Balmoral Hall School - Optima Anni Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 8 text:

Q , K ,A ,f 2 . Dr. Harriet M. Perry Principal lt has been a good year at Balmoral Hall and the school has reason to be grateful for your leadership. The Student Council, as advised by you through its executive council, has developed a sure and steady control on every phase of school life. The athletic programme has flourished and the teams pressing hard, achieved success they have not realized for some years. The social events have been a pleasure to staff and students alike. It has been a revelation to observe how some girls have grown to meet the responsibilities of office while others have expanded their offices to newer, greater responsibility. The great changes have been in student welfare and have had to do with intra-mural disciplinary matters. These required everything staff and student point of view might give for deeper understanding. l feel that we all learned a great deal in those exchanges. Yours sincerely, H. IVI. Perry, lVI.D., Principal. 4

Page 7 text:

H1 Rosemary Gordon Condo Ballater 1959 -1966 True gentleness is love in society . . . lt is considerateness, it is tenderness oi' feeling, it is promptitude of sympathyg it is love in all its depths, and in all its delicacy. lt is everything included in that matchless grace, the gentleness of Christ. J. Hamilton ln these days of re-invigorated Women's Liberation, one would do well to remember that many of history's profound thinkers named gentleness as the most supremely desirable quality in a woman. This year, at the Balmoral Hall Closing Exercises, two new prizes were presented, both of them in memory of Rosemary Gordon Condo. As a student at this school only four years ago, Rosemary exhibited gentleness, to my mind, in the truest sense of the word along with its close companions, kindness and goodness. Naturally, for the Rosemary Gordon Condo Memorial Award to have any meaning, the recipient has to possess Rosemary's predominating characteristic, and the first winner Constance Winter is to be heartily congratulated. Throughout her senior years at Balmoral Hall, Rosemary was active in the Library and in her graduating year was treasurer on the Library Executive. During that time she demonstrated a quiet and consistently dependable kind of leadership which resulted in her receiving the highest honour Balmoral Hall bestows on any girl - she was made a prefect. As the first winner of the Rose- mary Gordon Condo Memorial Library Award, Dorothy Lechow deserves highest praise. Upon graduation, Rosemary pursued her varied interests, lately working at the University of Manitoba. Last November she was tragically killed in a car accident. Many of us who knew her railed bitterly at the senseless loss and the all-encompassing feeling of waste that a young life should be cut off in its prime. This was a very human reaction, but contemplation brought the realization that the deed had been done and the answer as to why rested only with God. What remained was profound grief, unbounded sympathy for her family and the determination that such a unique young woman be remembered. The Rosemary Gordon Condo Memorial Prizes undoubtedly will become among the most coveted Balmoral Hall offers. The girls who win them hopefully will be well aware of all they represent and of the responsibility attached to them. However, at the same time, the recipients should be honoured because such gentleness of spirit as Rosemary possessed is rare. Her graduating class recognized it and marked it as the quality most desirable in a real friend. The editors of Optima Anni respectfully dedicate the 1970 edition to Rosemary. Their only challenge in its production was to make it worthy of her. Janet Harrison Balmoral Hall 1965 3

Page 9 text:

QL? Mr. lan L. Jessiman Chairman of the Board of Governors TO THE GRADUATING CLASS Jane Harrison asked me to condense the remarks made by me at I the closing Evening Song on Sunday, June 7, 1970, so that the remarks could be printed on this page of the yearbook. It is a very great honour to be asked to do this, and, in condensing the remarks I have at- tempted to utilize those which I feel will be the most useful to each of you. I indicated that it was not an easy or certain future upon which you would embark, and that it was becoming more difficult to develop a rugged and individualistic character in the present day and age of the crowd mentality. The collective actions of the crowd has replaced the great value which is inherent in individual action and thought. There will be those who would expect you to readily accept that the directives of a system of law and order are designed to work for the betterment of society in general is authoritarian and must be ignored, not just ignored, but in fact broken down. I can only wonder and question in my mind, whether there is any more sense in being a member of the crowd which in confronting a group of policemen shouts obscenities and throws stones than there is in being a member of a platoon of soldiers which in obeying the orders of a senior officer fires upon unarmed women and children. It seems to me that each situation is equally abhorent and repugnant. Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe. There are many experiences to be had in life, some joyous, some sad, some difficult, some easy. Some good number of you may find yourself a person with which to share your future experiences. While this may tend to insulate you from the trials and the tribulations of the world, I can assure you that unless you have learned to be your own master and in control of your thoughts, in control of your own person, and in control of the means and thoughts by which you will govern your life on the road to its conclusion you will find that even such insulation may prove inef- fective in dealing with the problems which surround you. James Alan, in some well-directed words of inspiration, said A noble character is not a thing of favour or chance but the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long cherished association with noble thoughts. l urge each of you girls to spend some time each day in your future life in original thinking. Don't be so caught up in the hurly-burly of life that you cannot find a moment in the span of it for contemplation. The thinking process does not come naturally. Your mind must be continually used to expand. Thinking is an essential process in the attainment of happiness. Place a value on good health and give it priority over worldly or material possessions. lf you want good health, think good thoughts of health. Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food. If you really want to protect your body and your health guard your mind. I recommend to you the great blessing of hard work. The application of effort over an extended period of time is still one of the shortest routes to happiness and the sense of fulfillment which comes from a full life. Go out and make your opportunities, don't wait for them to be handed to you on a platter. This will just never happen! Luck just doesn't exist. Situations which appear thus have usually been carefully manufactured. Have belief in yourself. In concluding my remarks on this page, I leave you with this main expression of belief. Peace of mind is the greatest of all achievements. You cannot arrive at the end of your life with this quality and char- acteristic unless you have been possessed of and employed throughout your life the highest standard of moral and ethical behaviour. It is a realization which many leave until too late. For that reason, of all the things it is this quality - peace of mind - which you should most actively pursue as a goal in your life. Best wishes to each and every one of you for continued good health and much happiness. U 5