2000 July 1 / REUNION I arrived home late last night, and before I get ready to go to work (sigh!), I wanted to express my thanks to all of you, for organizing the most incredible weekend, far too short - though, and I roundly second all that Tom had to say. I would love a 60th birthday party. A special thank you to John and Bonnie, your kindness and generosity are truly awesome. Wish so much that I had been able to visit with more of you, and I am quite blown away by how tremendous we all are now. I am quite envious of all those future meetings at the snug. House exchange sounds good to me. Thanks also to Gary for keeping up this web site. Now this is serious: My battery for my camera died at the beginning of the boat ride, and I am sadly lacking in pictures of the weekend.Would/could some of you send me some? I would happily pay for them. Oh, I miss you all, can we do it again soon?? I went to Vancouver after the weekend in Victoria, and visited with my new and quite amazing granddaughter, Sophie. Mahalo,Wendy. wendy {pite} hanington wendyeh@earthlink.net July 2 / PICS OF WEEKEND Wendy - I took several of you on the boat and elsewhere but haven't got them back to see what turned out. 6 rolls will require a bank loan to develop. Am getting doubles of all so will contact you and any others I may have captured. Website should get some too. Still savouring the wonders of that weekend. A flavour that will last a long time. - Ian ielse@home.com July 2 / PICS OF WEEKEND Wendy, Ian, and all - the website will soon have a "slide show" featuring photos of our weekend together. Anyone with good photos will be invited to send them in for all to enjoy. Any photo in the slide show can be copied to your computer and enjoyed at your leisure without having to be online. But I'll explain all this once things are up and running. Stay tuned. - Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 2 / HOUSE EXCHANGE Should I create a House Exchange section on the website - or is someone else doing something about this? I don't want to step on any toes. - Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 3 / HOUSE EXCHANGE Why not? I may not be able to take part in it immediately but those who are retired and when I do, it will be a great saving. - Ian ielse@home.com July 4 / Tom's message of last month Phil was leaving for a holiday right after our Grad weekend. Therefore, he wasn't able to respond to Tom's message. 'Bravo Zulu' is Air Force talk that literally goes back to the early days of air to ground communications. Bravo Zulu is the phonetic alphabet for 'B' and 'Z'. These were letters that when used in conjunction with each other were clear and distinct to the ear, and could not be confused with other sounds over a busy and often garbled air wave. In essence, it means a simple, yet meaningful "Well Done!" - OB George OBriain Brwdpatch@Aol.com July 4 / SLIDE SHOW Gary. I just went to the "rumpus room" and had a look at the slide show - OUTSTANDING !! A terrific way to highlight a memorable weekend. - Brian Brian Wilson annebrian@home.com July 6 / SUNDAY MORNING WALK A man's white mesh ballcap with BC Summer Games logo was left here. Would the owner let us know and we will get it to you. - Ron Ron McMicking lindaandron@home.com July 8 / SLIDE SHOW The design of the slide show is incredibly clever. Sure enjoyed the pix and hope lots of people send in more. - Lynn Lynn (Peachey) Feir lynnfeir@yahoo.com July 12 / VIDEO Hi friends: Received the video and played it over 3 times the first night. Big mistake. I was once again as wired as during the reunion and didn't sleep. Great event everyone. And to think that I was considering not coming to spend the weekend writing merit evaluations for 30+ faculty. I recognized two major flaws on the video. The first was that I don't think the background music to the video at the RVYC was from our era. Can anybody prove me wrong? Second, I wish I had read over the president's address some time between June 1960 and June 17, 2000 (at about 8:30 PM). It was wonderful seeing everyone and I keep thinking of those that I didn't have a chance to chat with. Let us not wait too long before the next get together. - John John Youson youson@scar.utoronto.ca July 12 / HELLO TO ALL Hi everyone of you blessed beings! The slide show is a lot of fun.. forgotten the term "rumpus room" ..don't hear it here in Yankeeland..it's taken me quite awhile to get back to being present in the moment..was living in anticipation before the reunion, and living in pleasant memories after. Will be back in Victoria for a couple of days early August, parents need some tending to. Thanks, Gary, for the slide show! - Diane diane (wilson) dyer ddwithlove@excite.com July 14 / A MESSAGE FROM COLIN I just got off the phone with Colin Marmo. He wished to extend his thanks to us for encouraging him to attend the reunion. After it was over, he spent five wonderful days with his father who passed away this morning. He had not had a visit with his dad in many years. - Richard Richard Goodall rgoodall@shuswap.net July 15 / SLIDE SHOW AND ALL Dear mates...the slide show is absolutely fantastic! Looking forward to more shots...fewer of me looking like a bit of a dill, though, please! And since I decided to yap, not snap, if anyone has any pics you think I would like I would be pleased to remit some $$$ to assist!! Lotsa love, Sandy Sandy Forbes redoak@dynamite.com.au July 15 / OAK BAY AVENUE Richard's recollections of Oak Bay Avenue are incredible. I grew up in the Carnarvon Park area and have haunting memories of the old Willows Fairgrounds and the concrete slab of the Patrick Arena where we used to play roller hockey. My recollections on Oak Bay Avenue include going to the municipal hall on Hampshire to buy a bicycle licence each year, and buying a black panther planter from a gift shop for my parents in December of '52. The B&K grocery store was started by an uncle of mine, Tom Killick (the K in B&K). I related to Sandy's response on first seeing "Bambi." I wonder if Sandy, or any of you, can be seen in this photo taken inside the Oak Bay Theatre during the late 1940s. - Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 16 / BAMBI I certainly remember Bambi, I cried and hid under the seat and no effort by my mother would get me to watch the show. How about some memories from those of us who didn't live near the village. I grew up on Willows beach so the walk was wonderful, nothing had changed. My memory of Stanley Bullivant was of him crying when his dog was killed by a car. - Judy Judy Anderson jalowe@altavista.com July 16 / WILLOWS FAIRGROUNDS I grew up right next door to the Willows Fairground area on Wakefield (which is now Allenby). We would rush home from kindergarten on the street car, get a snack, and slip through the fence to sit on the bleachers and watch the races. My sister was a teenager then and would point out certain jockeys as they rode by and we would make bets on them. That group included Irving Bell, Art Roberts, and Jill Boorman. There were nice ponds out in the meadows with tadpoles and frogs in them. The stables at the track burned down one year which must have been the end of it all. - Lynne Lynne (Maclennan) Schulnik lynnelj@hotmail.com July 16 / FROGS & TADPOLES I remember the frogs and tadpoles - in fact I turned them into a viable business. I posted a sign on the telephone pole in front of our home on Allenby advertising tadpoles - 5 cents, and frogs - a dime. Cars would stop and parents would buy them for their kids. Usually I'd be out playing in the fields, so my mother often handled the sales and, for a brief period, was known as the "frog lady." Did quite a business, even supplied the downtown pet shop until the frogs escaped and infested the store. But I ended up with enough nickels and dimes to buy the aquarium I wanted. - Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 17 / FROGS & JOCKIES & THE WHOLE DAM' THING! Loving these recollections!! And love the picture of the theatre: it brought it all back: the smells, everything. To move to another area: can Sharon Porter tell me when her dad gave up his grocery store on Cadboro Bay Road? And does anyone remember the nearby Culls, which had a great soda fountain? - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au July 18 / HELLO ALL Thanks so much to Sandy, Dick and Tom for the wonderful memories. You bet I rembember Six for One. My mom and aunt would be on the phone daily comparing answers. Am also enjoying the rumpus room and all the chat. I don't like the thought that we could all drift apart again, but the website will hopefully stop that from happening. I'll be in Victoria for my aunt's 80th on the weekend of the 28th, and wonder if anyone will be at the Snug at 4:00pm. Thought I'd stop by, and would love to see some familiar faces. Lots of love, Charmaine Charmaine Bradley (Armstrong) charmbee@hotmail.com July 18 / GOING MUTE FOR A WHILE Dear All...sorry if I have gone overboard and interrupted you at work (and play) with my maunderings. Want to make a correction: Brenda and Marj's mums trained at St. Jo's. And John Youson reminds us of the Plaza (second-runs and cowboy double features) and Dick the Rio (once the Pantages), now the McPherson Playhouse. And Dick Cox in N.Z. says: "Hey, is it my imagination or was there a small hole in the glass front of the butcher's display case near the wieners and did he give you one if you stuck your finger in the hole? I also remember my favourite shop which was not on the Avenue but on Victoria Ave. on the seaward end. I used to buy glass Scottie dogs with seed candies in them." So I'm outa here for a while; I always did talk too much and get detentions for that! - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au July 20 / REMEMBRANCES Lordy! My memory must be very bad! What I DO remember is being stung 18 times by wasps while swinging my roller-skated legs under a bench overlooking Rattenberry Beach. Bust open a nest. I was with Murray and Sandy Halkett, anyone remember them? I also used to collect tiny pink shells off same beach at low tide and paste them onto the boxes wooden matches came in to make" jewellery boxes"..never seen those little shells on any other beach.. does anyone, besides Charmaine, know my old boyfriend, Peter Haylett? He went to other schools. He had a good friend, Mike Gallo, and we bussed all over Victoria in our Jr. High School years. - Diane diane (wilson) dyer ddwithlove@excite.com July 20 / PETER HAYLETT / RON EDMONDS I remember brothers Peter and Leslie Haylett. Their family owned the Dean Heights Food Market at Foul Bay and Neil. I sure remember the monstrous raisin oatmeal cookies the store sold. They cost a nickel each so you couldn't just buy one spontaneously, but what a treat when the budget permitted! I still go to this store when I visit Dad on Allenby. In fact, I bumped into Ron Edmonds here recently. He had a great time seeing everyone at the reunion! Next time over we're getting together so he can see some of the photos. - Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 20 / FROG POND Gary, I had the greatest time at the old frogpond - must have been there with you. I always found the pond to be 2 inches deeper than my gumboots, but what fun to get a cluster of eggs and then watch the tadpoles hatch, then the frogs develop. We were very lucky to have the old fairgrounds to play in - roller hocky and tree houses. Dick G. - you have such a fantastic memory of the Avenue. One of the things I recall was on the first business day after New Years Day to go and try to get the lowest-numbered bike licence possible at the police station. We have been lucky to have grown up in Oak Bay. Life was very good to us in the '50s. - Ron ronmckeever@pacificcoast.net July 20 / SECRET COFFEE HOUSE Yes,Tony Else managed The Secret Coffee House which was in the basement of the Westholme Hotel on Government Street. Roy Mercer and I assembled yet another singing group called The Minstrelmen and Tony had us do a weekend gig to open for his headlining act. Later we added a fifth guy (Bob Cross, ex Mayor of Victoria.) Then Roy shipped out and we became The Chariot Singers with Irene Harris, who was a nurse in training at St. Joe's. Tony brought in Valdy, Pat Paulsen who tried to walk across the Inner Harbour and also ran for President with the same result. There was a local favourite duo of Murray McAlpine and young Robin Ross who wistfully interpreted the ballads of the Chad Mitchell Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. I remember one night The Chariots were at the climax of "All My Trials, Lord, Soon Be Over" when they switched the pumps upstairs for beer service and the most disturbing GRUNT broke our enchanted spell! "Those were the days my friends!" Best Wishes, Mike mgibbs@webtv.net July 20 / RANK CINE FILES Rather! Mom and Dad Gibbs would take little Mikey to the Oak Bay Theatre twice a week for yet another J Arthur Rank Organization Picture Show. I became very familiar with the English actors of the Pinewood Studios i.e. Trevor Howard, Nigel Patrick, Phyllis Calvert, Guy Middleton, Margaret Rutherford and her "Belles from St Trinian's" and my favorite was an early picture with Stewart Granger playing Paganini - I think the film was called "The Magic Bow." Wonderful soundtrack if still available. My sister, Pat Abbott, who lives in Ardmore in North Saanich is eleven years my senior and she was also taken twice weekly to the OB Theatre. We would make a terrific movie trivia team I'm told! Here's lookin' at you, Mikey mgibbs@webtv.net July 21 / AWASH IN A SEA OF MEMORIES... Well it's finally catching up with me, too. Here are a few random recollections. Mr. Magee chucking pieces of wood (and the occasional tool) at wayward boys during IA woodworking class. Mr. Oliver latching on to a kid (bigger than himself!) and banging him against a wall to make a point. Point taken. Myself and 2 friends apprehended by the same Mr. Oliver smoking (about grade 9) on HS grounds. Anybody remember? We were hustled over to the Principal's office (Chas. Gibbard I think) for an interview and lecture on the evils of the weed. I remember he asked "Is your smoking HABITUAL?" None of us knew what the word meant. Hmmm. We do now. (I never becoame a smoker thank God, but not thanks to that incident). And in fairness, Mr. Oliver had a quick temper but he was a good guy and I'm sure still is. In OBJH I recall in grade 7 when a teacher informed me that ballpoint pens were not permitted! I think it was a Miss Newton, but can't swear to it. Also, when Mike Kennedy brought a water pistol to woodworking and got caught. Mr. Adlem squirted him in the face with it then put it in a vise (or is it vice?) and that was the end of that. Finally, remember at OBJH when Mr. Irwin dropped a piece of phosphorous in water and the container caught fire? He then dumped it in a wastebasket with the same effect; then Bowker Creek, ditto. Fire-people arrived to watch it floating downstream like a Viking funeral ceremony. Oh - and one more. Anybody remember Fred French crashing Jim Whyte's classes from time to time to insert various humourous observations? They were like a comedy team at times and it really helped make classtime more tolerable. That's enough from Rockin' Robin. I'm outta here. And Sandy - don't ever stop writing. You are the sparkplug for our tired old brain cells. Besides - your days of accumulating frequent flyer detentions are over! Cheers to all, Robinsky Robin Estlin robin@yellowdawg.com July 21 / THEATRE TRIVIA My earliest memories at the Oak Bay Theatre were the flicks "Red River" with John Wayne, and "Kim" with Errol Flynn and a young Dean Stockwell. Occasionally one would be "Held Over." Mike Gibbs, here is a memory stretcher for you. Around 1949 you told me about a show at the Dominion called the "Tawney Pippet." At the time I thought it was the most ridiculous name for a film but went to see it a week later. There were all kinds of problems including film breaks so they showed a cartoon while splicing the celluloid back together. - Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 21 / THEATRES Movie memories? The Halloween costume contest at the Royal Theatre which I won (age 5),with a nifty pirate costume my sister made for me. Had to go up on stage! Could have been Treasure Island. Also The African Queen at the Odeon, where they gave away little "diamonds" at the door. Some lucky person won the real one. - Lynne Lynne (Maclennan) Schulnik lynnelj@hotmail.com July 21 / FRENCH AND WHYTE Robin, I do remember those visits from French to Whyte's class! I also remember Mr. Whyte sending me out of the class pretty much every day to wipe off lipstick. It was a real challenge negotiating those little desks with a huge hooped skirt!! You know, I really like Mr. Oliver. He was one of my favorite teachers. - Diane diane (wilson) dyer ddwithlove@excite.com July 21 / MOVIE TRIVIA I bet we all saw Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" at the Odeon, but how many remember it was a double bill. The other movie we had to suffer through was Black Jack Ketchup Desperado, probably one of the worst movies ever made. I think I saw every picture J. Arthur Rank ever made and they were all wonderful. - Judy Judy Anderson jalowe@altavista.com July 21 / MR FRENCH ET AL Yes Robin, how can we forget those anecdotes. Remember how we had to re-do the entire math book in one month (grade 8) and report after school to have it corrected by Mr. French. Needless to say we did quite well that year. I was petrified of both Mr. Magee and Miss Tait and probably in that order. It was years later that I discovered that I could actually transform a piece of wood into something useful and not a pile of shavings and splinters. Remember Doug Gilmour and Grant Mitten getting the strap from Mr. Magee at the beginning of the year in front of the class? For what I never knew. Maybe Doug could enlighten us. Then there was Mrs. Henning in grade 7 who tried to teach me music. She would take a wire contraption and draw lines across the board and doodle some flats or something and then shriek at me to go and find "doe." Of course I would put a dot in totally the wrong place which would send her into a fit of hysterics. I often think of that as I put the finishing touches on a guitar and doubt if I could find "doe" today. As for joyful and happy moments... I will have to think on that one. -Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 21 / MR FRENCH Some of us had Mr French at Willows, too, where I can remember him teaching a tumbling club in a basement room. I remember once in grade 7 he was giving a math lesson and teaching us about finding the area of something by multiplying the length by the width. He would say "inches by inches" and then point to someone for the expected response of "square inches." And then "feet by feet" for the expected response of "square feet." He then said "miles by miles" and pointed to Tom, who of course had to say "square miles." It broke the class up. Whenever I think of Mr French I can't help but smile. -Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 22 / THE GOOD OLE DAYS Okay, okay, I can't stay mum; self-imposed vow of silence now broken. Do you remember a frustrated and impatient Mr Jim Whyte used to say: "You kids make me sick - C-I-C!! You make me ill - I-L!" And his tired old jokes: "How's your baby, buggy?" And "What's that on the road, a head?" I have tried these out on various audiences over the years, but got only confused and quizzical responses. I never could tell a joke. And does anyone have any of that shell jewellery like Diane (and others) made, left in an attic somewhere? - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au July 22 / FURTHER TRICKLES OF MEMORY And who can forget such pedagogical luminaries as Miss Burridge, brought back from retirement (lucky us!) to teach us parsing and pass on a love of the English language? And Mr Huggett, he of the perennial blue-grey suit, never a loss for words in several languages. When asked something like "Is Das Madchen, who is really feminine, get the neuter article because of the -chen ending?" he would answer solemnly, not "yes", but: "The answer to your question is as follows: yes." And does anyone remember when Royston Willie Mercer used to get his twice-yearly repeat bouts of malaria, which we thought very exotic, and we had to sit quietly in his History class reading, while he held his aching head in his hands? And the time Mrs Kelly had to break it to us girls that we could no longer play soccer, because some of the mums had complained it was too rough for young ladies of OBHS!??? Or... - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au July 22 / TRIVIA QUIZ Okay, what where the names of the four intramural houses at OBJ? -Gary gwilcox@direct.ca July 22 / MORE TRIVIA It did not take long for Mike Gibbs to email me with all kinds of information about that movie. Here is part of his message: "This 1944 British film release starred and was also written and co-directed by Bernard Miles and was about the life of a village during wartime that was disrupted by the invasion of two rare birds who nested in a local meadow. Bernard Miles was a busy character actor who excelled in Dickens "Great Expectations" (GB 1946) along with Juliet and Haley's dad, Sir John Mills (Pip) Thanks for the quiz, Dick." John Youson... it was about this time 43 yrs ago that you, me and other members of our class were at Western Speedway for a sprint car meet. Local driver Carmen Pasco driving an Ranger aircraft engine sprint car tangled wheels and flipped a few times in number one corner going over 50 ft in the air and bursting into flames. The ambulance driver, Ralph Leeming, was an old race car driver from the '30s and according to Brian Willson another driver, went to St. Joseph's hospital in record time driving his old Dodge ambulance at speeds down Douglas in excess of 95 MPH. Everyone survived by the way.Western was great entertainment on a Saturday night. - Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 23 / INTRAMURAL HOUSES Seems to me that the houses were Beaver, Cadboro, Discovery & Maquinna. OK, Who was the captain (girls) of Beavers in 1956? - Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 23 / INTRAMURAL HOUSES Beaver, Discovery, Maquinna and Cadboro. What is the prize? A flight to Victoria for the next reunion??? - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au July 23 / HOUSES They were Beaver, Discovery, Cordova? and something that began with an M I think - Judy Judy Anderson Judithlowe@lycos.com July 24 / OBJH What was the Art teacher's name in junior high? She could be nasty. - Lynne Lynne (Maclennan) Schulnik lynnelj@hotmail.com July 24 / THE 'NASTY' ART TEACHER Lynne, that was Tom Miles' aunt Ina Tait. Now don't you feel bad? She used to pick on Tom more severely than the rest of us, but he will have to expand that story. - Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 24 / MALARIA Sandy, you mention Mr. Mercer holding his throbbing head in his hands during bouts of "malaria." He was a character and told one of his classes that he would jump out the window on the last day of school. He did. As I recall, Miss Shaw frequently had Monday bouts of "Malaria" as well. What a respected and wonderful English teacher she was! - Richard rgoodall@shuswap.net July 25 / SMOKING KIPLING Hey there Robin - I believe I was one of your buddies on that day that Blow Oliver caught us being the Marlboro Man. Did we not get marched into the Principal of OBJr, Rudyard Kipling? I remember the question, "How many of you smoke habitually?" Mr Kipling, who originally teacher trained with my uncle Henry Poore (late of Ladysmith) at Victoria Normal School, confided in us that he first started smoking string of all things! Then you know that first time for both of us was under the Bowker Creek culvert, but we were smoking a stogie (cigar) and went home to 1606 Wilmot Pl. GREEN as a leprechaun! Top o' the marnin' to yah! O' Gibbs mike gibbs mgibbs@webtv.net July 26 / RECOLLECTIONS Hi there! We left June 18th for Alaska, before the walk and have just got back only to catch up on all of your interesting recollections! Stopped in Prince George and had a mini reunion with Ken Muir and his lovely wife Miriam. He retired from teaching, no longer has his french horn and is active outdoors in the beautiful country and mountains around his part of BC. Hope Richard G will accept my nomination of him for class of '60 historian - perhaps we can edit and publish these recollections formally in time for 2002 or whenever. I lived on Clive Drive so was very close to the "Ave'. The Safeway was originally a "Piggly Wiggly". The bakery was subsequently owned by Phil Wade's family and he ended up buying Ballams Plumbing and Heating which his son now runs, I think. I was the OB Pharmacy delivery boy so probably brought many of your families their drug store purchases as I also filled in for Davenports at the Ave and Foul Bay and for Blays on Estevan (Bruce Blay was like an uncle to me). John Weiker bought the drug store and we moved to the new location. I eventually renovated the upstairs of the old store into an apartment for the present owner and he is about to turn the building in into a pub. Thinking of bikes: Sgt Green of the OB Police gave me a ticket for riding without a light. My dad was mortified. Stanley Bullivant once threw my hat out the bus window, at the corner of St Ann and Cranmore. It landed up in that lovely old Arbutus tree. The OB fire department kindly brought their ladder truck up and rescued the hat. Again, dad was mortified. Sang in the St Mary's choir for years. James Garry was a very strict choirmaster, in typical British fashion but he and the choir lady used to "pay" us 25 cents per month which kept me in comic books. Then the Murgatroyd family moved to OB, Mr M played the organ at the evening services. Thereafter there was never any shortage of choirboys who lined up to get a glimpse of his three attractive daughters sitting near the front pew. I too saw John Mcgee throw a tool in the woodshop - a chisel. There and then I decided to give up woodworking, join the band and take music for the rest of my schooldays. Bye the way, Jim Whyte also used to ask "Why are fire engines red?" Answer: 2 and 2 makes 4; 4 times 3 are 12. There are 12 inches in a ruler; Queen Elizabeth is a ruler; Queen Elizabeth is also a ship. Ships sail seas, seas touch Russia. Russians are red. Fire engines are always russian. Therefore fire engines are red. Enough. Enjoyed the reunion. Bye for now, - Phil sometimes called "red" back then except by the dreaded Mr Eames who called me "ginger". Fortunately he only used to throw his keys or his baton and I could duck for cover behind my euphonium (which I'm surprised I can still spell). Phil Johnston ibbyjohnjohn@hotmail.com July 26 / MORE FROM OBJr Glad you are back, Phil, to add to the lore. I wonder if anyone besides Sandra and Judy McLeod remembers the head of their clan, the diminutive but feisty Dame Flora, who spoke to an "Assembly" at OBJr, about the "faery flag" and other fables associated with the clan HQ on Skye? And here's another Gary Wilcox sort of quiz question: how many times did we have to sit through showings of "The Loon's Necklace" at Jr High? - Sandy redoak@dynamite.com.au