| May 29, 2013


As former Sharbot Lake High School teacher Gary Giller put it, there were two major drivers behind what turned out to be a highly emotional and satisfying send- off for Sharbot Lake High School last Saturday.

The first was Craig Bakay, who asked Giller about a year ago whether he had given any thought to bringing back some of the musicians who have graced the cafetorium stage at the school over the years.

“I hadn’t though about that, but we started working on it right away,” said Giller during his remarks at the opening ceremonies of The Last Waltz. “Sharon MacDonald, long-time office manager at the school, said that this is the 65th anniversary of the school, so we thought we would put it all together to make it a fitting farewell for the school. A great committee came together, and here we are.”

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Photo: musician Shawn McCullough, former studen at SLHS performs at the Last Waltz, marking both the 65 anniversary and the closing of the school at the end of June.

To mark the continuity and variety of musicians that were a feature of the day, HD Supply, the rock band that was fostered through the School of Rock at Hinchinbrooke Public School and is now based at the high school, played a set before the opening ceremonies, and just after the ceremonies the Strat Cats (Centre Stage Band) a band that features Giller, former SLHS student and faculty member Jim MacPherson, former SLHS student and current teacher at Land o'Lakes Public School, Terry Reynolds, and relative newcomer to the area, Dave Limber, played a set.

That set the tone for the day, as act after act with a variety of connections to the community and the school took the stage in front of an appreciative audience.

The opening ceremonies, so often something to be endured at events like this, were an exception to that rule. In a fitting turn, Paddy O’Connor, in his Town Crier role, made reference to all of the plays that have been staged there by students and the North Frontenac Little Theatre, some of which O’Connor himself has participated in as an actor and set designer/builder.

He also read out a short verse by Jim MacPherson:

“A famous bard once said, ‘All the World is a stage’

Alas I stand before you on this stage in its final stage.

Indeed the Board of Education has determined that this stage is an 'aged' stage.

We all go through changes in our lives. And in the 65th year of its life, the final curtain falls on this great stage. Singers, dancers, actors, musicians, performers of all type have graced this stage.

Now a new stage will rise to the north which will surely become the rage.

But, for today, to many a fine performance and song sung on this stage, we pay homage,

On this fair day, let us dance 'The Last Waltz'”.

School Principal Heather Hyatt, Board Trustee Ann Goodfellow, and School Council Chair Cheryl Allen all spoke briefly, and Brenda Hunter, the Director of Education with the Limestone Board spoke for a longer time. Aside from bringing greetings from the board and talking about its commitment to students in what the board calls “the north” Hunter shared some anecdotes based on conversations with her husband, Jack Fox, a former supervisor with the board and an alumni of SLHS.

As Brenda Hunter recounted, when Jack Fox attended SLHS in the 1950s, students were required to join the army cadets, which involved a lot of marching and standing at attention. For the boys it also meant that any boy who did not have one already was given a .22 caliber rifle and ammunition, and target practice took place at the rear of the school.

“We don’t know if the girls were given rifles as well,” Hunter said, “but I know that if we did something like that today, we would certainly hear about it - if not about the rifles, certainly about the fact that only the boys were given them."

A number of people who were students in the first year of the school were in attendance, but the keynote address was delivered by Eric Wagar, who started at the school in its second year. He went on to a teaching and administrative career with the school board as well.

Wagar said he was touched when Gary Giller called him, expecting that Giller would ask him to dance the last waltz with his wife Muriel, who is also an SLHS graduate.

“But then he asked me to give a talk instead,” said Wagar.

He went on to talk about the early days of the school, and some of the characters and the antics that the students got up to, not mentioning if they ever got caught or punished.

He concluded by quoting from the final public statement ever made by Jack Layton, in reference to the future of the new school and the surrounding community.

“Whether you agreed with Jack Layton’s politics or not, there was something true about his final words: ‘My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.’”

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