Hello Everyone!
This is Sue (Walkom) Eagleson writing to you today!
Sue Walkom Grade 9
As part of the organizing committee they gave me the assignment of writing a piece for the website & newsletter. First of all I did not like English, and did not do well, as the teachers from Tecumseh will attest. To get some ideas to write about, I face-timed with my brother Steve Walkom and sort of interviewed him about his time at Tecumseh.
He had the time of his life during his 5 years at Tecumseh, from 1969 – 1974!
Here is the interview!
Sue: Steve, moving from the East Coast, was it hard for you to fit into Tecumseh in Grade 9?
Steve: It was awkward at first being the new kid. We had an accent from the East, and got teased a bit about that. The first term was not easy. My French was better than anyone else’s, and I knew more about fishing industry than Ontario history, which didn’t help, but then I got on the Jr. football team and that was the turning point for me! I also walked to school every day and met up with this character as he walked to school too, Michael Carrick. He was my first friend, and we still are very close.
Mike Carrick
Sue: What do you remember about the Teachers Steve?
Steve: They were fantastic! I loved Math and the sciences with Mr. Smyth, Mr. Lee, Mr. Deroo, Mr. Konrad, Mr. Eagleson, and Geography with Mr. Morden, and Phys Ed. with Leo Gerard and Dan Bunning. Leo and Dan we great coaches and they made a big impact on all us guys playing on teams. I only played football, as I was not the athlete like Wyatt Clark, Dave Brown or Richard Gilbert.
I hated the arts … caught up on all my sleep in Mr. Cornelius’ class, and Mrs. Smyth hated me. I dropped them all, after Grade 10. English wasn’t a requirement for University when I went!
Sue: Did you ever get into trouble?
Steve: You mean did I ever get caught? No, never got into anything bad. The teachers were all pretty cool about smoking where you shouldn’t be A nod of the head and we would just move along. I hung out with the “occies” and Bill Smith smoking pot and no one ever really got in trouble. The only time a bunch of us ever got a serious talking to was after one of the first “Bush Parties”. This was a Tecumseh legacy from us. Mr. Brooks and Mr. Noble talked to us about being more responsible and reminded of us the Tecumseh High School reputation. But no one would have got caught if Dave Bechard hadn’t got is truck stuck on a tree stump in front of the bush, and someone called the police … It was all innocent!
Sue: So, sum up those high school years for us.
Steve: The best time of my life! The small high school environment made it easy for everyone to feel connected. The school spirit was phenomenal and the students had a great working relationship with the staff when anything was organized and put together for rallies, spirit dances, school elections clubs, etc. Those bonds, made for me then, have lasted forever. I am thankful that I went to Tecumseh as it has helped shape me and it helped me know what I wanted out of life.
Steve’s Tecumseh years were a year longer than mine, and overall, much happier. I struggled in class, and nowadays would have been diagnosed with a learning disorder. He breezed through classes, and I hated it. He never wrote an exam, and I wrote every single one. But because I had Steve there, it did make it easier for me to become a Tecumseh Brave.
I selfishly used his name and names of his friends (Dave Brown, Richard Gilbert, John Everingham, Paul Driscoll, Michael Carrick, Wyatt Clark, Mike Curtin, Lee Armstrong) all the time to impress the other girls, guys. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not; but I am thankful they were in my life!
If not for the caring, understanding, and kindness of the staff, I probably would have not gotten through the majority of my classes. That is what I remember most about Tecumseh!
Besides that, there was the peanut butter sandwiches in brown paper bags, buying milk and then finding a place to sit in the cafeteria, watching intramural games from above the gym, sneaking through “smokers alley”, the T-dances, the big Friday night dances, Red Feather, making tissue flowers and going to all the sport games.
I did have my own group of girlfriends and they changed through the 4 years, but coming back to these reunions has bridged the gap of our years apart.
I am very thankful now for Scott Primeau tracking me down, 10 years ago, then pushing me to join organizing committees for these reunions. I am not the same person as I was 40 years ago; I am better, wiser, more mature, greyer and happy with who I have become.
Going to Tecumseh High School, gave me the foundation to become the person I am today.
Please come out and reconnect in July. We will have a blast dancing to the music we boogied to “way back when”!
Everyone has to cross the High School Reunion off their bucket list … it’ll be the time of your life!
Sue Walkom, class of ’76
Brent Bonvarlez
Great note Sue, it took me down a memory road that I certainly enjoyed.
Looking forward to seeing you at the reunion.
Brent
Nancy (Litschko) DuPuis
It was fun to be to be reminded about the t dances and watching sports from above, smokers alley and tissue flowers. I was one of the four Litschko girls that went to Tecumseh. When I was in grade nine we were all there. Because of this and the fact that the school was so small, I virtually knew almost everyone from every year when I went to the last reunion years ago. It was incredible to see everyone. Really, really fun.