2011 Events

Friday, June 17 - Hull High School visit, now called Pierre Elliott Trudeau School, organized by Rick Kohler

Friday, June 17 - Finger Food Buffet at Colonel R.J. Hughes’ residence(R.J. opened his home to those not playing golf to socialize and for a possible river cruise)

Saturday afternoon, June 18 - Golf at Larrimac Golf Club, 9 Holes, Best Ball.

Saturday Evening, June 18 - Larrimac Golf Club - Master of Ceremonies, Rick Kohler - Entertainment, June Carnahan Brace
Hull High Quiz, Remembering Hull High Teachers, Basketball Teams, etc. - Music: Ed Van Zant (50s & 60s Rock & Roll)

Summary by Rick Kohler

Buddy Holly, the Platters, Brenda Lee and Elvis must have felt their ears burning during the weekend of June 17 to 19, 2011! The halls of old Hull High rang with the familiar tread of alumnae from far and wide, back for a fresh look at an old friend they hadn’t seen in 50 years.

The graduating class of 1961 was joined by friends who’d both preceded and followed them at the Protestant High School of Hull, 2 Millar Street, in what is now known as Gatineau, to celebrate fond memories of a great school experience during last century’s fifties and sixties.

Events straddled a Friday through Saturday for as many as sixty folks who attended the Saturday night Gala Dinner at the Larrimac Golf Club. Directed by Chairman Col. R J Hughes, an organizing committee consisting of Bob Delaney, Barbara French-Bowman, Ann French-Ward, Micki Kaminska-Fraser, June Carnahan-Brace, Rick Kohler, Monica Shouldice-McDonald, Sharon McGarry and Ed van Zant worked with former classmates (including Frans van der Greft and Philippe Roy) to pull together a program befitting such a Homecoming.

With the generous cooperation of the school’s current principal, David McFall, returning alumnae gathered at their old school which is now an elementary facility called the Pierre Elliott Trudeau School, around 4 pm on Friday, June 17; the school’s students had prepared a huge sixty-foot banner welcoming old timers and the name-tag table was festooned with lemonade and snacks.

Col RJ made welcome remarks in the gym and attendees also got a chance to hear words of greeting from Principal McFall. The next three quarters of an hour was spent leisurely wandering through the school’s various nooks and crannies from the gym’s changing rooms to the cafeteria and kitchen, to the library and class rooms on both floors. Physically, there has been little change – the educational facility is still a great property in a lovely location.

Participants then headed up the Gatineau to gather for a welcome reception hosted by Chairman Col. RJ (Bob) Hughes. Bob threw open his home for the entire weekend so that it could act as a central base for the many eager reunion goers to stop off for a drink, a snack, an after golf shower and a chat.

Bob’s home remained open for the remainder of the weekend as ‘action central’ and provided a handy meeting-point for all. Some could take advantage of Bob’s scenic Gatineau River Cruise, others, a drink, and some a quick nap in garden lounge chairs. At 11:30 am on the Saturday, a number teed off at the Larrimac Golf Club, just a couple of kilomteres down the road from Bob’s, for a round of golf on a beautiful sun shiny day. Non-golfers were provided with a long list of tourist attractions in the region – Viv Charron-Behnke took immediate opportunity to stop off at the nearby Lac Leamy Casino, coming back at the end of the day with joyous winnings.

Around 6 pm, sixty Hull Protestant High School alumnae gathered at the Larricmac Golf Club for the gala dinner – a choice of drinks and pre-dinner snacks followed by main courses of BBQ’d steak, ribs or chicken.

Rick Kohler, acting as MC, welcomed the gathering, noted the combined effort of all, especially the organizing committee and commenced the evening with a moment of silence followed by the lighting of a candle to mark the passing of many beloved classmates and friends.

Ann French-Ward said Grace and dinner was served. Following dinner, June Carnahan-Brace had the room in stitches as she ran participants through the HHS Memory Quiz. Each table competed; a perfect score would have been 15 and the two winning tables had scores of 11 and 9 respectively. The quiz questions and answers are provided, following this article.

Former teacher, Mrs. E. Burden accompanied by son Jack joined the gathering; Mrs. Burden was in fine form and received a memento corsage to mark the gang’s affection. Mrs. Ruth Bate would have been with us as well except that a mild stroke kept her at home recuperating. A get-well card for Ruth was circulated to all.

Two works of art became the centre of attention in the post-dinner program; the first was a beautiful water-colour by our own Barbara French-Bowman depicting HHS memorabilia and motifs of the epoch (bobby-socks, poodle-decorated flaring skirts etc. and dice reading ’61); and the second, a lovely oil painting by Audrey Brown-Delaney. Barbara’s drawing was limited to the graduating class of ’61 and Vivian Charron-Behnke the happy winner. The draw was then thrown open to all and Audrey’s oil was scooped up by a happy Doug Fish.

Former students were invited to share reminiscences at the microphone and a number took advantage to poke gentle fun at former teachers and fellow former students. These included June Carnahan-Brace, Vivian Charron-Behnke, Mark Owens, Sandy Lawrence, Ann French-Ward and Monica Shouldice-McDonald.

When the time came for dancing, a special tribute dance was set aside and led by Dale and Hilary (Radmore) Faris who were marking their 45th wedding anniversary to the tune of the Platters’ ‘Only You’.

Ed van Zant did a superb job of providing an excellent sound system both for the MC-ing work but also dancing and he disc-jockeyed a whole evening of Fifties hits to soothe the most sentimental hearts.

Bob and Mimi took many dancers through their paces as sessions of line dancing unfolded. Gradually, the Gala Dinner Dance wound down and folks filtered to their places of rest for another day …

… which commenced the following Sunday morning at around 11:30 am when 30 or so hardy souls convened at the Tea Room at Mackenzie King Estates for brunch. Hugs, kisses and commitments to get together again soon put the finishing touches on a fifty year reunion that was well appreciated by just about everyone that participated.

Bob Delaney and Col RJ did a post-reunion recap of expenses and the modest profit went to web master Micki Kaminska-Fraser who will use it to manage the HHS web site into the future.

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HHS Reunion Quiz - Can you remember?

  • The HHS motto? Knowledge is strength
  • The name of a famous canadian sports figure born in 1961? Wayne Gretzky (might also be Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Brian Orser or Ben Johnson)
  • How many students are in the 1961 graduation photo on the HHS reunion website? 23
  • If any of those students could afford a car, how much would they have paid on average for a gallon of gas +/- 2 cents? 27 cents a gallon
  • When the basketball teams had a mascot, what was the mascot and what was the mascot’s name? Boxer named Jazz
  • In 1964, the Beatles’ first North American appearance was on the Ed Sullivan show. can you remember 2 of the 5 songs they sang? All my lovin, Til there was you, She loves you, I saw her standing there, I want to hold your hand.
  • The name of the restaurant that students used to go to after the dances? What dish did they mostly order? The restaurant was Kouri’s and the dish was fries & gravy (poutine).
  • The biggest news story of 1963? JFK assassination.
  • The names of the 1961 head boy and head girl? Barry Bryant and Ray Hetherington
  • One of the top 5 films of 1962? West side story, Spartacus, El Cid, Lawrence of Arabia, To kill a mockingbird