The Saskatchewan winter arrived
early the September of 1965. It was snowing for our fall kick off picnic. Since
boots and winter coats seem strange a picnic and it felt like we were going to
be in a very long and cold winter the event moved inside. Snow in October is
not unheard of, but for early September it was discouraging. Maybe it would
thaw out by graduation.
As usual the year was filled with
skits. Seniors imitated freshmen, freshmen imitated seniors and Marilyn Friesen
imitated Miss Shattuck. She was always dead on with her interpretation.
As usual, the social committee put
together a great year and kept up the tradition of cinnamon toast and hot
chocolate for Saturday nights. The fall party was a great event. There was a
faculty band at the Halloween carnival. Unfortunately Mrs. Rose struggled to
clang the cymbals in time with the music. Maybe it was intentional. It was very
funny. The barbershop quartet of Bob, Brian, Dave and Jim entertained.
This next event I blame on Doug, my
roommate from the first year. He would show up on campus from time to time and
this time I met him at the mailboxes. He had just changed his car license
plates and gave one to me. I didn’t want it and stuffed it in Laurel’s mailbox.
As far as I was concerned that was the end of the matter. The plate began to
make the rounds. It first reappeared in my bedroom pillowcase. I put it back in
Shirley’s room. It helps to be the night watchman. I found it in a winter coat
pocket. I packaged it and mailed it to the girls. This went on and on until on
my birthday it appeared baked in a cake. This continued to the end of the
school year when I cut it into three parts and disturbed it so each of the girls
would have a keepsake, I hoped.
Shirley was in our wedding party
and she placed her third in my honeymoon luggage. Doug was my best man and I
once again hold him totally responsible. It was a totally fun and harmless
running joke to see who could return it the most creatively. The girls won. The
cake and the luggage were the absolute best. I threw the last piece away. Too
bad, it would make a great photo.
There was a tradition regarding
the year-end banquet that the juniors put on for the seniors each year. The
entire event other than the date was to be completely hush-hush deal until the
night it happened. Juniors snuck around to pull off the banquet and seniors did
everything they could to find out everything.
Determining most of the planning
committee was the easy part. They all looked sneaky and guilty. The goal was
finding out where it would be held, the speaker, the program, the menu, the
decorations and any other details. We would discover what we could and present
the information to the juniors at the banquet. Garth and I made it our personal
goal to learn all we could. We became very adept at searching a room for
information with the resident present. We would position ourselves or either
side of the suspect and while one was talking the other went through whatever
files, books, paper, or drawers he could. There were times we had to go back
several times. We had decided that sneaking into a room when no one was there
was unfair. This had to be up front.
When we finally determined the
location the rest was also easy. We went to the host restaurant where I
volunteered to work in the kitchen area for the afternoon just so we could be
spies and get whatever we needed. That I did. That afternoon, I picked up
programs, napkins, samples of decorations, everything we needed. Just to be
safe, we gave the notebook to the chairperson of the banquet before we left for
the banquet.
Della instructed me to take her
former roommate to the banquet. I had a wonderful time with Shirley.
I you remember the names of any people I have missed or if I have the names wrong, please let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment