Robert Hopkins

Robert Hopkins

He eulogized his friends so well, now is the time for the mentor.

What a loss, we in Bronte and Oakville are experiencing, with the passing of Mr. Robert A. Hopkins. What an enviable, complete life, he lived, and I'm sure he would be the first to agree, that he had it all. Family man, teacher, principal, author, friend, humorist, board member, home and school advocate, a dedicated involved, community minded person, who loved life, but was never too busy to touch and mould so many young lives.

His ilk will be hard to follow. Dear "Hoppy". What a frivolous name, yet that became the students' nickname for the man who was to guide us through our adolescence.

He spiced up the classroom, with his inimitable style of humorous stories. His deep chuckle, and his love of politics, only served to re-charge his battery.

Mr. Hopkins' memorial will be in the hearts and memories of thousands of students, who later became friends.

What a fortunate day for us, when he stopped in Bronte over forty years ago, heard of the school's need for a principal, and applied.

He was one of a kind, who made school seem like fun. What a great legacy he left us, the love of books, to participate and enjoy, and his eloquent sense of humor.

We will miss you, old friend, but I'm sure you are already sharing your stories up there.

I know we are the richer for having listened.

A friend and former student

Lorraine Court (Lorry)



Centriller closes an era comes to an end

Town's oldest school holds closing 'open house'

The first public school in the Oakville area, which has its roots in the early 1800s, will be closed - a victim of continuously declining enrolment.

But the sturdy structure, built in 1923, may remain, along with the memories of Centriller School - or for many Bronte families, Bronte Public School.

The history of the school will not be forgotten, Don White, principal of Centriller School for three years, has begun a collection of old school records and photographs to be on display at a Homecoming to be held May 16. Old yellow photographs with missing corners depict the school's early history, and as it grew with the Bronte community, the photographs changed to glossy black and white, and more recently, color.

One photograph shows staff and pupils, positioned in front of a previous building at the Centriller site, which stood 50 years before it was torn down.

After more than 100 years of growth in Bronte, the school has become plagued with a rapidly declining enrolment, said White. Centriller School currently has 36 pupils in Grades 1 to 4 - all living south of Lakeshore Rd.

The Homecoming will be open to former staff and pupils, and interested members of the Bronte community, said White. It will begin at 2 p.m., and end at approximately 4 p.m.

White would be interested in receiving any old photographs of the school's past, or anybody who could assist in identifying staff and pupils in some of the old photographs he has already collected. He is compiling a history of the school.