My Granddaughter’s, Abby, graduation this year (2015) from J. Lloyd Crowe High School in Trail, B.C., stimulated this fond memory of her Grandfather’s grad from Pelly High School (1958). This was further reminded by the recent tragic fire that destroyed the two storey brick Pelly Museum which was the former high school for those graduates.

The pomp and ceremony for some 168 Grade 12 Class members in the Cominco Gym, the $500 plus beautiful gowns and even a chauffeur-driven Limo for some, was in sharp contrast to the drab Pelly Memorial Hall for 13 of equally starry-eyed potential “Movers and Shakers” who could only afford ill-fitting suits and the female class members showing off their best dress, purchased at Nadane’s in Kamsack, Saskatchewan, at a sale.

There was no parade, in Pelly, and my parents came in their best Sunday dress on a buckboard pulled by their faithful horses (my family was the only one who could not afford a car).

Lloyd Davidson (deceased) was a favorite candidate for Valedictorian, which was customary for a student with the top class marks. He allowed his A average to drop at Easter when he realized that he would need to make a speech at Grad. He was not even going to attend the Grad dinner because Tony Pryslak and him did not have a date and they heard that it was customary to have one.

Yes we took a group picture of Grads and parents as well as individual pictures of grad / escorts and grad / parents which we thought was a waste of time but now are treasures when they can be found.

I recall standing to recite a poem that I had written to myself “Give Me a Guiding Light” and then shared with my Principal Mr. Parks. He suggested that I read it as part of my remarks as Salutatorian (second class marks) custom.

“……..GIVE ME A GUIDING LIGHT
Who will give me a guiding light?
Who will show me the way?
Who will teach me to have sight?
So I do not go astray

I have come to the crossroads of time
One path I must take
I call on sense sublime
Mistakes, I must not make

Great men come and go
Their mistakes are easy to see
But it is not mine to know
The mistakes that may come from me

Give me power to go alone
To use my knowledge for gain
To make all intelligent thoughts come known
And let my plainest sense not wane

Give me men who are like me
So together we may go forth
Some day the guiding lights to be
To shine like the Star of the North

EW Verigin May ?, 1958, recited at the Grade 12 Graduation as a Salutatorian Speech (uncut)……”

My parents sat across from me at the banquet table. I noted that my Dad had tears in his eyes as it was unbelievable to him that one of his blood had achieved high school graduation. His educational journey was walking through a school for one day when he was obligated to plow the field before school convened in the morning and again in the evening. This became onerous for him and he opted to the “more important” function of family survival and stayed ungraduated.

Veregin High School had only a few grads and so my cousin Nora Trofemenkoff (now deceased) wrote me a letter asking if she could come to be my escort and enjoy a ceremony that she was unable to in Veregin. She arrived that afternoon on the STC bus, all decked out in her best dress. We made a “striking” couple and me in the white sports coat that I was able to purchase with my summer earnings from working, building houses, with my two brothers in British Columbia.

My friend Nick Strukoff was an undergrad and was able to get to use his Dad’s car so that we could drive around after the ceremonies. For whatever reason, I decided to buy two packages of wieners so we could roast them somewhere that evening to “celebrate”.

So later that evening the “special” party included my other friend Fred Konkin and his sister Sonia. We arrived at the Assiniboine River near the former site of Fort Pelly and built a campfire by the water’s edge. I need to note here that this group of friends did not imbibe in alcohol so it was soft drinks, roasted wieners and buns.

I managed to eat far too many wieners (I liked them very much). The story would likely result in grads drinking too much alcohol and “throwing up”. Well I did “throw up” but it was the wieners, which my body was not familiar with, for the same result.

Not that exciting in 1958 but still a story!

June 21, 2015 in my Office at 145 – 4200 Grandview Drive, Castlegar, B.C. 0820 hours