St.Leonard Catholic School 50th Anniversary Reunion
Picture-Grade 8 Graduation, 1970-71. Minister of Finance and later, Prime Minister of Canada, John Turner, sitting right in the middle.
St. Leonard Reunion in full swing
The plans are in motion, dates confirmed, venues secured now it’s really time for the St. Leonard alumni to reunite for a fantastic week celebrating an integral part of Manotick and the area’s history. St. Leonard Catholic School is fifty school seasons old. Opening in 1965 on what was formerly Driscoll farm land the school has had a couple of thousand students roll through the hallways and move on to a number of area high schools, St. Pius, South Carleton, Osgoode and of course St. Mark. On behalf of our committee I’d like to invite all of you reading this whether you’re alumni or residents from the area who had family attend or even the grads of schools like Kars Public, Rideau Valley, Manotick Public, Osgoode Public, come one, come all, we’d love to have you.
The Class of 73 at St. Leonard’s has the unique distinction of being the first class to complete all grades 1-8. Other classes can cite their own distinction, first through from kindergarten, last Grade 8 class, first through from JK-Grade 6 and so on and I encourage those of you in those grades to reunite one more time and join us for the big soiree. For my graduating class, the aforementioned 73’s, we have planned a night in the gym, back where it all took place all those years ago. I’m very pleased to announce that on Thursday May 26th the school’s first Principal Mr. Robert (Bob) Slack will be attending along with several former teachers from those early days and numerous former students who were in one of the years, 1965-73. Whether they were there one or two years or all eight, that class will take center stage on the Thursday night. If you’re interested in attending the Thursday night party please contact me at the email below for details.
The main night that we hope to see all grads is Saturday May 28th at the Manotick Curling Club. We’ll be on their ice surface, there’s ample room although we anticipate it to be a big crowd. In the ensuing weeks I’ll have some further details on that night, we have a few things planned but most of all we want you, the grads from the past fifty years to come out and celebrate a special milestone anniversary.
In the story that ran in the Manotick Messenger two weeks ago I mentioned I’d be doing a top 10 of historical moments, unique happenings and some anecdotal events or memories special to St. Leonard’s in its 50 year history. I’m going to start this week with number 10 and work back ward like Dave Letterman would do. I welcome any and all submissions going forward and if you have any thing that you’d like to bring to my attention from your time at the school please email me or if you want any more information or have questions about anything to do with the reunion please message me at this address or here on Facebook. Thank you all very much; the early reaction to all of this has been phenomenal. [email protected]
NUMBER 10 HISTORICAL/ANECDOTAL/UNIQUE MOMENT IN ST. LEONARD HISTORY
ST. LEONARD'S GETS A NEW GYM AND LIBRARY
Hard to imagine any school without a gym or a library with the exception of the one-room school houses back in the day but this was the situation St. Leonard’s found itself in when the school opened in 1965. Within three years plans were done and construction was under way of a ‘west wing’ extension that would include the gym and the library. I have to say, to digress for a moment, although the interior of the class rooms have changed significantly and the school has added numerous rooms and changed the whole office area there’s still a couple of things that make me feel like I’ve stepped back in time; walking in that gym is definitely one of them. The floor, the stage, the walls, the basketball nets, with the exception of maybe some upgrades, they’re all still the same. The ‘apparatus’ as we called it that was part of the north wall is gone and I’d have to think anybody who was there that day during a Christmas play put on by the students will never forget my brother Mike coming off that stage like a spider monkey and climbing up that apparatus in front of students and parents, a classic moment, funny as heck.
From our Principal, Mr. Slack; “The construction of the gym was a boom to the community. Many banquets and social events were held in the new facility. The library was a hub for various groups looking for meeting space.”
Countless outside groups have used the gym for years and during the 1980’s it was a popular rental location for dances featuring groups like The Star tops. It also became the de facto location for all graduation ceremonies and the home to countless guests.
“At one time, A Y Jackson owned a small home in Manotick. He was one of our famous visitors. Other notables were Judge John Matheson, father of the Canadian flag in Prime Minister Pearson's tenure. Also, we were pleased to have the Hon John Turner, then Minister of Justice as one of our visitors. Class trips were always well received. Expo 67 was a great adventure. My big concern was letting the pupils off on their own. However, all turned out well.” –Mr. Slack.
It should be noted that the construction of a gym also meant gym class and with that the arrival of a new teacher, a Mr. Phil Yates, often traded off some of his other classes so he could ‘teach’ gym. He offered an opportunity for students in those early days to learn some of the rules of many different sports and he ran us hard. I always recall pleading with Mr. Yates to allow us to play hockey in gym class. He’d bellow, “Mr. Maguire, do you not get enough hockey the rest of the day and at home!!” And then he’d smile and say, maybe tomorrow Maguire, maybe tomorrow. Classic.
The first librarian was a woman named Mrs. Donaldson. Before the library really got in full swing the school was visited regularly by a Bookmobile which was a library on wheels. It would park right in front of the school, we’d race out like lemons to try and find a book, any book that we could sign out and maybe were interested in. Once the library was fully functioning the bookmobile stopped coming by. When I step into what is known now as the Learning Center and remember those first days of the library in the late 60’s, it’s quite the time warp. Unlike the gym, it’s changed dimensionally and obviously the options for children today are incredible.
I remember we only had a couple of hockey books in those early days. One was Firewagon Hockey, the Story of the Montreal Canadiens by Andy O’Brien. It came out in 1967 so it was brand new! I signed it out 50 times easily. I wrote my name in very small print on the bottom of page 12 ( because 12 was my favourite number) and at the end of every school year, before we got let out, I’d go to the library, find the book and hide it behind the stack of encyclopedia’s that nobody ever used. One year, I think in grade six, I went back at the start of the school year and it was still there! Usually it was located by the very prudent Mrs. Donaldson and returned to its usual location. I hid it one more time after that but by grade seven I was on to other hockey books.
The construction of the gym and the library are number 10 on my countdown list and by extension the guests which visited the schools for years. Mr. Slack mentioned some of them above, I also recall arguably the most popular radio personality in Ottawa history, Ken ‘the General’ Grant visiting in 1970 and he gave away a brand new Edward Bear album to the person who asked the best questions. The winner was Ken Craig and I always kid him, I was there at the start Ken, at the very start!! As most of you know, Ken is one of Canada's top concert promoters, he is thee only reason the Stones came to Ottawa in 2005 and his older sisters Kim and Karen are grads from the Class of 73. See how it all comes together. ( his younger sister Jodi is also a St. Leonard grad)
We also had an American pilot who had done a tour of duty in Vietnam, numerous other local personalities and guests and years later with his own children now attending the school, a certain local author who grew up on the Kars Road, spent seven years at the school as a student and who wrote a few hockey books himself was a guest speaker, standing in the gym, where years before he sat as a student himself. Maybe for old times sake I'll hide one of my books in the Learning Center on May 26th.
Any and all comments are welcome, memories of the gym and the library specific if possible but really, anything is fine.