Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2021 12:08:30 -0500
From: Evelyn H Lazare 
Subject: Strathcona


Hi all,


It was good to reconnect last night. I hadn?t realized that some of you knew
each other for many years before OHS, ranging from elementary schools to Strath.
I went to Strath after Guy Drummond and was also in Miss Labelle?s class. She
remains a stellar teacher for being so straightforward with us. The first day we
all convened in the basement of Strath, coming from many different grade
schools, the principal (Mr. Stewart?) read out names to regroup us in classes.
When there were perhaps 35 of us left, we were shepherded to Miss Labelle?s
room. I recall that once we were assembled in her homeroom for the first time,
Mr Stewart explained that they had grouped the kids who were at the top of their
classes in the schools that fed Strath. He then specifically told us not to
think of ourselves as the brain class. Of course, we did so from that moment on.
Miss Labelle had her hands full. Not only did she teach us the standard grade 7
curriculum, she also tested out new textbooks for the PSBGM. For that reason, we
had two sets of exams at the end of the year. One on the standard curriculum, to
determine our placement in the streaming system for high school and the other
for what we learned from the new books. Who remembers that there were still
school fees for high school and that scholarships were awarded. I think it was
$2 per month.


Miss Labelle was a single woman who lived with her sister(?) at the corner of
Bernard and Wiseman, around the corner from my home on Wiseman. I recall her
telling us to have our eyes checked. Apparently she had always been near-sighted
and assumed that was the way life was. As a teenager, she was given corrective
lenses for the first time and was amazed at what she could see. She was strict
with the girls; if we wore tights to school, she insisted we remove them before
class, as she felt was unhealthy to wear so many layers.


I always remembered her as an excellent teacher. Many years later, possibly in
the early 2000s, I was interviewed for a newspaper article in Vancouver and
asked for the name of my favourite teacher. I named her. Some weeks later, I
received a hand-written letter from a man in southern Ontario. His spidery
handwriting indicated his age. He told me that a friend of his in Victoria had
sent him the article, which also mentioned that I had gone to McGill. This
Ontario man wondered whether I was referring to his late, great-aunt. The family
had heard stories about her career as a teacher, but had never met a former
student of hers. Was I referring to his relative? I was happy to report that I
was, indeed. Funny, I never knew her first name. And while we are back in
Strathcona, I have no memory whatever about a grade 7 graduation dance or
anyone?s risqu? dress. What was I wearing???


In grade 8, I was one of Miss Breslow?s girls. Now that added a whole other kind
of education!


Evelyn H Lazare



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