By Stephen McCutchen
In a few months, the high school that helped shape such famous individuals as journalist Peter Jennings, entertainer Rich Little, Olympian Linda Thom and Governor General Adrienne Clarkson will be celebrating its 160th anniversary reunion.
Lisgar Collegiate, Ottawa’s oldest school, will see hundreds of alumni and old high school friends come full circle and return to the place where they started.
Although the celebrations aren’t until May, it’s already crunch time for the organizers, says Lisgar Alumni Association chair Rod Hagglund.
The schedule of events and the reunion budget will be finalized by the end of January, says Hagglund.
He’s hoping at least 1,000 people will turn out for the weekend’s events, which tentatively include a dinner and dance at the Ottawa Congress Centre and a golf tournament at Meadows Golf Club.
Doug Arrand is both a former student and teacher at Lisgar. Having graduated in 1961, he returned to the school to teach social sciences in 1967.
He stayed until 2000, finishing his career as a guidance counsellor. Arrand was also the chair of the previous three Lisgar reunions, which were held on the 125th, 140th and 150th anniversaries of the school. He is hoping his previous experience will help make the 160th a great success.
Arrand has the task of putting together the “decade rooms,” which will contain photographs and other memorabilia such as football jerseys pertaining to a certain decade. Arrand says the rooms are “always a big hit.”
“The decade rooms really are a centre for the students who graduated in that decade to gather in and meet their colleagues.”
Although he still has a role in organizing this reunion, Arrand is simply hoping to be able to take in this year’s event himself for a change.
“When I was chair, I was running around the entire time making sure everything went smoothly,” he says. “Being a little less involved this time around, I’m looking forward to just having the time to walk down the halls and talk with people.”
What’s his fondest memory from his days at Lisgar? Arrand says it was when Anne Heggtveit returned to Lisgar after winning the gold medal in slalom at the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Bill Fraser taught English at Lisgar from 1965 to 1999. From the point of view of a teacher, he is looking forward to seeing many of his former students at the reunion.
“I recall the dinner dance at the last reunion. I went to walk across the room, and 30 minutes later I hadn’t even got halfway across because I had stopped to talk with so many people,” he says.
Registration for the reunion will start at the end of this month, when the alumni association sends out its newsletter to more than 4,000 former students and teachers.