REMEMBERING EUGENE PIRIE It is always very sad to lose a best friend -- especially one you have known ever since Grade One in school. Eugene and I were buddies all through 12 years of school in our hometown of Strathclair. We shared many of the same friends and interests: reading, music, crazy humour, pranks, drawing comic books, and sports: dodge ball, softball, track and field for Field Days, table tennis, football, Bordenball, etc. Noon hours were 1 1/2 hours so we had plenty of time for sports. Our school had no gym so most of the noon 'hours' and recesses were spent outside. This was even during many of the winter days when both boys and girls played football -- not "touch" or "flag" but full "tackle" since the snow banks made for soft landings :)
www.hillmanweb.com/book/travel/strathclair/pirie.html
1943.11.10-2023.09.14
Where Eugene's Story Began in 1943
SCHOOL
One of the many memories that come to mind as I type this -- probably the first of many tributes -- was a touch typing correspondence course. Typing was not offered in our school at that time so we both paid for the course from the Department of Education in Winnipeg.
We both had to borrow old clunky typewriters from friends in town -- very old clunky Remingtons . Since we were paying for the course ourselves we didn't feel too guilty smuggling out a few stacks of paper to type out the daily assignments that we had to send into the Department. The course, with it's endless repetitive drills was sort of boring, but we stuck it out until the end although since the pressure of preparing for the compulsory Gr. XII exams resulted in neither one of us writing the typing final. But we learned a skill that probably served us better that any of the other high school courses when we both became teachers and later when computer skills became so important.
I've featured class photos for every grade among the many photos in our
Strathclair Website in the page at:
https://www.hillmanweb.com/strathclair/memories/5.html
(or Click Open)
Grade 1 ~ Grade 2.
It is interesting to see how Eugene changed through the years in the photos -- as did we all.
It is kind of fun. . . and a challenge. . . to ID the faces after so many decades.
AIR CADETS :: 317 SQUADRON STRATHCLAIR Both Eugene and I were active members in Strathclair's 317 Royal Air Cadet Squadron. We both enjoyed the regular military bus trips to the RCAF base 30 miles away: CJATC RIVERS www.hillmanweb.com/rivers/where we had drill instruction, shooting range experience, use of their gym, and flights in Bell Helicopters, DC3 Dakotas, light aircraft, C-119 Flying Box Cars, etc. Eugene even took flight instruction one summer and got his pilot wings.In 1962/1963, Eugene and I shared a room in the Men's Residence, Brandon College. The classes demanded much study time but we were able to let off a bit of steam on special occasions such as initiation week, Sadie Hawkins Day, weekends, etc. as shown in some of the few photos I have of that time (shown below). Neither of us were smokers or heavy drinkers but we made up for it in doing crazy things :) (Much of my free time was spent playing in bands and doing TV shows).
Another benefit from being in Air Cadets was the trips to summer camps in other Canadian Air Force bases.
Eugene attended the 1958 camp at Sea Island, B.C. in 1958
BRANDON COLLEGE (NOW BRANDON UNIVERSITY)We found time in the fall to join the Brandon College Caps football team. This experience provided both of us the chance to visit the US for the first time when we played the Minot U team.
Eugene moved to Winnipeg the next year to carry on with his University classes and graduate with a B.A. and Teaching Degree.
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