O’Leary goes back to 1992
School project connects Canada’s 125th and 150th anniversary celebrations
“My name is Ryan something Bulger. In 25 years I am going to (be a) worker in O’Leary,” Ryan Bulger reads from the letter he had written when in Grade 1.
The “something” between his first and last names, he thinks must be his middle name, Kyle.
“I know how to spell it now,” he laughed.
Bulger and several former O’Leary Elementary School students and staff joined the school’s current population June 16 to witness the opening of a time capsule. It had been buried in the front lawn in 1992 during the school’s celebration of Canada’s 125th anniversary.
Its opening coincided with Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
Tamara Currie attended the opening interested in learning what her Grade 6 self, Tamara Ellsworth, had written. Turns out she had lots to offer, including a suggestion that she’d be an actor or something and earning a million dollars or so.
She thought the world would be a healthier place with no smoking, drinking or sickness. She mused that people might be back to riding horses instead of driving cars and would be taking better care of the planet.
“I hope you get a good laugh out of this, Tamara,” she added as a “ps” to herself. Currie admitted she did, but concluded most of her earlier predictions had not come true.
O’Leary town councillor Joey Dumville, however, claimed his predictions were not far off, although he did fall short of playing in the NHL.
“I live in a big house in O’Leary. It might be a town,” he read, in part. “There might be an NHL hockey team in O’Leary,” he added.
He read that prediction three days before it was announced the anticipated NHL pre-season game in O’Leary would actually be played in Summerside.
John Rogers, who was principal in 1992, returned for the big reveal, helping current principal Susan Trail pull items from the long metal cylinder. Every class had submitted a class photo and a bundle of letters. Contents also included a Journal Pioneer, West Prince Graphic and Guardian, parents’ guide and photos from the O’Leary area.
While Rogers thinks Canada is stronger at 150 than it was at 125, he said that celebration was very important, during a time of constitutional talks and fears the country might break up.
“It was a day like today, very nice weather, beautiful sunshine,” Rogers recalled the school’s celebration of Canada’s 125th anniversary.
“We had 283 students, plus staff and we paraded up Community, across Centennial, down Main, Barclay Road and back to the school. So we had a great parade,”
An assembly and parade were held prior to the opening of the time capsule.
Trail said the time capsule, with new contents and possibly some of the old contents, would be buried last week.
She said they spaced the two events in case the capsule had not survived 25 years.
As it turns out, the time capsule and its contents were all intact.
The letter from 11-year-old Amanda Bulger shared a lot of information on the NHL, including the news that Pittsburgh Penguins were leading Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals.
Twenty-five years later, hockey is no longer as important to her.
She couldn’t recall the outcome of the series.
Of course, it was a four-game sweep by the same team that won the cup the year the time capsule was opened.