Chapleau High School Friends Facebook Group indicates great interest in reunion to celebrate 100th anniversary of the school in 2022

CHS Field Day. Dr Karl Hackstetter walking off field on right

When Janice (Corston)  Whitely started a "Chapleau High School Friends" group on Facebook, she was not intending to launch a movement towards a reunion to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chapleau High School in 2022.

But it happened in short order, as the group passed 2,000 members by Friday March 3 within a couple of weeks. It was still growing as I wrote this column.

In the interests of full disclosure though, I was invited to join and found myself inviting Facebook friends to become members too -- and like Janice, with no thought of a reunion, at least in the beginning.

I chatted with Janice, the daughter of Irene and Charles Corston, about what happened.

She advised that what was "so funny about this" was that she did not intentionally start the group with a thought of a reunion.

"I don't know how it really got started. The fact that it has reached 2,000 people is quite amazing. My take on it is, it must be meant to be.

This building renovated became CHS

"I'm sure many people are interested and would attend. Chapleau was a special place and remains strong in our memories. Solid friendships helped us navigate through were formed there. I am grateful that some of those friendships are still a very important part of my life."

So, although Janice didn't plan to start a movement towards a reunion, she added that the "momentum to make it happen seems strong" given the interest in the Facebook group.

"As in previous reunions I am sure many would love another opportunity to tread those paths and spend time with family and friends who helped create some special memories," she added.

Although the response to the group has been amazing, and great interest has been expressed in having a 100th anniversary reunion five years from now, it is far from a done deal by any means.

1181 CHS Cadet Corps circa 1926. A E 'Gus' Evans on left

Graham Bertrand, who chaired the last reunion on the occasion of the school's 90th anniversary in 2012, and has been involved in all major Chapleau celebrations, and other major events for more than 40 years, and I had a chat about the possibility.

Although Graham is interested, he pointed out that to make it happen will require "old and new blood" who would sit on a committee and make a commitment for five years.

"It took over three years to get the last one done so commitment is a big part of it. Once involved, you can't stop now in the midst of the planning."

The girls of CHS circa 1926

He added that the support of the municipal council would also be required for an undertaking of this magnitude.

Graham noted that to have 2,000 names already is a big plus.

 Graham would not commit to serving as Chair. commenting that "maybe there is someone that wants to chair. I have no problem working with new blood."

But he is interested as always, and "can't self appoint myself," Graham said from Florida where he is on vacation, and was expecting nine family members to join him.

Graham at opening of 2012 reunion. MJ behind him

However, upon his return to Chapleau, further discussions will take place.  Graham says "Keep Smiling!"

Since the group was formed, and interest grew, I have received messages from folks pointing out that not everyone is on Facebook so plans would have to be made to reach beyond social media. Although I use social media, most of my Chapleau friends from my growing up years there are not using it.

In 1994, I taught my first new media course, Writing for New (Social) Media at College of the Rockies, a year before we launched our graduate program in New Media Communications.

Over the past couple of weeks, since Janice invited me to join the Chapleau High School Friends group, I have seen a great example of its positive use, as the membership grew, bringing people together who may not have been in touch for many years -- in fact in my case almost 50 years.Wow!

Let me conclude with a short anecdote about the Chapleau High School Boys Volleyball team who won a championship in the 1979-80 school year. I posted a photo of the team on the group, and in no time at all, many of the players had responded --- they were having a virtual reunion, kidding each other and chatting like they were back at CHS -- including where were their orange jackets!

The Volleyball champs. Names Below

The photo "brings back great memories. Still grateful... Best experience ever," one player commented. One of their fans commented: "A wonderful bunch of guys .. the source of a lot of laughter in my teens..." and much more, all in great fun.

I have included a photo of the volleyball team, and also some from the school's early years. Thanks Janice for the group, and all the best to Graham and those who will work make the 100th anniversary reunion happen. As Graham reminds us, "Keep Smiling". 

Stay tuned for more news. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

THE 1979-80 CHS TEAM --Volleyball champs: Back row from left Steve Cavalier, Dan Morin, Dan Tebbutt, Don Swanson, Rob Serrre, Brad Gilbert, Steve Millson. Front from left Tim Morin, Billy Hong, Larry Martel

Those were the days my friends in the life of Chapleau

Alison McMillan, Sharon Swanson, Gemma, Donna Lane, Joy Evans 2012

"Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we chooseWe'd fight and never loseFor we were young and sure to have our way.La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the  days..."

 Ever since I received photos from Gemma Ouellet, the words of Those were the days my friend have been running through my mind, along with memories of the 1950s when we were both students at Chapleau High School, along with everyone shown in the photos she provided from those days.

Ian Macdonald kindly provided video from CHS in 1956. What memories... It is at end of text. Enjoy

But before going any further Those were the days my friend is likely best remembered as recorded by Mary Hoskin in 1968 which made the top ten on the hit parade. The lyrics have been credited to Gene Ruskin. However, some of us who remember movies from the 1950s may recall it from Innocents in Paris, sung in its original Russian version. I vaguely do!

Vince Crichton, MJ, Neil Ritchie, Danny Mizuguchi

Gemma included photos from life at CHS which captured two of the major events of the year -- initiation in the Fall (1955-56) school year in our case and the annual inspection of 1181 CHS Cadet Corps in the Spring of the year.

These two included social events -- the annual wiener roast and dance at Bucciarelli's Beach to end initiation and the Cadet banquet and dance to close off inspection day.

But Gemma also sent a selection from the 90th anniversary reunion festival of the school in 2012 which many of us attended, and two years later I am still thinking about it as part of "those were the days my friend" seeing so many of the "kids" from my high school days and catching up. Thanks once again to the committee for making it happen.

Gemma, Alison, Harriet Chambers, Betty Ann O;Brien

The photos speak for themselves -- as a then and now selection, and thanks so much Gemma for providing them.

Gemma's photos arrived at such an excellent time for me, as I am celebrating five years of writing Chapleau Moments on a weekly basis, and in the beginning I really never thought I would have enough material to keep it going six months. Well, here we are, and thanks to Mario Lafreniere for giving me the opportunity.

Harry 'Butch' Pellow, Joy, Sharon

For over a year I have also been writing a weekly column for the Cranbrook Guardian, and it all slows down the approaching "winter of my years" at least just a bit.... I have to think about both  Cranbrook and Chapleau each week. It reminds me of directing plays and coaching hockey in Chapleau at the same time and confusing "acts" with "periods", as in telling hockey players we had to do better in the "third act" and vice versa to actors for the "third period".

Alison, Gemma, Joy, Darryl Downey, Vince

Yes, my friends, those were the days, and for a time, once we moved from home, except for family and close friends we lost touch. Now, in a moment, in an instant, we can be in touch globally. Just this week for example, I received an email from Lorne Riley who lives in Dubai. It arrived in seconds from the moment he hit send

Take the popularity of Facebook for example. I joined  at the suggestion of some of my former students, and I extend great thanks to them. I have been able to reconnect with so many people with whom I had lost touch for many years, and catch up on their lives. Facebook is also an example of the success of new media with its convergence of all media to digital forms.

Shelby Cortson, Sharon, Betty Ann

I doubt very much if I would have been able to do the "BIG ROCK" column without Facebook. Comments came from folks still living in Chapleau and all over the place

 In 1995,  after launching a graduate program in New Media Communications at College of the Rockies (would now be called Social Media).

Gordon B, Gemma, Judy Gibson, "Buttons" Pat P. Betty A, Ken S

 I spoke at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Journalists. I argued that the Internet, in due course, it would be a major contributing factor in politics. Interestingly, the old guard in the room vehemently disagreed with me, while campus journalists supported my position. Today we live in a 24/7 news cycle, in an Internet world.

And so, yes indeed, those were the days in the life and times of Chapleau that I share with you weekly and I hope they come alive as you recall those yesterdays.. I extend my most sincere thanks to all of you who have been in touch over the past five years, and as I told an old Chapleau friend recently, we have only scratched the surface. A special thanks to Gemma this week. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Here is the video ... thanks Ian.

'Chapleau 2012' highlighted by 90th anniversary reunion festival of Chapleau High School

Graham speaking, MJ right back committee on left

As I have been reflecting on the year past, perhaps best simply described as 'Chapleau 2012', it struck me that it was Grant Henderson, a 1927 Chapleau High School graduate who summed up so well why so many of us went back for the school's 90th anniversary reunion.

In a poem for the 60th anniversary in 1982, Grant wrote in part, "Perhaps those days through memory's haze take on a richer hue" adding that "perhaps that's true but ... this I know. And I've wandered up and down. Were I to pick my bringin' up place. I'd choose the same old town."

Like Grant, I too have wandered up and down, spending moments and at times much more than a moment in places from Ontario to British Columbia, and in my daily newspaper reporter years, back and forth across this vast and magnificent land with side trips to the United States. In fact, I thought about this column while spending time at Cocoa Beach at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where Michael Pelzer, my good friend, and extremely talented photographer and videographer was doing a shoot.

However, from the moment I learned that  the CHS reunion festival was being planned, I knew as did Grant 30 years ago when he wrote his poem, that I would return to my "bringin' up place" for it. Grant died in 1994.

Soon afterwards I received a message from the organizing committee asking if I would serve as the Master of Ceremonies. Most kind of them to invite me to participate, and I thank them again so much.

This put me back in regular touch with George Evans, my friend, CHS colleague and member of township council when I was reeve of Chapleau in the 1970s. Like everyone, I was shocked and greatly saddened when George was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident before the reunion.

But, in his memory, Chapleau did the right thing  by naming the library after him. From the day he arrived as a young teacher at CHS, George was a staunch supporter of the public library -- and worked to improve the one at the school which when he arrived in 1961 was located in a tiny room on the second floor of the building on Pine Street.

I was delighted that so many of my growin' up in Chapleau friends also planned to attend, and once we met, it seemed like only yesterday since we  were hanging out in the Boston Cafe, or driving aimlessly around town on a summer evening, never straying far from Main Street, just in case something might happen downtown and we missed it.

It was great to go around town and end up at the Boston Cafe, now Hongers Redwood again, and visit with Yen, Jean and Jim Hong. 

We talked about school and Teen Town dances, going down the lake by one of two rivers to a bay called Mulligan's, or over the gravel road to Racine Lake to awesome get togethers at Martel's.  We reminisced about skating on a Friday night by the light of the silvery moon in the old arena and the old old one, both on Lorne Street, and yes, always so important, hockey, on the ice and on the road and on the rivers.

And the central place for the reunion was at the Chapleau Recreation Centre, opened exactly 34 years ago on June 29, 1978, as pointed out to me by co-chair Graham Bertrand. Earle Freeborn, a reunion committee member and former Chapleau mayor was the arena manager at the time. 

Tom, MJ, Olive McAdam, Bob, Marg Fife, Bill Pellow, Sonia Schmitwilke

For many of us John 'Mac' McClellan, the legendary principal of CHS, and Dr. Karl A. Hackstetter, as teacher, who a few years later returned as principal, defined CHS. We were members of 1181 Chapleau High School Cadet Corps, and for me, it was so great to see Neil Ritchie, Jim Hong, Jim Evans and Ian Macdonald, all of them officers when I was in cadets. I even finally told them how they terrified me, except for Jim Evans, who advised he preferred a "gentler touch."

Regrettably our good friend David McMillan, cadet officer, actor, hockey player and inspiration, who had looked forward so much to attending, died before the reunion.

For those of us in her CHS class, our good friend Pat (Purich) Russell made and presented each of us with a school banner. In my case, she made a special one in the old and new school colours as I had attended and taught at CHS. Much appreciated Pat and it hangs above my desk in place of honour.

While I so much enjoyed spending time with old school friends, I was so pleased to chat with  former students from my years as a teacher at CHS. And yes, we talked hockey and school plays, and "stories by MJ". Great to see all of you again and get caught up.

On a very personal basis, the most touching moments of the reunion were during the wonderful ecumenical service presided over by Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Corston, Anglican bishop of Moosonee, known to so many of us simply as "Tom". Growing up in Chapleau, Tom is the son of Frances (Jardine)  and the late Henry 'Chicken' Corston.

Sitting beside me on the stage was Robert Fife, now the CTV News Ottawa Bureau Chief, but to me simply "Bob" or more commonly "Fife".  Bob is the son of Margaret and the late Clyde Fife. 

As the service progressed, I looked out at the faces of over 400 people, all of whom defined Chapleau in one way and another from its beginnings in 1885 to the present day.

In my remarks near the end of the service I tried to capture it all when I commented that before me I saw the history of Chapleau and I did, but after relating that I had been on a morning walk to the Memegos property, my favourite walking place, I started to lose it -- one of those emotional moments -- and I thank Bishop Tom for rescuing me.

And so, Chapleau 2012, is coming to a close, but for the more than 1,000 who registered for the reunion, the precious moments of once again being home, I am sure,  will remain with us forever.  A school reunion, as my former newspaper colleague Derik Hodgson once noted, is often "the binding that holds the town book together."  This one sure contributed whether we still live there or have wandered up and down, and ended up in some other place.

Like Grant Henderson, I would not have picked another place as my home town, even if I had been given the choice. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Harry 'Butch' Pellow recalls Chapleau in Winter and Hockey on its Rivers about entertaining ourselves, laughter, being out of doors, pushing limits, building relationships

See names at end.Click image to enlarge

Harry 'Butch' Pellow is one of my oldest friends and recently I sent him an email asking if he had any memories of us playing hockey on the front river as opposed to the 'pond' on the back river. As he notes in the following reply, not too long ago we had chatted about hockey on the pond. Now he takes us to the front river.

Imagine how wonderful it was to grow up in a place with two rivers on which you could play hockey, and you could go "down the lake" by either one to a bay called Mulligan's. In Chapleau, you could go from your home as Butch notes through other people's back yards, up or down back lanes as the case may be, across lanes to that place simply called "the arena" or if you were old enough to recall, the old old arena was "the rink".

Harry is a member of one of Chapleau's early pioneer families, and was the architect for the Chapleau Civic Centre, Chapleau Recreation Centre, Cedar Grove Lodge, Chapleau General Hospital, the golf club house and the Trinity United Church. He is also a great storyteller.

Here is Butch with Chapleau in Winter and Hockey on its Rivers. Thanks Butch for the memories.

Chapleau in Winter and Hockey on its Rivers

By Harry 'Butch' Pellow

Not that long ago we chatted about hockey on the pond over the old wooden bridge and across the back river, over a hillock and north of the old sewage treatment plant. Who can forget it when your best recollection was that your hands were blue, your laces were frozen (maybe from Saturday morning’s practice) and your skates unrelentingly accepted your now almost frozen foot. But it had its moments and the braver amongst us endured. I have said before I was not one of the brave.

Harry Pellow 2012

But there was another venue too and it was on the front river just west of the concrete swimming pier where so many gathered this past July during the Chapleau High School 90th Anniversary Reunion to celebrate the homecoming and watch the fireworks. 

Like the pond, it arrived when the ice did but it was far more accessible, and collecting a group required far less planning and organization to pull together enough players for shinny. It was often after school and on weekends and as you recall surfaced one Christmas holiday and maybe because “Ice” Sanders was unable to make a rink on the ‘clinker’ surface of the public school grounds. 

Pickup included anyone who could get enough equipment together to make it worthwhile and at the same time wear warm clothes. Warm clothes because the west wind, however mildly blowing, was cold on that open river front and by the end of a school day or an early winter weekend evening the sky was grey, sunless and foreboding; and, had it not been for wild enthusiasm why would anyone choose the river over The Boston Café?

Harry 'Boo' Hong, Roger Mizuguchi, Butch

Well the Hong brothers did as you and I did Mike, and what greater motivation should there have been than that?

What made river hockey exciting was its spontaneity, the boundlessness of the perimeters of the playing surface, the almost undefined roll of scraped-off snow and ice along the edges; and that you always had to watch out for the ripples that had been created in the surface by the last breezes that sculpted the ice before it froze.

Boo and Butch 1947

Think of that slap shot by Hong, Hong, Hong, or one of the really big guys when it accelerated over the ice ridges and soared away out over the river; or at you directly, then veered away as it embraced the ripples. Can you recall the sound of the skates cutting through the crisp surface as they raced for the puck, can you recall the whack, slap, and clicking of sticks on each other and on the ice? 

What about the yelling and chanting and the code words that defined the play. “..over here” “…pass it, pass it”; “…go, go go”; “he scores!” etc….; wild enthusiasm and true abandonment because it would be dark very soon and there were very few lights to mark the way home.

Tee Chambers, Butch, Aldee Martel 1954

There was a collective enthusiasm to make the most of every minute and everyone was in sync.

Remember how difficult it was to take a breath in the cold air, how your breath made fog as you skated up the ice or paused for ‘a breather’? Wow! Your eyes were often half frozen shut and the ice crystals on your mitts made it impossible to swipe your nose. Never to be forgotten.

Do you remember how the Hongs played hockey and skated? Yen sprinted, was light on his feet, very fast and dipsy-doodled like no one else (except maybe Max Bentley). He even bore the nickname “Ziggy”. Jim was a powerful steady and fast upright skater and a great stick handler as I recall; and our friend Boo skated low, took long steady deliberate strides and always made skating fast look easy; he also had his skates rockered so there wasn’t more than a couple of inches touching the surface.

Butch and Boo

When you think of the sound of skates on natural ice, you can’t help imagine these really great players doing their stuff can you? Wouldn’t it be great to experience it all again?

I recall one other particularly relevant experience on the front river Mike and that was when I was in grade seven or eight. There had been a fast freeze, the ice was smooth and crystalline, there was no snow, and along with a few others including Tiny Martin, Charlie White, maybe Boo and you too, we all ventured onto the ice oblivious of the danger. It was the beginning of an event that could have been catastrophic if one of us had walked too close to the edge and what a sad night that might have been.

I vividly recall Vern Goldstein clambering down through the snow from the Town Hall office where he had seen us from the Clerk’s north-eastern window and then called us off the ice and sent us home. I knew we had done something wrong but it was the threat of Police Chief JackAngove calling my home that gave it meaning. This was an experience I have never forgotten and the beginning of a long list of confrontations with nature that have caused me to be very respectful of it, and the dangers that lurk in its beauty. 

When I got home that evening Wilf Simpson had called my mom, Jack Angove had called my mom, and she was prepared for me when I arrived very cold, very afraid and very apologetic. I’m pretty sure that was a Friday evening because I have a vague recollection of being told “no more hockey unless..” as I dressed for practice the next morning before making my trek in the dark through Evans' backyard, through McKnight’s, down Lansdowne, through Therriault’s, and to the front door of the old unheated arena for a much different experience.

The wonderful thing about river hockey in Chapleau that I think we all need to think about a lot as we get into the season of joy and remembrances is that it had no religious, racial, language or nationalistic perimeters; there were no upper town or lower town distinctions and I don’t recall there being good players or bad players; albeit there were little ones and big ones too. We were all players and it was a game, a spontaneous moment, a gleeful opportunity to engage in role playing and in doing what northern boys and girls and their parents had done for decades before us. It was about entertaining ourselves, laughter, being out of doors, pushing the limits and building relationships.

Was it Joseph Conrad who said

“youth…. the glory of it!”?

A few names who might have been on the river ice at any time: Jim Evans, Boo, Jimmy, Yen, Ian Macdonald, Dave McMillan, Gilles Morin, You, Me, Jack Poynter, Terry Shannon, Tony Telik, Leo Vizena, Charlie White, and more.

(Note: Likely all the players on the 1956 CHS hockey team in photo, at one time or another)

A highlight of the year for the Chapleau High School team of 1956 was a trip to Terrace Bay. Back row from left: David McMillan, Doug Sleivert, Stan Barty,Thane Crozier, Clarence Fiaschetti (teacher and coach), George Lemon (principal) Second row: Doug Espaniel, Roger Mizuguchi, Bill Cachagee . Front are Jim Hong, Bert Lemon, Harry Pellow, Ken Schroeder, Robbie Pellow (Mascot) Marc Boulard, Harry Hong, Jim Machan, Ron Morris. Most would have played river hockey.

Thanks for the memories Butch. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

BUTCH ON ROAD HOCKEY  http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2010/03/harry-pellow-recalls-enthusiasm-at.html

BUTCH WITH MEMORIES OF 'THE BIG ROCK' http://michaeljmorrisreports.blogspot.ca/2012/11/harry-pellow-shares-memories-of.html

John Theriault presents a photo feature from the Chapleau High School Reunion

John Theriault attended the 90th anniversary reunion festival of Chapleau High School and provided this photo feature -- a sampler from a reunion. Thanks John.

YES, YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN. I JUST DID AND I HAD A 'BLAST' AT THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION FESTIVAL OF CHAPLEAU HIGH SCHOOL

As I travelled to Chapleau for the 90th anniversary reunion of Chapleau High School, the one recurring thought in my always wandering mind, was the title of the wonderful novel 'You Can't Go Home Again' by the American writer Thomas Wolfe.


For the past three years I have been writing weekly about the life, time and people of Chapleau, but in the 23 years that I have been living in British Columbia, I had been home only once -- in 2001 for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Chapleau as a municipality.

 That was a great time. I stayed with Dr. G.E. Young, and we spent hours sharing stories about the Chapleau I knew so well. There was also a hockey reunion organized by Earle Freeborn and Buddy Swanson, so I was so comfortable going home again.

This time was different. I had been kindly inviited to be part of the program by the reunion committee, which I so much appreciated, and extend my most sincere thanks to them, but it is one thing to write about Chapleau from the other side of Canada and another to be on the scene.

I was also travelling to Chapleau with my cousin Michael McMullen and his wife Alison (McMillan), which created the opportunity to chat about Chapleau moments going back to 1885 when our great-great uncle Patrick Mullligaan arrived in the community. Our respective grandmothers were Mulligans.

Thomas Wolfe told us that you, and me, "can't go home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting all the time -- back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

I know I am taking Mr. Wolfe out of context, but for me, yes, you can go home again. I just did along with hundreds of others to celebrate to have a "blast" as I wrote to a friend on Facebook when he asked me how it was going.

Perhaps it was made even better by the fact the reunion had begun by the time we reached Suidbury and we had hooked up with about 12 others from my years as a student at CHS in the 1950s, who were now living all over the place but were heading home.

Yes, once home, I saw there have been changes in the physical face of Chapleau.

 However, even though I walked up and down almost all the streets of town, and some back lanes too and went on an expedition over the old bridge at the end of Cedar Street to my favourite walking place past Corston's farm and Pellow's field to the Memegos property, all that paled in comparison to the real reason that I came home.

To me, the greatest resource any community has is its people, and from the moment I walked into the A.W. Moore arena at the recreation centre, my belief was once again confirmed.

There you were -- students I taught at CHS, guys who played on hockey teams I coached, "kids" (now mostly over 40) who acted in plays I directed, members of St. John's Anglican Church which I attended, friends of my parents Jim and Muriel (Hunt) Morris, both of whom graduated from CHS.

I also chatted with friends of my grandparents Edith and George Hunt and Lil and Harry Morris.

I saw many old personal friends and met people I had never known and never would have if I hadn't come home. I had come home with a cousin from my dad's side of the family, and was able to chat with cousins from my mother's side.

I am sure as I type this column from Michael and Alison's home in Ottawa before heading back to British Columbia, you, in your way had similar experiences to me.

Mr. Wolfe, you can go home again "to the escape of Time and Memory." I just did and joined hundreds of others at the 90th anniversary of Chapleau High School -- all made possible because co-chairs Nadia Huard Fortin, Graham Bertrand, both members of pioneer Chapleau families, and their committee made it possible.

Rt. Rev. Thomas Corston, now the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Moosonee, and a member of the Corston-Jardine families, both pioneer families had asked me to read one of the lessons at the wonderful ecumenical service that closed the reunion. When Tom handed me my reading, and I saw it was from the Old Testament- Ecclesiastes 1: 1-8, I looked at him and said, "Thanks Tom. You know me well."

And to all of you, thanks so much, for your kindness while I was home. Trust me. You can go home again. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Chapleau High School Grade Nine students chose between Latin or typing in 1961 as plans made for 'dazzling new building perched on a hill'

When Chapleau High School held its graduation exercises in the Town hall in 1961, secondary school education was 39 years old in the community, and planning had just begun for the new school on the hill.

In an article for the 75th anniversary of CHS in 1997, George Evans, wrote that in 1961 the school was still located in the building beside St. John's Anglican Church, "but plans were afoot, and five years later, it would move to a dazzling new building perched on a hill..."

George recalled the  school  as it was in 1961 as he began his teaching career in September of that year. 

"There were five regular classrooms, each equipped with a row of desks bolted to the floor, a large teacher's desk and blackboards. 

"In addition , there were two labs, one of which had large working desks supplied with water and gas. Another room was equipped with typewriters.

"In 1961 the teachers' room on the second floor had been turned into a small classroom. In the basement of the building were the cool but fragrant latrines and a gymnasium with a 10-foot ceiling.

"The school's equipment included a record player, a movie projector, a duplicating machine that used methyl alcohol, and a library of about 500 geriatric books hidden in a narrow closet on the second floor.

George added that a student entering Grade Nine had to make one choice: Latin or typing. The rest of the timetable was filled with English, mathematics, science, history, geography, French and physical education. 

Effectively, the student had no subject choices to make until Grade 13, and in order to advance to the next grade, he or she had to pass all subjects or repeat the whole grade.

As an aside, when I entered Grade Nine in 1955, and had to make the choice, I took Latin and never learned to type, even though I have typed something almost every day of my working (and retired) life. I still use my own hunt and peck, two finger method. I don't even think it was me who made the Latin/typing choice. I seem to recall that someone told me I would be going to university and have no need for typing as a secretary would do it all for me.

That actually worked when I was editor of the student newspaper at university for two years. I had a secretary, but when I arrived at The Daily Press in Timmins to start my newspaper career, I quickly adapted to a life as hunt and peck typist.

Back to CHS and the 1961 graduation exercises.

Held in the Town Hall auditorium a feature of the evening was 'Chapleau High Entertains' provided by the French Club under the direction of teacher Yvon Charbonneau. The club sang The Marseillaise, while Charles Tremblay recited two of Verlaine's poems, 'Chanson d'Automne' and 'L'Heure Exquise' and Alvina Beaudry sang 'Au Claire de Lune'.

Robert Lemieux received the Austin McClellan Award while the Allan Austin Memorial Award went to Frank Bucciarelli.

Ian Clegg won the Grade 11 award while Shirley Petrunka won the Grade 10.

Receiving Secondary School Graduation diplomas were were J.J. Edwin Beynon, Frank Broomhead, Frank Bucciarelli, James Cockburn, Robert J. Fortin, Marguerite Joyce, Ruth Ann Madigan, Gordon McKnight, Wayne Midkiff, Bruce Poynter, Lawrence Pullen, Charles Purich and Helmut Fischer.

In his comments, Luther P. Emerson, the newly arrived principal said, "With your help we can make Chapleau High School a cheerful and happy place..."

So many changes have occurred in the 51 years since George wrote about the plans for "the dazzling new building." Whenever we attended and/or taught at CHS we can share memories as we celebrate the 90th anniversary reunion.

 Let me conclude by remembering the great contribution that Margaret Rose (Payette) Fortin and the late Alex Babin who co-chaired the 60th and 75th anniversary celebrations made. Both were graduates of the school and returned to teach at CHS. In 1961, Alex received his Intermediate Certificate at the graduation exercises for successfully completing Grade 10.  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Main photo from left: Frances Corston, Marguerite Levesque, Masrgaret Rose Payette, Alex Babin, Kathleen Broomhead

STAFF OF CHS
Teaching staff of ESCHS in 1981-82 at time of 60th anniversary. From left front D. Laughland, M.R. Fortin, E. Jardine, S. Devine, D. MacLean. Back J.B. Walsh, S. Kujtan, C. Knowles, G. Cameron, L. Schneider, W. Guest, A. Dubois, T. Collins, G. Lalonde, MJM. Absent G. Evans, R. Dell.