Senior Years at Mount View

I was an indifferent high school  student. Getting good marks was not tolerated by the guys and would label you as a “suck hole”. So middle of the pack was best. I liked sciences , english and social studies but math was a drag . However I stumbled along. One quiet little guy in my class consistently got high marks. It turned out later that he cheated with sleeves full of cheat sheets. We all sneered. He became a pharmacist. The science teacher, a guy, liked boys and we all kept away from him. We called him the groper. Later he got caught in some indecent act. They moved him out of the classroom- guess where?- the school board office !

Science class at Mount View. I am in the back row, middle

Things really came together in grade eleven and twelve. I was big and as my skills in sports improved, especially with rugby where I became the team captain. In track I found the shot put and discus  events to my liking and later with the YMCA track team threw the hammer. In grade 11 and 12 I won the Victoria and district shot put and came second in the discus. There was no coaching so I tried to learn techniques from a book. I went to the Provincial championships but just managed fifth place. They other contestants cheated - they had coaches. !!

Practicing the shot put at the school

  There were a couple of real trouble makers in the year ahead of me. They were in and out of trouble frequently and bullied the younger kids. They were often involved in fist fights. I had nothing to do with them but on one occasion one of them confronted me and challenged me for a fight for some reason. So I had never been in one but with my Pro Rec training wasn’t intimidated. I told him that it had to be outside the school property .  At the appointed time my friend Doug and I showed up but he and his hangers on did not. Afterwards he avoided me. Doug said later that he was tipped off I was a tough fighter so he backed off . I was actually a bit disappointed.

 The grades 11 and 12 went by relatively calmly. Dances occurred at intervals usually to mark some holiday event such as thanksgiving or Christmas. The guys strung out on one side of the gym and the gals in giggling and nervous clusters on the other side waiting for some groovy guy to ask them to dance. There were very few of them. The rest of us were clunks dead in the water. I “ danced” like a constipated bear. My favourite was the Farmers Frolic in the spring when we wore jeans and plaid shirts and leaped about like maniacs. There was some booze hidden away outside but penalties were severe if caught by one of the patrolling teachers.

Joan and I (couple on the right) at the Farmer's Frolic

In grade 12 I dated Joan the nippy little sprinter who was the first one who didn’t look at me as if I had come in on a low tide. I ended up taking her to my grad dance. More about her later. So we got our grad group pictures taken up on that age; were handed our grad diplomas and in June of 1949 I headed out in the world without the faintest idea what to do next .My marks were not the best but if you graduated from high school the you automatically could go to college. Thank goodness.

Posing for Joan in my backyard

High School inVictoria

My mother, father and I arrived in Victoria to 3493 Lovat Ave around Thanksgiving. The small bungalow was brand spanking new and sat on a fairly narrow lot which, however was very deep with a huge old Gary Oak tree at the back. The region was originally the estate of S.F. Tolmie, an early B.C. Premier. The original manor house still existed across the street in a large wooded area with a locked gate.. it was empty except for a care taker. Later we used to sneak in to swipe some of the profusion of daffodils and tulips in the old flowerbeds.

My homeroom class in Grade 9. I am in the back row on the right corner - fresh from the farm

A smaller home abutted the back of our lot which was an out-building belonging to the estate and was occupied by a family. We quickly came to know the families on each side who made us feel welcome. One had chickens. Across the street were two older ladies, sisters, and the district nurse Margaret Beveridge boarded there. She later married brother Don. I was Cupid because she came in professionally to go over my health history and immunization.Thats when they met .

Settling me in school was a priority as I was a month late, thirteen years old, and a bit bewildered by the disruption and the move. I was registered into Mount View High School which had grades 8 to 12, a twenty minute walk, on Carey Road. Later we found out that I should have gone to grade eight in a closer elementary school named Cloverdale up on Quadra Street but they decided that they would not disrupt my school year any more than had already taken place so I stayed at Mount View.

 So away I  went, a shy fat kid with a tweed cap and funny clothes. I was immediately labelled a “stubble jumper”.  I was seated at the last seat just inside the door. In front of me and across the aisle were pimply girls who peeked at me and giggled a lot. The lady teacher was older and nice. It immediately came to me as I got into the subjects that I had been exposed to a lot of the material in Grade 7 in Alberta. As a result I guess I appeared smarter than I felt.

I was socially isolated which was not unusual concerning the farm situation. However gradually I became friends with another shy guy called Bob and we ate lunch together. He was having learning problems and was considered to be “ dumb”. In retrospect  I think he now would  be considered to be on the autism spectrum and be in a special program. I was able to help him with his homework.

The school had various clubs and - believe it or not - it had a RIFLE club which I happily joined. There is a surviving picture of the club with our rifles held in “ shoulder arms” position across our chests. We had target shoots at the near by Bay Street Armoury basement range. Piece of cake. The supervising 5th Regiment officer joked something about a blossoming Bisley competitor which didn’t mean anything to me. It's an international military shooting contest.

The Mount View Rifle Club. I am back row center

The Federal government had funded a fitness program called “Pro Rec” run out of community centres. It featured all sorts of programs designed to increase the fitness of the population. Boxing,wrestling, judo, racquet sports, gym, weight lifting all provided. I attended a lot of these until they were discontinued a year or two after the war.

I became quite slick with some judo holds. We actually called it “Ju Jitsu” the original Japanese unarmed fighting technique. You used your opponents weight and strength against him. One time in grade ten in the boys washroom one of the grade 12 boys was teasing me about my judo lessons and wanted to see some holds. So I extended my right arm and hand and said shake my hand. He stuck his hand out and I gave him a reverse elbow flip. He staggered back and ended up sitting in the wall urinal spluttering and swearing. I retreated at top speed in case he decided to retaliate.

I owe a great deal to my gradual participation to team sports. Initially I just played noon hour pick up volleyball and physical education class softball, soccer and basketball.  I started to grow and stretch out and by grade eleven I was 6ft-2 inches and 200 pounds and as my skills improved my social acceptance and confidence grew. I gradually became part of a group of guys that ate lunch together and actually formed the nucleus of many of the school sports teams. Most had nick names. There was Spike, Mugs, Bumbo and several unprintable ones .One guy was called “ Monk” because of his simian appearance. Only Mugs smoked. I was shocked later to hear how many had died very young, several in industrial accidents, one drowned, another in a bar room incident, another of kidney failure. Doug was one of the few that I kept in touch with later.He became a talented builder and built a lot of beautiful houses having formed his own company.

My group of friends at the back of the local store

Our only South Asian kid did play rugby. Years later I was waiting for a green light in downtown Victoria standing beside a huge turbaned Sikh with a profuse black beard . Suddenly he rumbled “ hello Charlie” and it was Sardara. I apologized for not recognizing him and he laughed and said” I got religion”

Doug starred at soccer and basketball. He told me that the only reason he stayed in school was to play sports. Kids could leave school at age 16 and with lots of jobs quite a few of the boys did so with the lure of money in the pocket and an old car at the curb. Very few went on to post secondary education. Only three out of my grad class of 45 did so. The guys at other schools that I played rugby against pressured me to attend Victoria College ( later U Vic) as we could have a great rugby team there together. So after a summer of wheeling wet cement on construction I was eating breakfast one morning  with my mother and I mentioned that I was thinking of College. She looked up from her paper and said “ that’s nice dear” and went back to her paper. So much for parental pressure !!

Last Vignettes on the Farm Years

From the time of my birth until I started school in grade one I was called “Junior” named after my dad, Alexander - as in Alex junior. That was what I answered to and I guess I thought it was my proper name, not just a family one. When my mother took me to register in grade one and she was asked for my full name she replied his name is Alexander Charles. Apparently I erupted into a melt down demanding to have my “own” name. So Charles Alexander made his appearance . My brothers called me “Chuck” and their kids do so to this day - “ Uncle Chuck”. Later in school I became Charlie.

Me, "Junior"

In the 1930’s my dad was a keen supporter of the Calgary Stampede which was an Alberta yearly celebration attended by people far and wide. As kids we looked forward to all the events and especially the Cowboys and Indians. Groups of bulls and horses were herded to the site from various farms and ranches as participants. It was a fairly rowdy event. I think we went to the last one before the war in 1939 or 1940. I don’t think it was held during the war.

Sister Jean with our neighbour's prize Black Angus bull

I remember there was a windshield sticker advertising the Stampede on the last trip. Churchill had just made his famous speech in forecasting the dark was days to come. He concluded “We are sure at the end all will be well”. Large numbers of windshield stickers were issued with this slogan to try and allay public anxiety. My dad put this sticker under the stampede one as a joke intimating that Churchill was referring to the rowdy stampede. There was a Royal visit by the King and Queen to Canada just before the war, I suppose to promote patriotism to prepare for the coming conflict. We were all bundled up and taken to Calgary to view them as they stopped on the train doing their cross country journey. The station platform was packed as the train rolled slowly by with the King standing alone on the back deck of the last car in view and holding what looked like a movie camera. Just as he was approaching us waving our little Union Jack flags he suddenly wheeled around and disappeared into the car. So we just saw where he used to stand. Hail Britannia.