Reunion spurs many memories

Congratulations to John MacDonald and his classmates of 1966 for organizing a very successful class reunion after the passage of 50 years. I am sure it took a lot of effort with members now widely dispersed. The memories generated by such an effort brings back memories to all who may have had an association with Athena. Along with 37 other young people, I had the privilege of being a member of the very first class to graduate in 1963. We mostly represented rural communities from Tyne Valley to Borden. Everything was a first and for both staff and students we were on the cutting edge of developing a system that would work well until the high school was fazed into a new system. To set the background: In 1960 rural students, after Grade 10, would be required to seek entry in a school of a larger center to complete Grades 11 and 12. For me it was Summerside High School where I had an enjoyable year. There were no buses so our families had to arrange transportation at their own expense. On arrival at SHS I found myself in the homeroom of Gordon MacKenzie who had been my Grade 1 teacher 10 years previous, in Lower Bedeque. My memories of SHS, though relatively pleasant, was that the rural kids did not quite fit in. By the end of that year it became known that a new high school, Summerside Rural Regional High School, would be built on upper Granville Street to house the rural students. This news inspired one Summerside Lass to say: “that will be good, now you can all wear your rubber boots to school.” When the 1962 school year began, the new school was under construction and not yet ready, so we attended classes in temporary locations around town. The YMCA, the Baptist Hall and St. Mary’s Hall were some of places that come to mind. When we finally moved to our new facility, construction was still in progress on the exterior and we were often entertained by bricklayers working on staging outside our classroom windows. In 1962, we were being bused to school, a system so familiar now, and developing a relationship with our drivers. We liked the school teaching staff under the principalship of the youthful Thomas Hall. We were also strangely aware of the school’s six-member board of directors who were rendering decisions from somewhere in the background. At one point the board solicited submissions of suggestions for a new name for the new school. Although not aware of the workings of the selection process, I was pleased when my submission, on a piece of lined scribbler paper, was selected. There was no fanfare, just an announcement. Athena “the Greek goddess of wisdom” has endured. Another aspect of a new school was the development of a format for a new yearbook. Based on his love for the streamlined Falcon design painted on some military aircraft at CFB Summerside, student-at-large Lloyd MacCallum promoted this design for the cover of the new yearbook. Editor Byron Burns and his group agreed and “The Falcon” was born. As with any group of friends, some have died and we remember them. The challenge now in retirement is to make an effort to reconnect while we are still able. We all have a life story to share and it would be a shame not to participate. It does not have to be a class reunion, one-on-one works well also and it is an effort that can be spread out to lessen the load. Percy Affleck, Bedeque