School Life Page 3
Now speaking of Mr. Woolends again, what was a fellow with a degree from the London School of Economics doing at little old O.B.H.S? Does anybody know if Woolends stuck with it or gave up on us in disgust? Speaking of teachers, who knows about Mr. Hromnysky? What happened to him? He lasted out the Fall term and then left at Christmas, didn't he? There is a picture here somewhere of Mr. Hromnysky. He is at an evening basketball game in the company of his mother. Let's see if he turns up later in this Odyssey through these mouldy oldies.
Now Mr. Orr married while we were in grade 12, didn't he? Maybe we were in Grade 11. He had his girl down at the Oak Bay Marina in the summer of '62. The author remembers her yet, a slim, pretty girl in a fluffed out summer dress. Carol Miller writes (990717) that Mr. and Mrs. Orr escorted a student tour of Europe. Carol will look for slides of the trip that show Orr, Mercer and others.
Now speaking of fluffed out dresses, gentles, remember the irate reaction of the girls to Chas' edict that they were not allowed to wear crinolines? Crinolines were stiff cloth worn beneath the skirt to make the skirt flare out. Presumably they had become fashionable so naturally every girl in the school had to wear one. Chas had decided that he didn't like them for one reason or another. Perhaps the female staff members had concluded that they showed leg during class and distracted the boys or perhaps they took up room in the halls during class changes. Hallway traffic was a big concern of Chas. Gibbard.
Chas appointed prefects to enforce his traffic policy. The idea died after a while. What happened to the up and down staircases idea?
Now speaking of fluffy skirts, the fashionable boys had their problems, too. Tight trousers were a universal evil. The Victoria newspapers of the day inveighed against the ghastly, sinful attire boys were wearing. Western civilization was crumbling! Weren't tight trousers declared a health hazard, too? A specification was introduced at high schools that required a certain amount of slack in trousers.
Really, it is a good thing that Mr. Gibbard is not with us, though we would have liked to have seen him in 1988. His world has crumbled. If crinolines and tight trousers were unacceptable, what would Mr. Gibbard's reaction have been to jams, orange hair and tongue studs?
