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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 21, 2008 - 25 OT alumni to celebrate 100 this weekend Continued from page 24 Dress codes began relaxing and sports teams and clubs were forming. Debating, recitals and drama was popular as were rugby and hockey -- and school dances. In 1946, the Trafalgar school district merged with the Oakville school district and Oakville's high school was renamed Oakville Trafalgar High School (OTHS). Over the years, additions went on all sides of the Reynolds Street building: the auditorium and gym were constructed in 1942, a back wing was added in 1962, a new gym built in 1966 and a libraryresource centre added in 1969. "I attended OTHS as a student from 1967 to 1972," said current OTHS tech/robotics teacher George Chisholm, 54, who has taught at OTHS since 1986. "I have loads of memories of OT, but the most important ones to me are the time I spent in the Army Cadet Corps that was at the school from 1924 to about 1975. The Cadet Corps now meets at the Armoury on Thomas Street. After graduating, I continued to work with the Cadet Corps, which is where I met my wife, until 1992," said Chisholm, who is president of the Oakville Historical Society. By the early 1990s, after a hard-fought battle at the public school board, the OTHS student body was relocated to a new, modern school on Devon Road. After the Reynolds Street site was purchased by nearby Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH), all except the original building was torn down. The remaining part is designated under Part 4 of the Ontario Heritage Act. Its 100 years of heritage are shared by former Oakville resident, and OTHS alumnus Violet (nee Dryland) Bancroft. Currently living in Victoria, British Columbia, Bancroft, who also turned 100 last month, is the oldest living OTHS alumnus. She won't be attending the reunion, but recalls attending the Oakville High School in the 1920s. "I visit her every day. We sit out on the lawn under the trees and my mom reminisces about the `good old days,' living in Oakville, going to school and hanging out with her good friends. You can still see that girlish smile when she is remembering the fun they used to have back then. She rather wishes she could come back for this reunion, but being 100 years old limits her ability to travel," said her daughter Joanne Stevenson Bancroft's family operated a farm north of Oakville and while schooling was considered complete at Grade 8, Bancroft wanted to be a nurse so her family sent her to high school -- in the footsteps of her older brother Bill. Every Sunday Bancroft's dad William drove her to town in a horse-drawn buggy where she boarded with a family while going to school. Bancroft's mom always packed a care basket, which Bancroft put on the window sill of her bedroom for snacking. In the 1920s, Grade 9 was called the First Form and Grade 13 was the Fifth Form. Math was Bancroft's favourite subject with "Archie," Mr. Archibald, the school principal. Her best friend was Edna Speck and Bancroft spent summers picking strawberries at the Specks' farm north of town. While at Oakville High School, Bancroft dated Wilbur South and made friends with Ruby Albertson, Muzzy Lunau and Morley Keigan. Bancroft remembers the parties the gang from school used to have out by Sixteen-Mile Creek, according to her daughter. The Depression derailed Bancroft's nursing career and she worked at Lunau's Dry Goods. Eventually, Muzzy Lunau played matchmaker and Bancroft married Fred Bancroft, also an Oakville High School grad, in 1936. While the history of OTHS has been recorded, its future is ahead of it -- as are the many reunion activities May 22-25. Details can be found at www.othsreunion.ca or by calling the school at 905-845-2875. The reunion will kick off on Thursday, May 22 with Career Day, a Staff Social at The Oakville Curling Club and coffee house jam at Monaghan's Sports Pub & Grill. On Friday, May 23, a golf tournament at Royal Ontario Golf course will be followed by decade parties. On Saturday, May 24, official pening ceremonies will be at 11 a.m., followed by a barbecue, kids' activities, and shinny hockey. The school will host Decade Rooms, an Artisans' Market and theatre presentations. On Saturday night a party will be held at OTHS at 6:30 p.m. with a barbecue, licensed tent and band. The reunion will wrap up Sunday, May 25 with a pancake breakfast, a remembrance of alumni lost and closing ceremonies. It has been a lot of elbow grease for reunion co-chairs Meredith Grove and Jennifer Teufel ­ OTHS grads -- and the entire steering committee. Marnie Campbell, who has worked with Teufel, was in the same graduating class as Teufel, and remembers Terry Ruf, OTHS' current principal, taught her French when he taught at OTHS in the 1980s. Many paths exist on the walk down Memory Lane across OTHS' 100 years and though a memory book is in the works, the reunion itself will be a chance for old and new, young and old OTHS alumni, staff and friends to share -- and revisit -- their OT experience. WITH LOTS OF PRIZES 1st PRIZE - A PAIR OF GOLD TORONTO MAPLE LEAF HOCKEY TICKETS TO A GAME IN 2008-2009 2nd PRIZE - $300 CINEPLEX GIFT CARD 3rd PRIZE - $200 CINEPLEX GIFT CARD 4th PRIZE - $100 CINEPLEX GIFT CARD ALL RIDES 1 Coupon Only COME ENJOY ALL THE FUN · · · · Ferris Wheel Scrambler Berry-Go-Round Merry-Go-Round RIDES INCLUDE · Fire Chief · Scooter Bumper Cars · Family Swinger · Bumble Bee Bob · Cliff Hanger · Orient Express (Coaster Ride) ALL THE FUN BEGINS MAY 23 TO JUNE 1, 2008 Pick up your ballot inside the SILVER CITY MISSISSAUGA OR AT THE CARNIVAL TICKET BOX Draw to be held JUNE 1, 2008 AT 4:00 P.M. no purchase necessary