bathurst.

TC was different. It was the first time I met people from Southern N.B. It was a big revelation for me.”

Going into the old model school and seing how it looked and the displays of old textbooks and the pictures of previous graduating classes was familiar territory for Evelyn Sutherland Harper.

“My mother was a teacher and so were my aunts. I even found a picture of two of them on display.”

Going up the stairs and walking down the corridors, said Mary Tolan Frauley, you really weren’t sure of your

bearings and you were left trying to figure out where the classrooms were.

“It was definitely not a sense of going back ... as I went on the tour, I tried to remember who was in my room and what our room looked like. It was a connection that’s very hard to explain.

“For me,” added Maud Simpson Young, “it was the people. Not the building.”

“I didn’t recognize everyone,” said Suzanne Webster, “but those I did, the connection – and the bond – was immediate. I just felt happy to be with everyone again.”

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Friday Night with Elvis

Was Elvis a hit? For an unbiased opinion, ask Rinette or Betty.

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Hand Printing

If you can read upside down, you’ll know who it is . . .

Guess how Audrey looked when she got her needles at TC.

Don Brown and Harold Short-Evans didn’t waste any time leaving their handprints for posterity.

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Sinclair Healy at his studio in Vancouver.

TC special for Sinclair Healy, too

IF

YOU think you were nervous on your first day at TC, you should talk to Sinclair Healy.

Now 81, still dapper and as charming as ever, Sinclair spends his days painting after a hugely successful teaching career at TC and the University of British Columbia.

In the fall of 1952, he felt anything but. “The class of 1952-53 was very patient and accepting of me,” he mused recently in a telephone interview from his home in Vancouver.

“I like to feel part of my classes and your support at that time was deeply appreciated.”

In his first years, he felt closer to his students that he did with his colleagues. “After all, we were closer in age at that time.”

That came later and during his 10 years at TC, he developed close personal friendships with Melvin Moore and Gerard DeGrace and a number of other staff members.

Sinclair never attended TC as a student or undertook teacher training

when he joined the staff of TC. In fact, he wasn’t sure what to expect when he was approached by Dr. Rouse about joining the staff of TC as an art teacher.

That was in 1950.He was working in the advertising department of T. Eaton Co. in Moncton but a career in teaching was always in the back of his mind.

“It was the weekend before the new school term and I still hadn’t heard from Dr. Rouse. I called him and he was surprised he hadn’t been informed I had been appointed to the staff of TC. That left me with two days to prepare for my first class.”

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. “I wasn’t sure the people at TC knew what my duties were and I had to scurry around and develop my own program.”

That wasn’t his only challenge that fall. Just after joining TC, he took a week off to marry in Saint John.

“I learned a lot from Melvin Moore.

I remember one afternoon in particular when we were talking about teaching and he remarked that the single most important gift a teacher could possess

was imagination. If the teacher is excited, the students will be, too.

“He was an intense chap. Didn’t suffer fools gladly and didn’t care if he showed it. He just had too much interest in life generally to spend time spinning wheels.”

He describes Gerald DeGrace “as a gentle man and a prodigious worker.

Intelligent and able — not only in his own field but with people. I probably learned most from Gerard and Melvin than anyone else there. We had a fine faculty at TC. I just happened to feel particularly close to them.”

Irving Rouse and Sinclair differed intensely on certain issues, especially Dr. Rouse’s with view of administration. At the same time, he adds, Dr. Rouse never allowed professional differences to intrude on his personal life.

“It was one of the many things I learned from him. In fact, the last place where my family and I had dinner in Fredericton was at his home.”

Elaine Malloy, who “hid her light under a bushel” was liked by

Continued next page.

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Thelma Keirstead

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Born to be a teacher

HELMA Keirstead always knew she would be a teacher and loved it to the end of her life. She died in late July 2008 in her 96th year.

“I started teaching long before I went to TC,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Alma in 2007.

“I used to line up the local kids and play school.” Then dropping her voice a notch, “I was the teacher.”

Teaching was in her blood. Both her parents and even her sisters were teachers.

Miss Keirstead began her career in the early 1930s –– in the heart of the Depression. Her first school was in Nova Scotia –– there were no schools available in N.B. at the time –– teaching in a rural school in the community of Moser River, about eight miles from Parraboro.

“The district was one of the better ones, paying $400 for the year.” She also received a $175 bonus from the province, bringing her salary for that year to $575. She taught all grades –– from one to 11. “You were kept busy.”

After Moser River, she quit teaching for a while, not sure today why or what was in her head at the tim. Whatever it was, it didn’t last long.

“I didn’t have money to waste. I had to have a job and teaching was what I liked doing ... they told me I was meant to teach.”

Evenlyn Sutherland Harper, who had changed career at one point, met Miss Keirstead in her new job one afternoon. She told Evelyn she belonged back in the classroom. “She was the reason I went back.”

Miss Keirstead finished her long teaching career at TC in the 1970s and had lived in retirement ever since in Alma.

Teaching is still very much in her mind. What worked in teaching during her career still works today, and that is, establishing goals for children with them. Above all, she feels, a teacher must be reasonable in dealing with children, and respect their opinions.

“Where their opinions had to be changed, a good teacher would help them to that ... children can be very reasonable –– if you approach them properly.”

Sinclair loved TC’s ‘liberating environment’ everyone. He remembers her with fondness and great admiration. “I always felt librarians were the closest to saints because they try to help people so much. Elaine was like that -- with a gentleness and a kindness that is often mistaken for timidity.”

There were others, like Katharine MacLaggan, a “welcome guest” to his home on many occasions and Violet Comeau, who “was very helpful to a teacher starting out”.

He also has fond memories of another good friend, Thelma Keirstead, and Baxter Barnes, who helped him build frames for his paintings. Baxter also gave him a hardwood bench which he still uses today.

“It was quite a liberating environment at TC. We were all together –– French, English, Protestants and Catholics –– all under one roof with no diviseness. We all learned from each other.”

During this period, he “was lucky enough to ply my own trade. My office in TC, you may recall, was a long,

Germain Robichaud with Acadian national flag. long room with a desk at one end and a studio at the other.I always had a project or two on the go” including a portait of Melvin Moore and later, one of Melvin’s wife, Frances.

He still enjoys it. He has a deep-rooted belief that you must practise what you teach . . . to keep your hand in and be enthusiastic about what you do. He recently completed a painting of a N. B. farmhouse on a recent visit to the province. (See centre spread).

Throughout it all, he never forget his years at TC or the people who touched his life in “a mysterious, magical way.

“It was one of the happiest times of my life.”

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Coming full circle

L

éopold Laplante called it coming full circle –– not to the scene of the crime but to where it all began –– “to the memories of our youth, to the carefree years, to the optimism and dreams yet to come”.

Léopold, husband of Lilianne Roussel, was giving the toast to grads at the closing banquet of RendezVous ‘07 in Fredericton on the weekend of June 7-9.

Speaking in French and English, he noted: “Aujourd’hui, vous ne voulez rien changer du passé, vous ne tenez

ABOVE:

Helen Smith Kingston points out the announcement of our reunion on the bulletin board of the Fredericton Inn, headquarters for Rendez-Vous ‘07.

LEFT:

Léopold Laplante.

pas non plus à connaître l’avenir, vous jouissez du jour que le présent vous offre, et vous continuez d’apprécier l’amitié qui vous unit.

“The majority of you,” he added, “have combined two careers, the paramount one of raising a family, and the terrific one of imparting the knowledge and skills acquired a Teachers’ College. I am sure you have done a great job in both of these careers.

“You have retired –– but you have not withdrawn –– continuing to offer the best of your talents to your family and community.

“Gardez ces liens précieux que vous avez maintenus entre vous: Comme le dit le poète Khalil Gibran: Que la douceur de l’amitié soit faite de rires et de plaisirs partagés –– In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures.”

The weekend got under way with registration and lunch at the Fredericton Inn at noon on Friday. This was quickly followed by a visit to TC,

Continued next page.

LEFT:

Jane Waite Sabean and Helen Hawkins Eldrige.

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A TEACHER’S PRAYER

Tomorrow I will once more stand Before a wide-eyed, wiggling band Of little ones that I’m to teach, Please help me, Lord, each one to reach!

May You, the Teacher of mankind, Quiet this beating heart of mine; And Lord I ask that Thou make me The teacher that I long to be.

May I see beyond the smiles and tears These little lives in coming years.

May they learn to do their best each day Learn fairness in their work and play.

Help me to smile thru good and bad,

where we were met by Sheriff Keith Ball, who took us on a tour of TC. The old building now houses offices and court rooms and is operated by the N. B. Department of Justice.

Then off to the Sun Grill, now called the Blue Door. It, too, had changed. The booths were gone, replaced by tables and chairs. In fact, the only recognizable feature from our days at TC was the foundation –– but now minus the black-seated stools.

The Sun Grill’s menu of hamburgs, sandwiches and fountain Cokes –– served in cone-shaped paper containers –– that made it such a popular hangout for TC and UNB students is now more upscale. Sp is its menu.

Back at the Fredericton Inn, Mike Bravener, an “Elvis Tribute Artist”, grabbed the spotlight and never let go in a sizzling twohour performance of some of the King’s best loved songs.

On Saturday, Rinette Albert Daigle, chairperson for Rendez-Vous ‘07, welcomed everyone to the Reunion Dinner, also held at the Fredericton Inn. Jane Waite Sabean read a poem composed for the 54th Reunion called Teachers and later teamed up with Julia Gallant Bourgeois in a tribute to the 13 dead grads in French and

To cheer these children when they’re sad; And help to wash away their fears, Their sleepless nights and many tears.

Help me Lord, when things go wrong To greet each new day with a song.

Give me wisdom, Lord, I pray To understand each child, each day.

Please grant me rest tonight, I ask, So I may meet tomorrow’s tasks!

Keep me now within Thy care . . .

Please grant, Dear Lord, A teacher’s prayer! © Copyright 2003 L. Jane Waite Sabean

English. There was a moment’s silence while Jane lit a pearled candle surrounded by 13 roses.

Two white roses were offered in memory of the two grads who had died recently–– Fernande Saulnier and Shirley Waugh; and yellow roses to mark the passing of 11 previous grads.

CONTINUED page 20.

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ABOVE: The model school has become a museum for teachers.

BELOW: Back together again — a familiar threesome at TC: Harold, Betty and Evelyn.

ABOVE: Maud and Jean.

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LEFT: Jackie and Lois Anne.

RIGHT: Jane reads her poem Teachers during dinner.

LEFT: Another big Elvis fan.

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ABOVE: You’d never know this was the old auditorium.

LEFT: Ida and Stella

BELOW: Léona Cormier created miniature slates to welcome grads to reunion dinner.

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RIGHT: Geraldine and Helen.

LEFT: Sheriff Keith Ball, who guided us through the old building.

Arlene

LEFT: The reunion dinner ended with the singing of O Canada and the Acadian national anthem.

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wo members of the TC Community — Léopold Laplante, husband of Lilianne Rousel, and Gisèle Laforge Caron — have published books since the Moncton Reunion. Léopold’s book, Souvenirs Ensoleillés, written for his grandchildren, is a “journey down memory lane recaling life half a century ago”.

Gisèle’s book, Répertoire des descendants et descendantes de Antoine Thériault et Joséphine Pelletier, reflects her long interest in geneaology and traces the Thériault family for five generations. Her children are part of that group.

In Memoriam Opal Adams Claud Black Clara Bolger Ruby Danells Patrica Dunlop Carmen Dupont Vivian Green Alphonsine Légère Helen Moran Yvette Nadeau Georges Saucier Fernande Saulnier Shirley Waugh Le 25 mai 2007, Léopold Laplante, à gauche, lançait son livre « Souvenirs ensoleillés », à L’Hôtel de Ville de Dieppe.

Un second lancement eut lieu à Néguac, lieu de naissance de l’auteur. Sans être une autobiographie, son récit couvre la période de son enfance, de son adolescence au Collège de Bathurst et donne un bref aperçu de sa vie adulte. Il avoue dès les premières pages avoir voulu laisser ce livre comme un legs à ses petits-enfants, mais que le plaisir d’écrire a vite pris le dessus. Les jeunes de sa progéniture le questionnent sur certains détails dont ils n’avaient jamais entendu parler, avoue l’auteur.

A Saint-Quentin, le 4 décembre 2005, Gisèle Laforge Caron lançait son livre Répertoire des Mariages des descendants et descendantes de Antoine Thériault et Joséphine Pelletier. C’est un ouvrage généalogique choisi parce que mes enfants sont issus de cette lignée.

Loin d’être un roman, il est intéressant à consulter par ceux qui y retrouvent des liens de parenté. Un autre projet est en route, soit la généalogie complète des Hu dit Laforge, arrivés à Québec vers 1750.

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Gisèle and Alvine Desjardins got together at Grand Falls.

A letter of appreciation from the Minister of Education was read by Mary and Julia.

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Coming full circle CONTINUED from page 13 Grace was offered in English by Harold Short-Evans and, in French, by Germain Robichaud.

Over coffee, Rinette made special mention of The Bank of Nova Scotia, Aliant and Moosehead Breweries for their financial contributions and support for Rendez-Vous ‘07.

She also thanked members of the organizing team for their efforts in making Rendez-Vous ‘07 a success –– Léona Cormier, Julia Gallant, Helen Hawkins, Léopold Laplante, Grand Master J. MacGillivray, Mary Pittson, Germain Robichaud, Harold ShortEvans and Jane Waite.

A letter of appreciation signed by Education Minister Kelly Ramrock to the Grade of ‘53 was read in English by Mary Pittson Vautour and, in French, by Julia Gallant Bourgeois.

In a review of our previous reunions — Rendez-Vous ‘87 in Saint John; Rendez-Vous ‘03 in Saint John; and Rendez-Vous ‘04 in Moncton — Elizabeth Desmond Cann, chairperson for the Saint John reunions, noted that the biggest challenge faced by the Saint John organizing committee was assembling a comprehensive list of grads, which took months and countless calls and letters to pull together.

This list became the starting point and springboard for future reunions — including Rendez-Vous ‘07.

The origial spark came from Clare McGuire Walsh.

She and Elizabeth contacted other grads in the Saint john area and the wheels were set in motion for the first big get-

How TC would have looked graduation day. together in Saint John in the fall of 1987.

Léona Cormier, who headed the Moncton reunion, felt that while it seems like yesterday, the previous reunion took place three years ago.

“Ce qui est intéressant de noter, c’est que la plupart de ces personnes sont présentes ici ce soir . C’est merveilleux.

“The word that comes to my mind at this moment is ‘fortunate’. Fortunate to be alive and fortunate to meet again as a big happy family.

“Nous avons ri, chanté, dansé et bien mangé en très bonne compagnie. Le samedi, 22 personnes ont joui de leur promenade en bateau sur la rivière de Cocagne. Ce fut une fin de semaine inoubliable.”