So you'd go down to Martha's on a Friday night and there was a band playing or if it was you-know after school or-whatever and you're in grade-thirteen and you think you're like really wise and philosophical, then you would- you-know there- three or four of you go over to ...

Speaker: Lanark was only a continuation school. Interviewer: Right. Speaker: They just taught to grade-twelve. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And if you wanted to take a grade-thirteen you had to go to Perth. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: Ah to take grade-thirteen, which I never did. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: I got married instead. Interviewer: Right out of high-school? Speaker: Family wasn't very happy, but anyway.

Speaker: Well, I- I sta-- we had- I- I- I did my high-school here in Barry's-Bay. We had a- we had, um- well the grade-school, the Roman-Catholic-Separate-School-Board, then we have ah, Catholic schools, ah, and, um, ah- up to grade-thirteen. And we had a small high-school here in Barry's-Bay, at that time, a Catholic high-school, eh?

Speaker: So it's, ah, it's a little different because, ah, they already had- had a Catholic high-school up to grade, ah, ten, I guess, and then after that they got the support, you-know, or the funding to be able to go right up to grade-thirteen, and now you don't have grade-thirteen, you, ah- ah, that's co-- discontinued, eh? Interviewer: Yeah, no, it only goes up to grade-twelve. Speaker: Grade-twelve, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we had very few lay-teachers, right up from grade-one to, ah- to grade, ah- grade-thirteen. Ah, you, ah, were taught by the sisters, you-know?

Not, in grade-school, no, but, ah- but, ah- but even grade-thirteen, one of the- the teacher taught all the subjects. All the subjects in grade-thirteen, you-know?

From, ah- well, once after I was old enough I became an altar server at the church, and, ah, you-know, was involved in the- in the parish from- from grade- I would say maybe- maybe grade-three right up to grade-thirteen before I left, you-know? I was still- still an altar server there, you-know?

Speaker: Ah, I mean most ah- I have a nephew that he actually in grade-thirteen, he won the big prize for English. And he- ah he was in science. Interviewer: Yeah? Speaker: He w-- he- he- he won the science and the English prize, 'cause he was so good in English. But that's- that is rare. That is very rare.

Speaker: But to this day I'm amazed that these nuns were able to handle sixty students and teach these different subjects and- when I was in grade-thirteen, it was thirteen subjects. Interviewer: In one (inc) total. Speaker: In one year. Thirteen subjects. Geometry, chemistry, physics, algebra, trigonometry, thirteen, and you had to pass I think it was eleven of those before you could go onto university. Different, eh?

Interviewer: Um, you had grade-eight, or grade-nine, in Saint-Joseph's? Speaker: Ah- ah, we had grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Oh, okay, yeah, it became a full- Speaker: Yeah, yeah, in a high-school. I went to grade-eleven.

Interviewer: So, um, did you also go to high-school in the area? Speaker: Yes, I went to, um, yeah, M-V-D-A- D-H-S, here, at the high-school, for ah, it went, well, up to grade-thirteen, they had grade-thirteen back then, and I- I planned on, um, going to college, like I was interested in- in nursing, or something medical, I was really interested in- ah, sort-of, I loved biology, in s-- in high-school, and I was very interested in it ...

Well in Barry's-Bay, they only had one high-school. Ah there was an elementary school called Saint-Joseph's and then the high-school was also called Saint-Joseph's. And um the- actually the year that I wanted to go into grade-thirteen, which doesn't exist in Ontario today. Which I think is too bad. I think it's a great year. It gives ah young people who are only seventeen years old another chance to stay at home and not spend big money going to university and perhaps finding out that they were too immature and they waste the money. Interviewer: And you didn't know what you wanted to do and you took the wrong major.

So ah the year I was going into grade-thirteen they ran out of having enough grade-thirteen students. So all the kids in my class had to go to other places. Some went to Renfrew, some went to Eganville and there was a school in- a high-school in Cumbermere, so I went there.

Speaker: It- it was the friends that I was hanging around at the time that caused that problem. Interviewer: Bad influences. Speaker: Yeah. And back in those days, ah we didn't even have kindergarten. Interviewer: Oh wow Speaker: We had grade thirteen at the extreme end but no kindergarten, so I was six years old when I started school.

It was grades one to eight and then they had a high-school, Saint-Joseph's-High-School, which was also taught by the Sisters-of-Saint-Joseph, and that was from grade-nine to grade-twelve, and there was no grade-thirteen in Barry's-Bay at the time so I went to Renfrew.

Speaker: Then I went to teachers-college. Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Speaker: In Ottawa. Interviewer: Was it everything you thought it would be? Speaker: It was diff-- ah- Interviewer: (laughs) Speaker: It was different in the sense I had had nuns teach me all the way from grade-one to grade-thirteen and when I went to teachers-college there were men teachers, male teachers and women teachers, it was different.

Speaker: 'Cause teachers-college was just one year. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: You went after grade-thirteen. And then after as I was teaching, ah, Barry's-Bay had an off-campus centre through Ottawa-University and that's how I got my degree and then finally got my Bachelor-of-Ed.