COVER STORY
PRIDE IN CDS SPANS THE GENERATIONS At 42 Years Young, CDS’ Legacy Families Continue to Grow by Kim Sillcox
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UST PAST ITS 42nd Anniversary, The Country Day School is still considered fairly young by independent school standards. CDS offered only JK to Grade 8 until the 1986-87 academic year when the Senior School opened. This Closing Day, CDS bid farewell to its 24th Senior School graduating class – the Class of 2014. While we are just as proud of our Original (Grade 8) alumni as we are of our Senior School alumni, the challenge has been reengaging these “Originals” who have successfully maintained their connections to each other for so long without the help of an alumni association. In recent years, many Originals have started to come back in a volunteer capacity on the Alumni Association, to attend events, or, we are delighted to see, as CDS parents. CDS is grateful to our legacy families for keeping the heart of the School beating for generations.
WEST/WEBBER FAMILY For the West clan, CDS is truly a family affair. Wilma West worked at CDS for 27 years, from 1974-2001, as the Executive Assistant to the School’s first three Headmasters: John Pratt, Robert Ross and Paul Duckett. Her husband, Gary West, served as CDS’ first Athletic Director from 1973-74 while taking classes 6
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SPRING 2014 THE LINK
at York University and on sabbatical from St. Andrew’s College. Their daughter, Rachel (West) Webber ’84, attended CDS for five years (JK and SK and Grades 6-8). Rachel and her husband, Kevin, enrolled their daughters, Chelsea ’14 and Kyla ’17, at CDS in JK. Chelsea spent 12 years at CDS and Kyla just finished Grade 9 . While Rachel’s husband, Kevin Webber, is not an alumnus, he is a dedicated CDS parent who has built cabinetry in the Junior School and Muskoka chairs for the CDS Auction, and has addressed numerous classes as a guest speaking about his job as a Firefighter. What started as a six-week maternity coverage turned into a 27year odyssey for Wilma. “John Pratt came to my door one evening when I was making supper and asked me what I was doing for work,” recalls Wilma. “I told him that Rachel was too young to leave at home, and he said to bring her along!” Although Wilma tried to retire the summer of 1976 after John Pratt left, Robert Ross asked her to come back to work that following September, and she stayed another 25 years. Upon her retirement, Paul Duckett paid tribute to Wilma at Closing Day, referring to her as an “icon who has provided incredible support for three headmasters.” He went on to call her a “walking encyclopedia of CDS folklore.” Robert Ross echoed that sentiment in a written tribute to Wilma at that time: “You have been the