Grade Six, Sept. 1971 - June 1972!

So just be glad that we went to Central School in Paris for Grade Seven and Paris High School for Grade Eight! I don't think that anyone is proud of those grade school photos. Once again, I am the tallest girl at 5'7", although Gail was only an inch shorter, thank goodness. I'd like to point out here that I wasn't taller than everyone else because I had failed a grade at some point. I was just tall for my age! Poor Mr. Cooper & Mr. Carroll had two grade six girls that were taller than them. Ha! Ha!

More Humiliation! Grade Five, Sept. 1970 - June 1971!

You can run, but you can't hide! Here is the Grade Five Photo. My Mom made the jumper outfit that I'm wearing here. I loved it! Thank Heavens for Grade Sixer Sherry. She was a bit taller than I was and so I didn't sit in the middle for once. I am already 5'6" here!

Grade Four, Sept. 1969 - June 1970

Okay, this is my blog after all! It has been a million years ago since we all looked so pitiful. It's time to get over it! Quite frankly, Kathy, Sandra, Pam and Susan, I think that we look fine and so do the grade three girls. This was a time when the kids who lived below Church St. and Main St. hills attended South Ward School on Ball St. from Kindergarten to Grade Four.  That is why this class is split into two grades. We were the only grade threes and fours who lived above the hill!

The Grade One & Two Classrooms!

The Grade One & Two classes were located at the rear of the school in the 1970's.

This Is A Pretty Piece Of Property!

The property where the school had been located is a really pretty piece of land. Besides the traffic noise from King St., the rear of the property is quite scenic. The woods lead down to the Nith River and Lion's Park. The bus students were the only pupils who were allowed to stay for lunch. Although it seems to me that sometimes other students managed to stay as well. Oh yes, the kids from Curtis Ave. got to stay too. I'm pretty sure that they walked to Queen's Ward everyday. Yes, that's right, Curtis Ave. is on the other side of the High Level Bridge! On nice warm days, we would sit out behind the school and have a bit of a picnic at noon. I remember one of the first times that Doug & Annette Knill stayed for lunch. Their Mom sent a thermos with a couple of weiners & hotdog buns for their lunch. Everybody who had been taking sandwiches for years knew right away that these kids were townies previously!

Remember The "Girl's Side!"

Way back in the 1970's when I attended elementary school, the boys and girls were separated on different sides of the school at recess. It seems to me that in grade six the rule was eliminated and everyone played wherever they wanted to. I was a bus student, as were the Knill kids who I waited with for the bus everyday. I remember vividly being dumped off in the parking lot bright and early, long before the school opened. We froze our rumps off waiting for the 9:00 a.m. bell when we could finally enter the warmth of the school. We weren't allowed in the washroom either!

INTRODUCTION - JANUARY, 2011

This is Queen's Ward Public Elementary School located on King St., in Paris, Ontario. The demolition began the first week of 2011. The facade with the old school's name had been removed at some point in the fall. I started attending Queen's Ward in January, 1970 and "graduated" from grade six in June, 1972. I was the first rural student to attend the school. Because the last of the baby boomers were in elementary school, the rural Bethel School was past it's capacity. In September 1970, all of us who lived on Hwy. #2 as far as Falkland and the Cleaver Side Rd., had to attend the town school. Being a newcomer to the area just prior to the change, it was decided that I would walk down Hwy. #2 to Queen's Ward for the remainder of my grade four year. I could regale you with my tales of dashing into the ditch in order to miss being hit by the snow plows who would fly past me on snowy days. I could tell you about the times where I was propositioned by dirty old men who would stop and ask me if I wanted to go to Woodstock with them. This was the Trans-Canada Hwy., for heaven's sake! The most heart breaking episode, however was when I dropped my Valentine's sucker in the dirty snow. I found it later in the winter during a mild spell.