Oakwood Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (Toronto Ontario, Canada)

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GRADS 13

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VALEDICTORY Mr. Hobbs, honoured guests, parents and friends, teachers, and fellow-graduates. Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. Workmen erecting a building spend many months labouring under the surface, digging, measuring, pouring cement, checking plans; then, suddenly, the building itself springs up. Yet it is the careful preparation of the found- ation which is the important thing, without which the building cannot stand. The steps which at first seem to produce little visible results are the most necessary ones. In the same way, Oakwood has given us the foundation upon which we can build our future edifice. A gardener spends many weeks doing back-breaking work without any tangible results, digging, planting, sow- ing, watering; then suddenly in the spring, beautiful flowers burst into bloom. Oakwood too has make us work hard, often seemingly without result, until suddenly we find our flowers of achievement being recognized tonight. Thus in education too the foundation is the important thing. What we may build on it, what we make our trip into life is up to us. Knowledge advances by steps, and not by leaps. We have climbed the steps to the knowledge that Oak- wood has offered us: sometimes lightly, sometimes agoniz- ingly, and although this evening may seem like a leap, we must not forget that it was the little steps which have brought us here. Thank you, Oakwood, for the work you have put into preparing those steps for us. You have molded us, in the most influential years of our lives, into individuals with an ability to live in our complex society. You have pro- vided us with many opportunities to become individual: by intellectual, physical and cultural teaching, as well as by the example of your own staff. The moving speeches of three great men of Oakwood history, who retired last spring, have not failed to make a deep impression on us. On parting from you, we are not the Tim of Benjamin Franklin ' s wise words: Tim was so clever that he could name a horse in nine languages; so stupid that he bought a cow to ride on . . . for you have presented us with many different problems and their solutions: problems which we will encounter in our future lives and which you have made easy for us to tackle successfully. Our first frightened step into Oakwood ' s life was one of confusion: the vastness of these halls! there were so many things to remember! The number of our rooms, the number of our lockers, the number of our combination lock as well as that of our friends, the shortest way down to the Chelsea buns. As the fog gradually cleared, we became aware of a gaunt figure haunting the halls, whose very shrugging shoulders instilled fear in our hearts, but who ruled the Oakwood tribe with wisdom and insight. We climbed the second step somewhat more confidently. As the work became ever more demanding and the extra- curricular program ever more interesting, we were soon caught up in the harrowing experience of trying to decide which clubs and activities we could join and still leave a few minutes in the morning to copy someone else ' s homework. 12 Upon reaching the third step, grade 11, our self-confi- dence and sense of responsibility increased, for we were now in the senior school and could ourselves make quips about the grade nines getting smaller every year. We watched fascinatedly as little white pith-balls swayed back and forth and became very adept at forging signatures on the attendance pad. In our fourth year we were made acutely aware of problems of more serious nature: those of racial and religious prejudices Through these history projects we gained a new insight into the necessity for close co-opera- tion with all our fellow-man. I think we should thank Oakwood especially for initiating this program of tolerance on a small scale, for it brought us to an awareness which is ever more necessary in our present world and the world of the future, when we shall be its adult citizens. But perhaps it is our last step towards our goal at Oakwood which is stamped most vividly in our memories: the teachers ' frequent morbid warnings about the mon- ster , the June exams, the folk-song spirit invading Oak- wood, the sad feeling that everything we did was for the last time — we hoped — , the last day of school and the teachers ' rendition of Hail to Bill Tovell , the harrowing two weeks before gaping jaws swallowed us up, the still more harrowing weeks before the results came out, and the final sigh of relief which cleared the path ahead. There are some questions, though, which Oakwood never did answer for us. We never could figure out where Santa MacDonald got all his jokes from, why Skipper Hill always said Take out a piece of paper when he really meant pieces, or why the boys always had such interesting health classes while we had to suffer through the facts of life. One thing we did learn, though, was how Mr. Tovell begot those famed curtains on either side of me. But if Oakwood has left its stamp on us, we have left ours on Oakwood, too. We have stepped up the path of Oakwood ' s tradition to maintain and surpass it. In our athletics, we have a long string of cups and distinctions to prove Oakwood ' s outstanding qualities in this field. Our music department has grown to incorporate the many bud- ding musicians, and has provided us with memorable music nights. Our drama groups have brought Oakwood into the limelight of competitions. We have contributed with our pennies to many charities and with our enthusiasm to Christmas projects and book drives. Our scholastic record has been well sustained, as was evidenced tonight. So, dear fellow-graduates, as we are leaving here to- night we say a hearty thank you to Oakwood for the preparation to life it has given us during these past five or more years. Let us build on that foundation and be a credit to Oakwood. In whatever field of learning we are now, whether we are continuing a foiTnal education or not, our process of learning should never cease. Let us, there- fore, resolve to climb higher, by steps: to make the big leaps possible. On your behalf, may I now say thank you to Oakwood, and Au Revoir . Ursula Lummis

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ROBERT L, ABREY Observer, Welfare Com- mittee, Oracle, Caput, Fer- otious Gang . . . ' Vote Sydney for Planned Pro- gress ' Election Organiza- tion . . . T. O. I. C. . . . ' Nobby Wirkovtfski ' Fan Club , . . ' Argos will roar m ' 64 ' . . . Hi, Prez! Are you really for a team f West? . . . Liberte, Equal ite, Frafernite and S. P Q. R. at U. of T. . . ' Argos v ' ill come alive ir ' 65 ' . . . Le Premier Min istre de I ' Etat du Quebec ng DAVE ACHESON A little bit of every- thing, but not mucfi of anything . . . First in line at the Scott Mission and I would get a dirty plate . . . Teacher, or a water-skiing scholarship at the University of Florida. lYNDA ACKROYD A fruitful past in the junior and senior orches- tra, band. Girls ' club and Oracle . . . waft it in Lynda . . . c.f. Lear . . . intends to go the way of most I3F students into Medicine at York {what a RICK ANGEISON Choir, poor English thing, the little kid. Who cares? . . . English marks style marks, Karl Marx . People who can ' t pro little kid dodging the board, finding a univ that will accept me san; anglais , Soc. and Phil at U. of T. . . . the samt little kid. BOB ANTONYSHYN H22 - O.R.D.E. - Bob Bolton . . . Losing many types of contests in sports Red Tape . . . cen- sors . . Future - Bas- ketball . . I hope to travel across Canada with d friend and hit all the high spots in 1967, Can- hltle of ything. ANDREW ARMSTRONG Trying t o understand both Sutton and Kamin at ing the anti-brown league . . . studying for trig and getting low marks . . Future: competing with Lenkinski for last place in Meds. JOE BARTELS ,Gym team. Cadets. Push- ball, attempting to go to sleep in Miss Dunlop ' s English classes (sine for- tune), girls . . . Girls are like streetcars - if you miss one there is al- ways another around the corner . . . R.M.C. at Kingsto n or Geography at U. of T. and wine women ALLAN BAYLEY Track and field, football, intramural basketball champs . . . calling David Bowers fatty femmes Hip- polyfe and Luzina . in the future - U. of T. WANDA BEATTIE An import from London, Ontario, who has been active in Volleyball, Sen- ior Choir and Girl ' s Club activities and also plays . . . Known for misquot- ing such phrases as a bird in the hand gathers no moss , Je suis sourd . . . Gathering moss at the University of Western Ontario. RICHARD BERTRAM Intramural basketball and hockey . . . trying to con- vince Mr. Wright that I ' m not late . . . Ryerson, in a few years. DOUG BING Choir, N.C.O. ir Cadet Corps . . . lunch in grade 13! Ryerson or Teacher ' ; ilk ROBERT BOHNEN Football, Choir, Can Club and Maskers, s ping swim classes annoying the teachers . , - (the lessful tycoo al playboy. DAVID BOWERS Due to circumstances be- yond recollection, the past has been censored . . . certain people who think that my uncle plays hoc- key .. . in the future- York, U. of T. (O.C.I.) SANDRA BOZZATO Archery, Interform Vo leyball, Interform Baske ball in small doses, ri hard-boiled eggs BILL BRIGGS Jr. and Sr. Orchestras and vain struggles in Al gebra. Geometry, French Latin, Physics and Chem istry, to name only a few . . . He who baths firs baths fast. out the sh. . . . Founding the Society for Retarded Geniuses, ex- panding and refining the fund of human knowledge at a seat of higher learn- ing, or — anywhere. 14