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Chateauguay High School
Alumni Newsletter 
Fourth Edition September 2001

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To all our former classmates in the United States our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Visit Our Website -The address for our website is - www.chateauguayhigh.freeservers.com all suggestions are welcome and Erica is always working towards improving and upgrading the website with fresh information. Check out all the new pages.


Our Newsletter -

The aim of this newsletter is to keep classmates in contact with each other. I now have 73 classmates on my email list and as I said in the last newsletter that I sent out by regular mail, this will be the last newsletter I will mail out unless I have received word that you still want to receive it. If you forward this newsletter to anyone, please let me know so I can add them to my mailing list at hughes.123@sympatico.ca 

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Where Are These Classmates? -

These are the people from the Class of ’63 & ’64 that are truly lost and we have no idea where they are. 

Class of '63
Girls:

Guys:

Class of '64
Girls:

Guys:

The following is a partial list from the Class of ’65 (and probably some others) that I have gathered from various sources. The names in brackets are married names. We have had some contact with the underlined names and some we have e-mail addresses for. If there are any additions, omissions or deletions, please let me know.

Class of '65 +

Girls:

Guys:

 
If you know the whereabouts of any of these people please contact:
Linda (Strike) Hughes at hughes.123@sympatico.ca or
Erica (Tester) Bent at ericabent@shaw.ca or
contact them and tell them we are looking for them.


Reunion Update -

My husband and I made a quick trip to Montreal in July to look over Chateauguay and see what information we could gather. We checked out the Alibi Pub and it looks like a great place to hold the “meet and greet” on the Saturday night. Unfortunately, there is already a reunion booked for the Victoria Day weekend and they are anticipating about 400 people. They asked if we could reschedule for another weekend. The only problem would be what weekend to hold it. 

With that in mind what would be the best weekend? Should we have it the preceding or following weekend or the next long weekend (July 1)? I need your input before I can go any further.

This is the tentative lineup -
Saturday:    Informal "meet and greet" - Alibi Pub
Sunday:      Golf for anyone interested
                  Dinner - Rustik
Monday:    Brunch

The softball game has gone by the boards, something about 50+ year old bones not being able to handle the stress.

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

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Can You Go Home Again?

As mentioned in the last segment, my husband and I decided to make a quick trip to Montreal in July. It was one of those spur of the moment ideas - you know “what do you want to do this weekend?” “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” “I don’t know” etc., etc., etc. So off we went. 

I hadn’t been back to Chateauguay since the early ‘80’s so I didn’t quite know what to expect. The following are general observations concerning Montreal and Chateauguay, generally. While I was an immigrant to Montreal my husband is a born and bred Montrealer. His observations are included. (I apologize in advance for the mis-spelled names)

- Kahnawake looks much better than Caugnawaga ever did

- Where is the pet cemetery?

- The aroma from Seagram’s still blankets the Mercier Bridge

- Since when can you go from Blvd. Jean Baptiste to de Salaberry on St. Francis?

- The siding on our old house is now orange

- They really fixed up the Rustik

- Are there any motels in Chateauguay, where do visitors stay?

- The amount of space for sale or rent

- Do the roads ever get repaired? The roads in the Mount Royal Cemetery were in better condition that the highways.

- The whiplash suffered from driving on the Ville Marie Expressway

- Road signs right at the exits

- Still a hairpin turn from #13 (Mirabel) to the 2-20

- Parking signs on Ste. Catherine St.

- Joe’s Steak House on Stanley St.

- Coleslaw and pickles no longer standard fare at Joe’s

- Ben’s looks lonely with all the open space around it

- Tax on tax doesn’t seem right


I would say that you can’t go home again. Things are just not the same. These are just a few of our observations and I would be interested in hearing from anyone who went back again and what your thoughts were.


Bios - In their own words

Fred Markhauser

Born October 26, 1945 in Opdal, Norway, to a Norwegian mother and German father. My parents met while my father was stationed there during the war. Moved to my father's hometown in Holtzkirchen, Bavaria, Germany in 1946. Moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1953.
Attended primary school and 1st year high school in Montreal (1953 - 1960)
Attended grades 9, 10, and 11 at Chateauguay High School (1960 - 1963)

What have I done since?
In 1963/64 I attended Radio College of Canada, where I received a diploma in Radio and Television technology. I then worked for Marconi (twice) and RCA (also twice) between 1964 and 1969. One of these jobs was in Midland, Ontario by the Georgian Bay, a wonderful place for the outdoor life. I met my wife Tanis in 1968, during my second stint at RCA in Montreal. In 1969 I entered Sir George Williams University, and earned a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering in 1972. 

Between 1972 and 1980 I worked at the Canadian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (now called Teleglobe), CBC Engineering Headquarters (Montreal), and Spar Technology Inc. (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue).  At CBC I spent a lot of time in the Rocky Mountains and valleys, looking for sites to install new television rebroadcasting stations. With Spar I worked in the satellite communications business and spent a lot of time in Canada's far north - places like Arctic Bay on the northern end of Baffin Island (Inuit community), Tuktoyaktuk (Oil Field), and Contwoyto Lake (Gold Mine). I've experienced the midnight sun in June, and the 24-hour darkness in December. I've encountered the Musk Ox, Polar Bear, Caribou, and Wolf in the wild. I've seen the Beluga Whale and Arctic Char in Hudson's Bay. These are experiences that I'll never regret or forget. Also with Spar, I spent a month in Haiti, overseeing the commissioning of a Television Studio and Broadcast Station for "Baby Doc" Duvalier. While there, I was witness to a genuine voodoo ceremony on Ile de la Gonave - an island in the centre of Haiti's horseshoe bay. The island people have gone totally back to nature, with grass huts, washing by streams, cattle herding, scratch farming – and voodoo. The ceremony starts in the evening with low chants and drum beats, then it slowly builds until the drums and voices drown out everything else. Then the drums stop and the chants slowly subside. It's an impressive event.

Tanis and I were married in 1974. Our son Erik was born in 1976, our daughter Paula in 1979. In 1980 I joined Telesat and moved to Ottawa, where we've been ever since. With Telesat, I've had the pleasure to work on quite a few interesting satellite-related projects, including the development of digital video compression systems that are used by Expressvu on our Nimiq satellite and by Star Choice on our Anik F1. Currently I'm working on satellite access to the Internet for schools. With Telesat I've also been able to continue to travel to Canada's far north, as well as the rest of North America and several excursions to Europe. 
There it is - my life in three paragraphs. Is the real me there somewhere?
Who knows?



Carla Morgan 
(1966) (How can that be?!)

Hi Everyone, 
Chateauguay was a long time ago, but thanks to my brother Bruce, I still have some on-going connections there - Kenny and Louise Shegalis (sp?) and Lee Stanton, as well as a nephew - Jason Morgan. 

Being president of the Student's Council my last year in high school has been a fine thing in my life ... especially because of how I was elected. The year I ran, the Grades 8 and 9 outnumbered the 10's and 11's and so I appealed to the younger vote. It was a great lesson. We did have fun!! I learned to pay attention to my audience and to have fun ... still am doing these things. 

I have followed in my parents footsteps in many ways ... My intention was to follow in my mother's footsteps but do everything better (I do admit it. I am competitive) but, I'll have say that the doing things better part doesn't work. I have done everything differently ... better or worse? ... Well, my life is good and so is my mum's. 

Details? Well ... after many gentle adventures across Canada and the U.S., I married a wonderful man, moved to PEI, became an elementary school teacher and have four children of my own and three others whom we've chosen to have an on-going association with in our lives - (nothing formal like adoption or big brothers ... just very connected.)

Why write a bio? 

Well (this is my favourite word of the moment))... you see, it happened this way. I moved with my family, to a small town from the country because I made a friend with children the same age as my youngest. Many things about this move just flowed in that "meant to be" kind of way, but one thing was positively weird. My friend was talking to me about her stepmother, Erica. I paid no attention. Then Erica and her husband came from Vancouver for a visit. Erica was Erica from Chateauguay whom I had talked to on the phone from time to time years ago, trying to make it together to a Chateauguay High School Reunion and what's more! They had the same dining room furniture. Odd, eh? 

Why else write? 

Well (I've already mentioned my attachment to this word) I'm not great on nostalgia, but I do believe that the efforts we make to connect and reconnect with one another, matter. I believe that we, each of us, have our
greatest impact on the world in the little things, in how we live the daily challenges of our lives. What challenge is greater than building relationships with the people we live with, the people near us and the people whom we have connections with and influence? The only practical direction that I see to living more in tune with our environment and with each other is to engage and relate, to connect. Living simply is actually a very complicated matter. It means really living. 

Enough for now. 
Best Wishes to all, 



Pamela Emberley

DeeDee, my daughter, and I left Montreal in 1977 and spent a year in Brockville, Ontario while waiting for my visa to the US. We moved to Boston in 1978, and met my current husband, David, in 1979, and we were married in 1980. He was living in England at the time I met him, but was born in Ireland. We spent a year in England, and then we moved back to Boston. We moved to Texas for a year in 1983 and headed back north to Boston as soon as we could. We stayed in Boston until 1995 – long enough to see DeeDee graduate from college and get somewhat settled. We were both working in high-tech jobs – I was a systems analyst, and David a computer salesman. But we gave it all up, and moved to David’s hometown in Ireland, and went low-tech. Didn’t know exactly what but I was able to continue working my Boston job via the Internet, while we explored other options. DeeDee stayed in Boston – she had done enough moving around!

We live in Kinsale, Co. Cork, a tourist town in Ireland’s sunny south! (Everything is relative!) We have lived in 5 houses in 6 years – renovating two of them and building two of them. We ran a B&B (in the first house that we built) for two years, until someone came along and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse! Then we renovated another house out at the Old Head of Kinsale – a wild and windy spot. (If you’re a golfer, you’d love the Old Head Golf Course – people compare it to Pebble Beach (http://www.oldheadgolflinks.com.) We sold that house as soon as we could, as I couldn’t stand the wind out there. We started to build our current house, and rented a house for a year while we were building.

We now have a small building company. We employ four men, and sub-contract out for skills our crew doesn’t have. Our house is not finished, though we’ve been living in it since Oct 2000. It’s like the cobblers children with no shoes – I can’t get our workers back to finish up here, as we’re too busy doing work for other people!

Life is good. Kinsale is a very social place, and despite what they say, I love the weather (most of the time). It sure beats the heat of North American summers and the cold of NA winters. We get back to Boston and Toronto once a year, and usually have a holiday someplace warm in January or February. If anyone is planning to visit Ireland, please look us up. We have a web page – though its really out of date. I hope to redesign it and bring it up to date – if I ever get the time. (http://indigo.ie/~pkearney)


Gary Derry

I believe I was from the class of 65 and when I left I worked for a few years in Montreal for Northern Electric, Rolls Royce and a short time at the Expo site during the summer of 67. 

In 1970 I married a lovely young lady from Toronto, who had been living in Montreal for several years, before we met. A few months later our first daughter was born. In 71 I was laid off from Northern but had a promised position in Kingston to start in about a month. My wife and I decided to visit some of her old friends in the Toronto area, for that month, so we headed west. While in Toronto we decided to look for jobs and within a few days we were both employed. We decided to stay and live here. Since then a second daughter was born and we moved from Richmond Hill, to Aurora, to Newmarket, and finally to Keswick on the shores of Lake Simcoe. 

I have worked at Canada Wire in the factory, then to a chocolate warehouse as a stock keeper/shipper/receiver and eventually to driving tractor-trailers. I left there for a short stint at driving cement mixers then off to Steelcase Canada in 1974. I worked at several positions there and today work in the Engineering department as a furniture designer. Both girls have grown up and left the home. One is married and living in Waterdown, the other is a Registered Nurse doing home care in the Keswick area. 

I recently became obsessed with Genealogy and currently am very busy tracing my wife’s and my family tree. I am currently enrolled in an online course in Genealogy with the National Institute for Genealogy in conjunction with the University of Toronto. I am a member of the Toronto Genealogy Society, The Quebec Family History Society, and The York Region Genealogy Society of which I am also on the executive in charge of publicity. In high school I could not stand the History classes and was quick to drop the course but today I go out of my way to find History to read primarily on Quebec and Ontario. I'm always in search of that little tidbit of information add. Names and dates were a good start but the history is more interesting.  
Who knows I may even write a short family history one day.


Pam (Garrett) Allan

I got married in Chateauguay in 1969 to Ken Allan who was from LaSalle; we met through a mutual friend. He was in the U.S. Army and stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas where we lived for about a year. We then moved to Tucson, Arizona where we lived until June of this year. Ken retired as a Supervisor in the Fire/Security Dept. from Raytheon Missile Systems and we decided to move away from the desert so we came to Mountain Home, Arkansas at the beginning of July. 

We have two daughters. Jennifer is 24 and just graduated from William Carey Nursing School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on August 4, 2001. She will begin her new profession at Baptist Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. She is engaged to Wesley Hughes who she met at the College and they will be married November 17, 2001. Our other daughter Kerrie is 21 and she went to a school in Tucson to learn front deskwork in medical offices. She still lives at home with us.

Since 1978 I worked for a title insurance company in Tucson and I left there when we moved to Arkansas. I want to do something different now and what that is I don't know.



Would you like your bio to appear in a future issue of the Newsletter? It can be as long or as short, personal or impersonal, as you want to make it - get creative. Send it to me.



Give Us Your Input -

If there is anything you would like to see in this newsletter, maybe you have a special anniversary or just want to let everyone know how you're doing, please let us know. 

Maybe you could just send some memories about school life and teachers. SEND PICTURES.



Email:

Linda at hughes.123@sympatico.ca - or

Erica at ericabent@shaw.ca 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

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