Lowe High School - Towers Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

Page 48 text:

25th Anniversary Edition THE TOWERS Page Forty-Five Re-union os Seen by Two Students MARY BENUIK, C4A and LILY PALI WODA, C4B We stood in a portentious crowd of pushing, excited humanity. Innunfberable greetings were being thrown about us. “Why, Joe - - Welt, I ' ll be darned - - stand back, give me plenty of room - - it can’t be - - Oh! No! - - For goodness sake - - have you changed! - - Skinny - - Mike, what happened to all that curly hair? - - anyway hair you used to have - Hi, Baldy - - Beans! —.” These and many other expressions fell upon our ears as people joyfully clasped hands and slapped each other on the backs. Yes, old friendships were being renewed and old memories were being revived by over 1,500 people who filled the school to capacity at the 25th Anniversary Re-union of one-time W. D. Lowe Vocational School students. Time may have altered their appearance but not those nostalgic recollections of school lays. As these former students passed us, we stop¬ ped a few to find out what their answers would he to the time old question, “Are you glad you have an education?” The answers ran on the same theme. “It was a great thing”. These are some of the replies we received, ’‘Swell, - - Great! - - Try and get all that you can. - - Great thing if you can make it. - - Can’t get along without it.” These people knew what they were talking about because they all were successes in their own field. We hurried through the crowd to the audi torium. Things had started and we slipped in quietly. Mr. McManus was cracking jokes galore. Prizes were given for every conceivable reason - - to the man who had the most chil¬ dren, latest married couple, to the grad with the oldest child, etc. A head of lettuce accompanied each prize and was cherished by the receivers. We left the happy, roaring crowd and got a head start to tlie gym. Here, under the leader¬ ship of Mr. Newman, the gym team put on a gTand show. Their hair-raising feats were really something to see, and the grads enjoyed them¬ selves immensely. Around eleven o’clock, a dash was made by yours truly to the cafeteria, and a detour made at the gym where refreshments were being served by the present students of the school. We stood at the door watching the crow r d say farewells and start for home. The happy, tired looks on their faces told us that the 25th Anniversary Re-union had been a great success. Thanks are due the grads, taff and students, and many others who took part in the celebra¬ tion. RE UNION COMMITTEE MR. P. L. McMANUS, MISS GARNETTE MAGEE. MR. TOM TOBIN. MRS. WINNIE LONG JACKSON. MR. ERNIE .MILNE

Page 47 text:

Page Forty-Four THE TOWERS 25th Anniversary Edition W. D. Lowe Vocational School ' s SILVER JUBILEE By NEIL F. MORRISON, Ph.D. W. D. Lowe Vocational School in Windsor is celebrating its Silver Jubilee by various spe¬ cial events during the present school year. It seems fitting, therefore, at this time to look b ack through a quarter of a century to the open ing of this fine school, and, indeed, beyond that to the origins of vocational education in Canada. About the time of Confederation, the Hon. Mr. Carling stated in his report: “Something more is required to give our education a decided¬ ly practical character, especially in reference to the agricultural and mechanical classes of the community”. Not long afterwards, in 1870, Dr. Egerton Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Edu¬ cation for Ontario, offically approved commer¬ cial instruction in the following words: “Both in the High and Public School Law provision has been made for giving pupils instruction in subjects relating to Commercial Education”. By the first decade of the 20th century it was recognized that an extention of vocational edu¬ cation in Ontario secondary schools was needed, at which time domestic science and manual training were added to the curriculum. In 1910, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire into industrial conditions in Canada and to in¬ vestigate educational methods in various coun¬ tries with a view to suggesting means of adapt¬ ing vocational training to Canadian schools. About that time, the City of Hamilton opened the first building in Ontario offering anything like reasonable accommodation for vocational education of a secondary school nature. The Industrial Education Act (1911) and Technical Education Act of Canada (1919) paved the way for large scale developments. Windsor, in 1913, started a successful pro¬ gram of vocational evening classes. The year 1917 marked the opening of a new wing to the Windsor (now the Hon. J. C. Patterson) Col¬ legiate Institute, offering an industrial course for boys and household arts for girls. Two years later (1919) evening vocational classes opened in Walkerville with a large enrollment. All this, however, proved inadequate, and, fol¬ lowing a survey of the Border area and the pas¬ sage of necessary legislation, the actual pro¬ ject got under way. The school was designed by D. J. Cameron, Windsor architect and com¬ pleted by the firm, later formed, of D. J. Cam¬ eron and W. Ralston. The contract for con¬ struction of the building was signed on Decem¬ ber 10, 1921, and building operations commenced shortly thereafter. The location chosen was the north side of Giles Boulevard between Parent and Elsmere Avenues, at the geographical centre of the Windsor-Walkerville area of that time. There, on what had once been farm land fronting on a water course, known as the coulee, the haunt of skaters of other days, a great modern edu¬ cational institution rapidly took form. But the construction of the new building was not rapid enough, for a large enrollment during the school year of 1922-23 in anticipation of the new school necessitated the utilization for com¬ mercial classes of the top floor of the newly opened Walkerville Collegiate Institute. On Thursday, August 30, 1923, the Windsor- Walkerville Technical School was officially opened. In the presence of a large assembly, the huge Union Jack, which was donated by the Border Cities Association of Home and School Clubs, was raised aloft by the late Mrs. Whor- low Bull. The Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, His Honour, the Late Colonel Harry Cockshutt, then unlocked the doors of the new school with a golden key, after which adjournment to the school dining room took place for an official luncheon scheduled for 12:30 p.m. In the after¬ noon the school was open for public inspection. An evening program of speeches and music marked its formal opening and dedication. The prayer of dedication was by the Rev. (now Dr.) H. M. Paulin, pastor of St. Andrew ' s Presby terian Church, Windsor. One of the speakers was the late F. P. Gavin, B.A., Director of Tech¬ nical Education for Ontario, formerly principal of the Windsor Collegiate Institute, and the man chiefly responsible for the building of the school. A dance in the gymnasium concluded the day ' s festivities. The following week regu¬ lar instruction in the institution began. The first principal, W. D. Lowe, M.A., after whom the school was renamed in 1947, 25 teach¬ ers and the school nurse, Mrs. C. Campeau, R.N., comprised the staff of the institution in its first year. Of these, eleven still teach here, five are deceased, while the remainder have either retired or are teaching elsewhere. The present teaching staff numbers 58. The school building in which they serve was greatly en¬ larged in 1931. Twenty-five years represent a long time in the life of a person, but for a great educational institution they are only a beginning. For the W. D. Lowe Vocational School, this first quar¬ ter century has been a glorious beginning. The purpose of this school is to render even greater service in the years that lie ahead.

Page 49 text:

Page Forty-Six THE TOWERS 25th Anniversary Edition OUR PARENTS ATTENDED HERE TOO Front Rotv — T4C, Fred Taylor—Mary Robedeau Tavlor; C3C, Lenore Longeuay—Anne Sutherland Longeuay; ClA, Shirley Allan Edna Keyes Allan; ClB. Joan Fraser—Charlotte Fraser Richards; C1B, Donna Giles— Arnold Giles; C1D, Shirley Plant—Kathleen McCourt Plant; ClC, Eleanor Beaton—Geo. Abbt. Beaton; C4B, June Ringrose—Marion Griffin Ringrose; CIA. Bernice Belcoure Theresa Pollard Be Icon re; ClC, Joan Beaton—Geo. Abbt. Beaton; C4B, Marion Pheby—Esther Cole Pheby; TlF, Bob Horne— Elmer Horne. Back Row — TlD, Allan Goslin— X illis Goslin; TlD. Dick Hawkins— K’m. J. Hawkins; C2D, Don Steel—Luella Jewell Steel; TlD. Richard Giles—Arnold Giles; TlD, Donald Higgins—Madeline Hams Higgins; TIB, Ron Bendick—Mary Hutnik Bendick; TIH, Dick Wass—Marian Crouchman Wass; T3B, Gord Branton —Ken Branton—Evelyn Poupard Branton; T2F, Robt. McKee—Roy E. McKee; TIE. Gerald La Pierre— Elizabeth Remington La Pierre; T2C. Harold O’Connor—Joseph O’Conno . Absent — TIC, Doug Marsh—Clarence Marsh; TlC. Bob Brown—Geo. Brown; C2C, Dorothy Blackton—John Biackton and Lucille Gignac Blackton; T4D, Bill Core—Marian Mfcston Core; C.Sp., Corrine Burton— Core Sanders Burton; ClE, Dorothy Vott—Gladys Andrews Vott; ClE. Lois W«$s—Marian Crouchman Vi ' ass; T2B, Don Boisvert—Irene Johnston Boisvert; CIA, Margaret Belcoure—Theresa Pollard Belcoure; T E Harold Robinson—Edna Libby Robinson; T3D, Ray Stone—Margaret .Mathesa Stone. ▼ T FORMER GRADS MRS. PATSY COX MCCARTHY. MRS. BERYL MUNROE DAWSON, MRS. KATHLEEN SLOWGROVE COLE. MRS. KATHLEEN HOOLE FAIRHURST, MISS MURIEL CHISHOLM, MRS. PHYLLIS BARTON WOLFE