old photographs, meaford, anderson, dickson wilcox beamer bardeau riley noble richardson
grades 6 & 8
Floridian Ann Baldwin spent
summers in Meaford beguiling local
boys with her southern charms.
(with Ginny Gibbons, behind)
The summers I turned
16 and 17, Karen’s father,
recalling his own horny
youth, arranged that I work 100s of miles from his daughter, the first summer
as a junior ranger at
Marten River, near North
Bay, the second as a
scaler’s assistant in
a logging camp north
of The Lakehead. At
Marten River, we were a
dozen 16-year-olds living
in tents by a lake and
chopping down trees all
day long. Some of us gave
each other mohawks.
A Sunday afternoon with
Francis Richardson
and Jim Gower.
Meanwhile, Uncle
Ross had moved out west, married Irene,
and now had five children: Shirley,
Tommy, Kenny,
Marlene, and the
oldest, Gary,
and Bert & Ernice
had sired me two new uncles, Joe and Henry, and a new aunt, Jean, shown above,
and I was in my
final year of high school. Click the smartest kid in the class for details.
Science teacher Hank Beamer with students Janet Knight, Donna Boyd, and Ross Bumstead.
Meaford &
District
High School
1955.
Sing’s Cabin
was along the way to the clay banks, another
popular hiking destination.
Mom and I
Gram was an active
member of the United
Church and, among
other things, was
responsible for the
Sunday collection.
She mistakenly trusted me to count and roll the coins and not slip quarters into my shoes to squander in Peter's Restaurant later with my friends. There were a couple of Sunday afternoons I could have walked underwater across the harbour.
Painting the TOURISTS sign.
Cheerleaders Elda
Bumstead, Kathy Palmer,
Karen Bardeau, Carole
Leblanc, and Lynne Riley.
Below, the Meaford lighthouse
as seen from the stone dock.
(mid 1950s)
The gymnasium (to the left) was a separate building you dashed to and from in gym attire, whatever the weather. The fire escapes were tubes you slid down, so for fire drills, the third-floor assembly hall was a favourite place to be.
Up the river to the old dam
was a favourite place to hike. That’s Fran in the dam's shadow.
per ardua ad astra
Jack & Amy Wilcox and
family moved in next door in 1951 from Hamilton. They erected a barn-sized building beside their house (above right), posted ‘Meaford Tank Company’ on the front, and began producing not army tanks, as I expected, but
septic and oil tanks. When TV made its debut in Meaford, the Wilcoxes got one and invited me to watch it.
I first loved Lucy there.
The Burnsides rented
our front cottage a couple
of summers in a row.
Sally, Johnny, and I are sharing the centre seat
in a rowboat. Grace
Wilcox is in the stern.
Grace, Alan & Tom Wilcox
Fran and Ron donning skates near the start of the river trail.
and Carl & Kitty had found one another,
Paul Riley
Karen was my high school sweetheart.
