Remembering Classmates

I met my best friend Silvia at the beginning of Grade 11. We were in the same history class and one day we were sitting together in the library doing some research which involved Cardinal Richelieu or some such person. I looked up from my reading and out of the blue said something disparaging about Catholics as it related to what we were studying. Silvia smiled and nodded and then I asked “Are you Catholic?” She nodded again but she then spoke up and said she agreed with me which saved me from feeling like a complete fool. From this little incident a friendship of 40 years evolved and it’s still going strong.

Ranee was the other girl that stood with us at the corner of the hall wings every morning. I don’t remember if it was the end of Grade 10 in our homeroom that I first met Ranee or if it was also early in Grade 11 but the three of us chummed together for the rest of high school with never a quarrel or disagreement between us. We sat together at lunch time even though Ranee only lived a little ways away and could go home for lunch.

Ann Clark was my seat mate through Grade 11 art class and we got to be friends because she got her ears pierced that year and had so much trouble with them getting sore and infected and she talk to me about her pain. The following year I sat beside Christine Almdal in our home room and she had her ears pierced and suffered just like Ann. It’s no wonder it took me until 30 to get the courage to have my ears pierced! Chris is half Danish and we used to have fun kidding around about being the Danish Pastry and the Danish Donut. I remember Chris had a crush on one of the teachers as well as that famous hockey player from the Boston Bruins. I should remember his name as every Monday morning she’d talk about the hockey game and this guy but for some reason Elsie Heymer is visiting me this morning. (Elsie as in Alzheimers in case this is an inside joke).

Sometimes Del Hadder and Eric Derby would hang around with us before we went into our English class. Del was always a lot of fun.

After grad we sort of went our separate ways though Ranee and Silvia and I stayed in touch even after we moved away from Winnipeg. Chris and I wrote to each other when we took our European trips but then seemed to lose touch. That’s what happens after grad. Except for our most intimate friends we seem to get too busy to keep up with our friends from school. Thank heavens for reunions then because it’s a chance to reconnect with classmates and even make friends with ones you only said hello to in the hallowed halls of WPC.