Um Mister-Graham- great teacher, actually. I- I thought he was a great teacher, but he was ah pretty tough. Grade-nine and not so in grade-thirteen. He figured, "If you hadn't got it by now, you- (inc) nothing I can do for you."

Speaker: No, no we didn't have to do that, nope. Um, I was sort of right on the cusp too when they were changing things, so I did five years- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Like I did- I did the years five through grade thirteen. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Um, although they were calling them- I think they starting to call them year five at that point-

And my uncle, on the other hand, he was a real smart fellow, he was finished high-school when he was fifteen. Grade-thirteen. But he was too young to go to college, or university, they wouldn't take him. So he ended up in the S-A office at Teck-Hughes.

Speaker: My first time I ever drank was ah- yeah I'm sure there were kids who did drink but growing up I was ah- Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Was when I got my grade-thirteen results. Interviewer: Really. Speaker: I had six beer. Interviewer: Do you remember? Speaker: I remember I was working for the Department-of-Mines.

Speaker: ... they didn't want me to Junior-A but they offered to ah- for me- ah I could play in same (inc) as Junior-B. Interviewer: Oh! Speaker: So I said "No." I wasn't interested and I came back and went to- I took my grade-thirteen and went to university. Interviewer: Why did you decide to do that? To turn them down? Speaker: Well ah because my goal would have been to make- wanted to make the N-H-L. I figured if I- if I played Junior-B I wouldn't make the N-H-L.

... the final reunion they had, which was about three years ago, before they ripped a- ripped the building down- ah I had to make the toast. Because of my long connection. I hate to admit it, but I spent six years in that high-school (laughs). Well it was grade-thirteen, it was five legitimate ones, and then they- I keep telling everybody they held me back to help the younger students coming in. Yeah. Nobody b-- nobody believes me.

Interviewer: And what about you, what made you want to become a teacher first? Speaker: Actually I didn't. M-- after I finished ah grade thirteen, I went to work- this was in Brockville. Went to work for a company called Levi-McNeil-and-Levi- they made condensed milk because it was a farming area all around the city of Brockville. So they- I got a job there from the- after I finished grade thirteen. And they paid me fifty cents an hour. Was- not bad wage at that time.

Speaker: No they only have junior so it's grade-nine-ten split. But back then, grade-nine's played midget, grade-ten's play junior. And then eleven, twelve, thirteen 'cause it went to grade-thirteen when I was there ah played senior. So now um- so she asked me to p-- go with her so I went and I made- I made the ba-- the grade-ten basketball team which was really good.

Speaker: Yeah, we were high-school sweethearts. Interviewer 2: (inc) how'd you guys meet. Speaker: We were in the same homeroom. Interviewer 2: (Laughs). Interviewer 1: Aw. Speaker: When he was in grade-thirteen, I was in grade-twelve. Interviewer 1: Mm. Interviewer 2: Oh. Speaker: So that's- yeah, so we started going out in grade- when I was in grade-twelve and he was in grade-thirteen. Interviewer 2: Who made the move? Speaker: He did.

Interviewer: That's great. Now what happened after that, did you guys go away to school somewhere? Speaker: No. Interviewer: What did you do? Speaker: No um, I started as an apprentice in a chartered-accountant's office so I went right from grade-thirteen right into a chartered-accountant's office as an apprenticing student.

Speaker: Bachelor-of-arts or bachelor-of-math degree and all those other things before you even start. Although nowadays they do it on a modular system. Back then, it was all or nothing, you got them all or you got nothing. Same with grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: Ah we took ah nine subjects in grade-thirteen, you got them all or you got nothing. Interviewer: Wow. Speaker: That's what it was, and I got all mine and my wife got all- oh no, my wife didn't go to grade thirteen 'cause she took special commercial ...

Interviewer: So then ah- when you got to- to high-school were things more lenient? Can you describe- were you allowed to go out- Speaker: Oh no, typical Italian, no I was not allowed to go out. No. And dances I was never allowed to go until grade-thirteen, I was allowed to go to that- that year. I was allowed to go to the dances. I was allowed to bring the car to school when I was in grade-thirteen. Um, other than that, no, I was kept in the background because I was a girl.

Speaker: And then it became ah N-L- New-Liskeard-High-School, and then it was Temiskaming-District-High-School- Interviewer: Yes. Speaker: And then Temiskaming-District-Secondary-School (laughs). Interviewer: Okay (laughs). Speaker: Ah yeah, and- and I remember in grade-thirteen sitting here thinking- no this school ah ah at the time that I was here, the school was totally different.

Speaker: That I remember and I really, I loved school and-that but I just- I think by grade-thirteen, I- I was just sort-of ready for change, I wanted to sort-of fly the cage and- and I remember sitting here thinking I can't wait to get out of this two-horse town, I'll never be back and- and I all this stuff ...

the courses to offer and not because the- your- your school (inc) brothers and sisters. Speaker: No because that was- that was the education I wanted. I wasn't intere-- I wasn't interested in commercial courses or business. I was going through f-- to get my grade twelve, my diploma or grade thirteen, whichever I had- like you just took grade twelve and then if you wanted to take another year, you took grade thirteen. So that's what I had intended to do. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: And I didn't- I wasn't concerned about the business programs, the business side of it.

I wasn't interested in commercial courses or business. I was going through f-- to get my grade twelve, my diploma or grade thirteen, whichever I had- like you just took grade twelve and then if you wanted to take another year, you took grade thirteen. So that's what I had intended to do.

Interviewer: Wow, tell me- tell- tell me about the kid who got left behind. Speaker: Well it was her own doing. She was in grade thirteen and she had family out there and she just decided that she was going to stay.

Interviewer: Yeah. So ah what happened when you finished high-school? Speaker: Ah- high-school. Oh we- high-school, actually we had a team in high-school ah for couple of years and then it kind of faded away in grade thirteen. I guess I-don't-know if anybody didn't want to coach it or I-don't-know.

Well I told you we were going to ah the high-school here in town which is huge now but in those days it wasn't so big. There were only ah four grade-nines and only one grade-thirteen or maybe two grade-thirteens. Maybe only one so you-know a number of kids would drop out over the year or there was also um the four year course which was considered finished high-school.

Unless you were going to go to university, you really didn't take the grade-thirteen so it was kind-of normal to start out with about a hundred kids in grade-nine and end up with maybe only twenty or twenty-five actually graduating so I went through um the five year course. Took my grade-thirteen and I- I always- I liked high-school. Took my grade-thirteen and I- I always- I liked high-school. I did fairly well in it and I- I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. So I went to North-Bay-Teacher's-College after high-school and it was a one year course, you could become a teacher.