It was an unusual start to the day. When the phone rang I was getting ready for work and had one leg in my pants. The voice of the other end of the line said... "hi Vaughan, this is Muriel Hawken from Hoosier". I toppled over in surprise and wedged myself between the bureau and the bed, struggling not to let on to the caller what had happened.
Anyway, it was about the reunion, and I said I couldn't attend because of work commitments that I have here in Nanaimo.
Muriel suggested I write a letter, and that's what I'm doing.
My first question to Muriel was whether my good buddy Mike Steiert is going to be at the reunion - she said he would be. To Mike and his family go my best wishes. I guess you that you could say in our school days Mike and I were the "long and the short of it".
Our family was especially lucky. We sort of had dual citizenship, because we started off life in Alsask and then moved to Marengo. This meant we had good friends in both towns, not just one. Some of my good friends from Alsask were, of course Mike, but also: Gloria Langille, Linda Decker, Kenny Dow, and Torchy Shantz. In Marengo there was Jay Sullivan, Terry Cook, Patsy Cook, the Lambden/Waltz/Schlosser boys.
Going to school in Westcliffe was great: we had some wonderful teachers (my favorite was Mrs. Lowe - chemistry/algebra), great sports teams, and a good shop program. Yes, I stumbled a bit trying to learn french (poor Miss Baines, Mrs. Milne), but in the end I learned enough to graduate and go into university. In those days having French was a prerequisite to getting into university. I think I got 51 in grade twelve french!
I see where Robert Morse [it was Paul Eberman who posted that - ed.] remembers the play where Phil Stephenson sent Frank Kaminski back into the his own end zone to score a touchback, to maintain possession and win the football game. Dad says this was a playoff game against Rosetown. To this day my dad refers to this as "The Play". Not everything in sport went well. One time Dad loaded up half the team into the '56 Dodge and took off for Eatonia . They hit a partly submerged rock and stripped the oil pan off.
There were some great athletes then , like Art Evanson, Richard Sautner and many others : It was hard to imagine how we'd ever lose. On the football team I remember Donald Dorsey as the center : he could hike a prefect spiral...something few other amatures can do.
Anyway, like so many others I had to move away to make a living, and even emigrate to another Province to find a home.In my case I've lived in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island for about 25 years, and it sure has been good to me. Right now the soft wood lumber dispute is giving us a bit of a beating in the economy ...sort of a westcoast version of a drought. My legal firm is Allin Anderson Mont and Walker - we have a website at : http://www.island.net/~law/
My oldest daughter Amber is a senior systems analyst ( whatever that is ) in San Diego . She works for Qualcomm.
My youngst daughter Jayne lives in Vancouver and has a business teaching ESL.
There are some other stubble jumpers from Westcliffe out here: one of the Wildeman girls ( not sure which one ) with Depart Health, Joe Allen who has a brewing company, and Lawrence Elliott , who is a realtor / sheepfarmer.
For Donna Thompson's Alsask bookclub I offer the following suggestions for " books for boys" : Wallace Stegner - Wolf Willow; Irene Spry - Palliser Expedition ; RD Symons- Many Patrols , & Where the Wagon Led; David Carpenter - Courting Saskatchewan; M.Campbell- The Saskatchewan (river).
To anyone who reads this I welcome emails in return . At home my address is < allin@island.net > and at work I am < cvallin@ inland.net >.
May this find everyone in good health, with some mud on their boots !
Vaughan Allin Nanaimo BC
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