Fifty years and counting – Our 1975 high school grad class meets for a reunion

I walked onto the rooftop patio of Victoria’s Strathcona Hotel to meet almost one hundred members of my high school graduating class. Now fifty years after the actual 1975 graduation ceremony at Victoria’s Oak Bay High School I wasn’t really thinking about the effects of the passage of time. Temporarily befuddled, a server pointed me around the corner of the glass-rimmed sunbaked patio to find a cluster of seniors, possibly a group of lawn bowlers from the grounds behind the old Crystal Pool. I retreated to the patio entrance to ask, again, where the grads were gathering. In a somewhat snarky voice the same server pointed at me, again, around the corner. I tiptoed towards the far end of the patio and in a plaintive voice asked, “anyone here graduate from Oak Bay High?” In unison they chanted, YES.” As for the elder seniors, well seeing is sometimes deceptive, for we were teens then, and now, hello, seniors ourselves.

Our world, our bodies, our relationships, and the circumstances of our lives have changed drastically, and hopefully for the better. Of course, those most motivated to attend reunions are settled in their various settings. Those less settled in life keep to their own council. Generally those present had stories to tell and questions to ask. Married? Or single? How many times? Kids, jobs, travel, real estate, hobbies, and passions.

It was sobering to see how many had died from various diseases, others by accident, none thankfully to my knowledge. by homicide. Alternatively some were surprised that one slightly notorious person is very much alive and showed up. Some presently work through serious health challenges; some of these stories are heroic and inspiring. When I shared some of my own mental health experiences folks were a bit shocked. Like everyone I do what I can with what I’ve got in the time available.

As for vocations, lots of small or medium business owners, health care professionals, social workers and psychologists, teachers, engineers, bureaucrats, and a smattering of bus drivers. Some still perform in theatre, visual arts, and music, mostly jazz and classical. (I was one of these once.) Not a lawyer in the bunch now that I could find. No politicians, federal, provincial, or municipal. I discovered some unique vocations including a parasailing instructor, a cardiac perfusionist, and a cemetery designer. Not sure if the three are connected.

As for clergy, not so many. One Unitarian Universalist chaplain, and me. It seems the evangelicals stayed home. Wanna stop a conversation cold? My usual line is “I’m a man of God” to which the typical response is “I once went to a long and horrible wedding.” I won’t name the denomination, but thankfully it wasn’t mine, Anglican. I now introduce myself as what CRA calls me: A “minister of religion” who at one point could endorse your passport application.

There is a well-travelled though dated phrase “boys will be boys” which came to mind as a few of us gentlemen of leisure reminisced together. Acknowledging the propensity of some to hyperbolize, I heard stories of passing acid through the classroom. I never knew how exciting English 12 could be. I thought “you’ve got to be  kidding.” Apparently not. Man I missed a lot back in the day. Remember that I grew up on Harlow Drive in the Willows neighbourhood (below, yes, below the Uplands). I thought Leave it to Beaver was a documentary. Oh well, you snooze, you lose. Let others sow their own wild oats, hopefully to settle down eventually. Different world now post-me too movement. Of course with boys the conversation easily switches to cars. Given the praise lavished on piston rings I decided not to ask them to sign the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty. C’mon guys; northern regions of four Canadian privinces are on fire — and it’s only June. Another time perhaps.

Was anything missing in our conversations? Well, yes. No one, not one person talked about their dogs. Really? Now in retirement, our life revolves around our five-year-old Labradoodle, Juno. She is our primary entertainment and exercise program.

My wife (of thirty-eight years) Kathie asked me when I returned to our lodging what I enjoyed most about the reunion. Good question. I found in almost every conversation good humour and a sense of community. We are so blessed to have grown up in and around Oak Bay High school. We are a privileged generation. Good education, especially south of the Canada/US border can no longer be assured or accessed by all. Some of us have ridden a rising and linear wave of success, a consequence of good education, opportunity, and circumstance. Many, possibly most of us, have endured and come through times of stress, even despair. For me — and this is a very personal opinion — I can face almost anything if humour can be found. Likewise I can face most things with others, together.

I was sorry to leave early but as a person with low vision and more recently escalating hearing loss the setting was exhausting for me. My search for a Cone of Silence yielded no results. That said, I am grateful to Wendy and Geri for calling us together. Never underestimate the importance of the social butterfly in our midst.

Multiple contributors have sent or published photos from the event for sharing. I have tidied a few up post production. Conditions were photographically brutal creating some interesting, almost grunge effects. Bill Pechet looks like he has just arrived from heaven. (Or, hmm, the other place?) Way to go Bill. To view the images go here. I recommend using the slideshow. This collection is presently hosted on my photo sharing site. I can move them over to another archival site if desired. To download any image simply click on the thumbnail; then right-click on the larger image and you’re set to go. For a video clip demonstrating the energy in the room go here.

If you are willing to continue the conversation with me, one on one, come on up to Summerland for a visit. If Victoria is nice, the Okanagan is paradise — Trust me on this. And subscribe to my blog where I comment almost daily on the arts, politics, humour, biography, books, movies, and all sorts of topics and concerns.

It was great to be together. The life learning cycle continues, in its own time and manner for us all. As we often say in churchland, “safe home everyone.”

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