I graduated from Grade 12 at Fort William Collegiate Institute in 1975 but I started out at Franklin Street School in Fort William. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a 50-year reunion of our FWCI graduating classes. I did okay in high school but it wasn’t my favourite time of life. Even facing going to a reunion was stressful because all those insecurities from high school came flooding back, with the biggest worry of all – will anyone talk to me?
Surprise, surprise! They did talk to me! And I had fun reconnecting with people who came from far away and with those who still live in Thunder Bay that I haven’t crossed paths with in quite some time.
The biggest surprise for the weekend for me was reconnecting with my childhood friend from Franklin Street School, Michael Hyndman. We both were students in Miss Helen Matson’s Grade One class. Miss Matson organized a class play to which our parents and siblings were invited to attend. I haven’t seen Michael in many years, as he now lives in North Bay, but he’ll always be Prince Charming to me. You see, I was Snow White to his Prince Florian (aka “Charming”) in our Grade One production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I even managed to find and bring a photo of us as “actors” 60+ years ago! Another former classmate bemoaned the fact that he had “only been one of the dwarfs”. We all laughed as we posed once again for the cameras.
Both of those schools, that formed such an important part of our lives, are gone. Franklin Street School is now a splash pad playground and FWCI is boarded up. Although these buildings meant so much to us, the people and memories mattered more. Our teachers, like Miss Matson, who went the extra mile for her students, and our friends that we were lucky enough to make in those years, helped us become the people we are, half a century later.
I struggled with the decision of going to the reunion but I’m so glad I chose to attend. In real life, I finally did meet my own Prince Charming, but it was a long time after Grade One!
