www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, September 1, 2016 | 6 Celebrating 100 years by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver Spotlight "Connected to your Community" O akville's Evelyn Bullied is 100 years old, but you would never know it just by talking to her. Born on Aug. 22, 1916 as Evelyn Mae Savage, Bullied turned 100 on Tuesday, Aug. 23 and her milestone was celebrated by friends, family and local dignitaries, including Mayor Rob Burton and former mayor Harry Barrett, at the Oakville Historical Society (OHS), where she volunteers. "(I'm) happy that I made it this far with things that have gone on during my lifetime... world wars and things like that. I'm just blessed. I have so many friends that I hate to leave when I have to go," said Bullied. She is the fourth generation of her family to reside in what is now Oakville, but it was rural Trafalgar Township when she was growing up, Bullied noted. The Oakville resident lived on a Ninth Line farm and attended Halton Secondary School No. 12, currently known as Maple Grove Public School. One teacher for multiple grades Bullied recalled the school accommodating students in Grades 1-8 with only one teacher. "She would have stuff written on the blackboard. When she was nished, she would give a bit of an instruction. She would say, `You gure these things out while I teach the other classes,'" said Bullied. "You would sit there very quietly as if you were doing your homework. You do it and then you would sit and wait until she was nished (with the other classes)." Bullied recently met two of her former schoolmates, who shared a similar recollection of school when they were children. Having to wait for the teacher to return to their classroom gave students an opportunity to hear curriculum being taught in higher Grade levels, so they were familiar with the material when they reached those classes, she explained. "By the time you were in Grade 5, you knew half of it because you've been listening to it. In a way, it gave us a broader sense of what other people had to do. Sometimes I think kids might be better off if they weren't Above, Evelyn Bullied (nee Savage) celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday, Aug. 23. At right, she shares a laugh with Oakville MP John Oliver who was among some dignitaries who dropped by the Oakville Historical Society for the festivities. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland in just Grade 1, 2, 3," said Bullied, noting a second teacher was eventually hired to help teach 70 students. No real places in town for dating For teenagers and young adults, Oakville wasn't conducive for dating, she stated, as there were no places in town for couples to go to. Instead, they would have to "dine and dance" somewhere outside of town, either at the Brant Inn in Burlington or at a locale in Toronto. "(Brant Inn) only had half-a-dozen rooms, but it was a dinner and dance place. You could have your dinner and dance (or) you could go to dance. It was a fabulous place to go," said Bullied. The biggest change in Oakville, according to Bullied, happened when the Ford Motor Company of Canada rst opened an assembly plant in town in 1953. Aside from drugstores, there weren't any other places for gainful employment at the time. She said Ford coming to Canada was the "best thing that ever happened in Oakville." "That was a very wonderful thing for Oakville because it had been all agricultural area and a lot of the next generations (of townspeople) weren't born on farms," said Bullied, whose career consisted of jobs at Dunn's Drug Store and the Oakville Credit Bureau. see Bullied on p.7 NEIL OLIVER VicePresident and Group Publisher KELLY MONTAGUE Regional General Manager Volume 54 | Number 70 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. DANIEL BAIRD Director of Advertising ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Editorial Department (905) 845-3824 Advertising Department (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising (905) 632-4440 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095