My first speaking engagement in the New Year was at Riverpark Place Retirement Residence in Ottawa. It is a beautiful facility overlooking the Ottawa River. There was a good crowd to listen to me, and as luck would have it, I reconnected with two people I hadn’t seen in awhile….both former students in one-room schools.
The first person was Graham Ritchie whose story appears on page 121 of my book. He recounted his fun rolling tires down a hill at S.S. No. 2 Gloucester, laden with apples from a nearby orchard. Of course the apples would go flying in all directions. Graham purchased another book for his son Neill, who is currently the owner of Ritchie Feed & Seed. http://www.ritchiefeed.com/
The second person was Doug Fleming. Doug used to manage many large craft shows around the Ottawa Valley. My parents and I used to sell hand-crafted jewelry, china painting, knitting and woodcarving at some of his shows. Doug was a former pupil at Sadler’s School (S.S. No. 2 Pakenham) from 1939-1945. He informed me the school is now a home. All his memorabilia from that time is now at the Archives Lanark at Drummond Centre.
A couple of other people I met were Teresa Robson (Chevrier) who attended S.S. No. 5 Morrison Township in Gavenhurst, Ontario and Kathi Timmins who went to S.S. No. 22 Mountain from 1960-1967. This was a two-room school. Every winter her Dad (who owned the General Store) and a farmer would take turns flooding the school yard so that the children could have a skating rink. Then the community would have a winter carnival with hot dogs, homemade baked goods and candies, and of course skating races.
The first person was Graham Ritchie whose story appears on page 121 of my book. He recounted his fun rolling tires down a hill at S.S. No. 2 Gloucester, laden with apples from a nearby orchard. Of course the apples would go flying in all directions. Graham purchased another book for his son Neill, who is currently the owner of Ritchie Feed & Seed. http://www.ritchiefeed.com/
The second person was Doug Fleming. Doug used to manage many large craft shows around the Ottawa Valley. My parents and I used to sell hand-crafted jewelry, china painting, knitting and woodcarving at some of his shows. Doug was a former pupil at Sadler’s School (S.S. No. 2 Pakenham) from 1939-1945. He informed me the school is now a home. All his memorabilia from that time is now at the Archives Lanark at Drummond Centre.
A couple of other people I met were Teresa Robson (Chevrier) who attended S.S. No. 5 Morrison Township in Gavenhurst, Ontario and Kathi Timmins who went to S.S. No. 22 Mountain from 1960-1967. This was a two-room school. Every winter her Dad (who owned the General Store) and a farmer would take turns flooding the school yard so that the children could have a skating rink. Then the community would have a winter carnival with hot dogs, homemade baked goods and candies, and of course skating races.
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