Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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Head Mistress ' Letter Dear Elmwood, This year we have many goodbyes and many thank-you ' s to say to loyal and faithful friends who have done so much for Elmwood. When Mrs. H. S. Southam died last Hallowe ' en we lost our foundress and very generous benefactor. Some of you knew her personally and with me will always remember the loving interest that she took in the school. Mrs. Southam appointed Mrs. Buck as the first headmistress of Elmwood and it was my good fortune to meet Mrs. Buck last summer in Eng- land and to bring back warm wishes from her to you all. She shares now with us our sorrow in losing Mrs. Southam. Suddenly in May, Mrs. Eleanore Archambault died. She was President of our Mothers ' Guild this year and mother of Jane. We shall miss, more than I can express, her loyal interest in and devotion to the school. Jane and her father have our deep sym- pathy. Last November Mrs. McDermott cooked her last meal for us and retired, aged 81. She had been at Elmwood for 31 years, faithfully feeding boarders and day-girls, term after term. When I once said to her: Oh, you must love Elmwood to have stayed so long! She replied that the school was her life and joy. Her heart was in it to the last spoonful of soup. We must thank God in this age of restlessness and short-term loyalties for such faithful service. Now this June we must say good bye to Mrs. Stephen, our Senior Mistress, who is retiring after 23 years at Elmwood. I wonder how many girls have taken out into the world her love of Shakespeare and her sympathetic understanding of human nature, which she has indeed learned from the master? Mrs. Stephen ' s retirement is a loss to us which we cannot express or measure and her pupils are now all over the world; many of them are mothers, teaching their children to love English literature because she first stimulated their interest and opened up windows overlooking views of breathless beauty. We can only say Thank you and God bless you and Please come back often to see us, Mrs. Stephen . Mrs. Laidler leaves us also this June. She is going with her husband and family to England for a year but we are hoping to see her back again after that, so will only say; Bon Voyage and wish her a wonder- full year ' s rest in an old-world house with the latest modern conveniences somewhere in Sussex. Mrs. Laidler has taught our Juniors for ten years and many of you know her beloved personality and in- spiring teaching. We part this year also with our boarding-school, which has been a home to so many girls from all over Canada as well as from many countries abroad. Their bedrooms will be classrooms and after school hours the old house will be very still. Fortunately, many present boarders are coming back to us as day girls next year, so we shall not feel the break as decisively as we might. The old order changeth giving place to new . We shall go forward with our growing enrol- ment, our fine academic achievement, our smart uni- form and our high ideals. We know that we can never show enough gratitude for the best of the past that has shaped us, but inspired by old friends we must turn, Janus-like, to the future to show all those who have given us so much that we will not let them down, not even in all the confusion of our present age. Hanging on a wall in 6 Matric are some words quoted by good King George VI in one of his last Christmas speeches to the British people during the Second World War. The author was a comparatively unknown woman who became famous overnight as a result of the royal broadcast. Shall we share her message with all our friends who have to leave us and also let it inspire our next step forward? I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: give me a light that I may tread safely in- to the unknown. And he replied: Go out into the darkness and put thine hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to thee better than light and safer than a known way. M. Louise Haskins. Your affectionate friend and headmistress, 7

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6 Fiona MacDonald, Fleur Wallis, Mrs. Stephen, Susan Burgess, Delphi George, Margot Rothwell, Mrs. Blyth, Janice Pratley, Helen Stlntson, Maria Conde, Cathy Fireston, Mary McKay-Smith.

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STAFF Back row, left: Mile Garreau, iMiss Hudson, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Van Dine, Mrs. Routliffe, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Aldous, Mrs. Harwood-Jones, Mrs. Harkness, Mrs. KoUer, Mrs. Earle; Front row, left; Mrs. Vennor-Morris, Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Miles, Mrs. MacMillan, Mrs. Stephen, Mrs. Blyth, Mrs. Laidler, Miss Driscoll, Mrs. Whitwill, Mrs. Ross; Absent: Mrs. Annau, Mrs. Tanczyk. Karen Gillies 8