Kathleen Rowe Class of '87: February 2007

Akilah

The Guys fart spraying Jenn Ryan in Quebec City.
Remember the annoying prank whistles we bought in Quebec and we got on Ms. Beaton's last nerve?
Sneaking out of our rooms in Quebec
I think the song goes," Sittin on the side walk chewin bubble gum. Along came _____ and asked for some. No you dirty rascal, no you dirty bum, you can't have any cause you asked for some."
That game we played with the ball in the sock.
Jumpsies
Love is a Battlefield was my jam.
I wear my Sunglasses at night
Let' Hear it for the boy
I want to dance with somebody

Brad

doing artwork what seemed like every afternoon in May and June to get ready for graduation, Turnham can you still draw Clifford the Big Red dog?
thank goodness for Haley Moss for being shorter then I was... nothing like going into grade 9 at 4 ft 8inches and 85 lbs!!!
obsession with wrestling: Keddy going and getting us wrestling tickets to see WWF at the Oshawa Civic Centre and also (cuz I was small) being everybody's guinea pig for trying new wrestling moves, I don't know how many snap-suplexes, airplane spins and pile drivers I endured
calling Craig McGibbon, McGoo
Jeff Wilson's identify crisis: not knowing if he was a ninja or a preppy kid
playing British bulldog between the soccer posts and the fence at the back end of the school yard
Paddick always having a joke
Mark Davies' calendar showing what Ms Beaton wore everyday for the school year
Erin Campbell, pink & green
the Miami Vice influence as there were quite a few light/white suits and pink shirts in our graduation photo
our grade 8 soccer team... god were we bad. the only person who knew what he was doing was Kristian Haggard (sp??) and the rest of us slide in the mud at the end of our first game
Mr. Blackstock always using a banana and Cindy Schwartzenhaur to describe things
that Quebec City trip was fantastic and Jeff Wilson potentially, kinda, sorta, maybe getting lucky with that girl form the other school
Nathan, I know that you are a Dr now so have you figured out human reproduction yet... but I'm not one to talk cuz Brian Locke had to explain 'cum' to me
how many times did Ms. Beaton say "you are the worse class ever"?
Ok Nathan...- I really don't remember you being such a ladies man back then. And all this smooching talk.... where the hell was I during all this kissing. I don't remember kissing anyone :(
I do remember you laying laying a lot of beatings on the rest of us... or at least Mark and I. Mark, good call on the petition.
the chick who changed her name, wasn't it Christine Halenda and she changed it to Destiny
my first beer was at Jeff Turnham's house in grade 5 or 6. We split one of his dad's Carling O'keef's (sp??). We both hated it but said it was great
our girl's sports teams were bettter then they boys' teams
Sandra Sherman and Shayne Keddy used to win all of the ribbons at track and field too

Brandy

I remember Akilah pushing me and doing the splits out on the pavement right near the Grade 8 doors (I still don't let her live that down!)
Oh and Jocelyn Green (ya you way up north!) remember pulling my chair out from underneath my butt in grade 8, to this day I suffer the pain of a cracked tail bone!
Here's one we'll all remember (PAINFULLY) -- the writing of board notes from Miss Beaton in Geography and History! Just when we thought she was done she'd wipe off the first board and write more, and more and more!!!! Never got photo copies back then!
Even scarier, I can prove the notes, upon notes as I have them in my 'archives'!!! yikes what's more scarier the fact we took so many notes or that I still have them in the duotangs!

Erin

I too remember the unfortunate 80s styles, is there even an Au Cotton anymore? Did anyone else pin earrings on their shaker knit sweaters? How brutal.
I also remember all the crushes...girls eh?
This snow reminds me of all of the recesses getting "snow jobs" and having my face "washed" with snow, in fact this one time, Mark was "washing" my face with snow and I almost choked to death on the mouthful he fed me.
I remember all of our boy/girl dance parties, school dances and top 5s. Funny, on Friends they had their "Freebie 5s" did anyone see that episode?
The worst was when Miss Beaton searched our desks for notes and either posted them on the board or read them aloud.
Who can forget the Grade 8 trip to Quebec City and listening to Akilah's Madonna tape, to this day I laugh every time I hear La Isla Bonita...
What about the "fart spray" the guys bought in Quebec City?
Also, I remember Jeff Turnham's perm and the pot calling the kettle black, he actually had the nerve to say to me that it looked like I rode my bike to graduation because of my hair that I paid a fortune for at Valentino's. Yes Jeff, I did do your hair behind the dumpster and in the Peel park lacrosse penalty box.
Oh and Jenny, it wasn't "Control" it was "When I Think of You" and thank God the rest of you were on a field trip and didn't see it. We saw the video of it (I wonder if Miss Beaton still has it, I think it was on Beta) and I was singing away thinking I was the shit. I almost convulsed over at Jocelyn's house this summer talking about it.
I found some pictures of Camp Kandalore. It was freezing there, what time of year was it?
Akilah saying "FRESH" all the time, you signed my little book at graduation "from the freshest girl you've ever seen"
the boys being OBSESSED about WWF Wrestling.
walking down the hall and getting "hip checked" into the wall.
Shop & Home Ec at Farewell PS and checking out the guys as they were going to be with us at HSHS
Miss Beaton's love of art, do you think we were prepared enough for High School?
my love of everything pink & green
Zip, Zap & Zoup (weren't they the characters in our French readers, couldn't they have come up with anything better?)
Converse high tops that matched your Au Cotton shirt and parachute pants

Jeff T

Maintaining "Top 5" lists of our favourite girls. We'd guard these lists with our lives, but secretly hope that someone would get a hold of them and read them outloud.
Nathan telling a few of us guys that to get a girl pregnant you had to "pee in her", which sounded perfectly reasonable to me at the time.
Jeff Wilson challenging me to a fight out by the bikeracks. I was too scared to fight him and I think I may have cried. I'm not sure, but I think I had made some dumb comment about a grade he had gotten on an assignment.
Wayne always having a bag of ketchup chips or Doritos handy. And a bunch of us making regular trips to J&S Convenience to stock up on candy.
Shane Keddy and the GT Snow Racer injury that still makes me cringe to this day.
Counting down the minutes to recess and lunch so that we could go play foot hockey.
The Canada Goose play ("Look at me, I'm a Canadian, Joined to a Canadian, Here I Stand"). What a weird friggin play
Nathan falling off the K. Rowe roof after-hours and landing on his back.
And of course my grade 8 perm and all that went with it...such as getting my hair done by the ladies behind the dumpster (I believe Erin was the lead hairdresser). There was no excuse for that. I still feel shame and apologize to everyone whose sensibilities were offended.
Craig McGibbon introducing me to cigarettes in Peel Park. I coughed and could never really get into smoking, and I was far too scared of my Dad finding out anyway.
Finding dirty magazines in the ditches of various roads. Was it just me or were there lots of discarded dirty magazines to be found back then?
Doing the "rope trick": Where 2 of us would stand on opposite sides of the road and stretch an imaginary rope across the road at waist level as cars approached.
Seeing the back of Jeff Wilson's bedroom door all marked up from the Ninja Stars he'd thrown at it, and being really impressed.
"Ghost in the Graveyard". I can't even remember how that was played...just remember the name.
And I'm not sure about this one, but didn't we steal a "feminine" product from Suzanne Grubb's desk and pin it to the black board?

Jenny

I do remember a few of the 'crushes' though. I think they are okay to talk about now ? Erin - Mark, you - Turbo ! Was it Joce & Chris S. or Sue ? or Sue & Jon M. ?
Although I always got paired up with Brad (Jolly Green & Sprout) I think I probably had a crush on Nathan - although I hated that he thought he was smarter than me - turns out he was - but whatever.
I also remember a certain kick-ass dance routine to Janet Jackson's "Control" put together by Miss Akilah &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; featuring me, Erin & Jocelyn B in all our Au Coton glory !
Hey, how about the time Joanne & I broke Dave Kidd's collar bone playing football ? Yikes !
I believe I was also known as Gumby one winter due to a ridiculously oversized green coat & for having a fondness for giant yellow sweaters that carried over to grade 9 - right Wayne ?

Mark

One of the highlights of my young life had to be Shayne Keddy skipping school (outrageous!) to get tickets to go see the WWF at the Oshawa Civic Center. We spat on "Iron" Mike Sharpe and Brutus Beefcake gentlymanhandled Jeff Turnham when he approached him in the crowd afterwards.
I remember in grade five or six Craig McGibbon cracking me up with joke versions of pop songs. He sang 'Solid as a Rock' with 'Solid... solid as a tomato?'. And 'Sexy and Seventeen' became 'Sexy and...four?!'. Funny stuff (at least to an immature ten year old).
Just to clarify my 'petition against the Lord's Prayer' in grade 6--what it was actually against was the Lord's Prayer being read out by a primitive Stephen Hawking computer voice. Though I wasn't and am not exactly religious, something about this struck me as being wrong, so I thought I'd do something about it (I'm sure it wasn't just me). Hence the petition. No big deal, but the truly story worthy part is when Mr. Batten misinterpretted it as being a petition against him personally, and came and did some red faced screaming at our class about how he wouldn't be stabbed in the back. I thought he was going to murder me. Strange stuff. As for my petition against Nathan... who wouldn't sign a petition against Nathan? In fact I'm thinking of starting up a new one right now. Who's with me? Some K. Rowe trivia: Nathan and I (I believe) went to the same school from 1978 -1996. K. Rowe K-8, through Henry Street and McGill. Other than the occasional document signing to the contrary, we were pretty good friends all of that time.
Was it Suzanne, Sandra and myself who got perfect spelling all through grade 2? That was the year of the Terry Fox run too, which is one of the few early events I remember clearly.
Does anyone else remember at the grade 8 graduation dance all getting in a big circle and singing along with 'We Built This City On Rock and Roll?'.
Just some random things that have been bouncing around in my head the last week or so. One thing that should be said though, is that along with all of these happy childhood memories is the fact that quite a few of us (including me) could be evil bastards, and seemed to have no problem with joining in on picking on people, excluding them, and just generally being part of deciding who was cool or not. So if anyone is reading this who we weren't exactly nice to and have been looking for some form of closure for 20 years... I apologize!

Melanie

Somewhere in a box in storage I do believe I still have the cassette tape of our train ride to Quebec City!! I know I have come across it over the years and recall a lot of singing from Akilah, but best is the pre-puberty voices of all the guys (Brad Jacques is standing out the most for some reason :-)).
A bunch of guys (I'm thinking maybe Rob Sprague/Shayne Keddy) jamming caterpillars down my back out in the field (I still hate those things)!!
Sneaking off school property at lunch hour to go to Yum Yums for fries and gravy, compliments of Jocelyn Green!
After many a Top 5 and "seeing" one another, Brad Jacques declared it ridiculous and that it should end since we never "did anything" anyway!
Mr. Ninja Man Jeff Wilson jumping out at me on my walk to Wheelies one Friday night in his full ninja garb!
Being devastated when finding out the "guys" (Jeff Turnham you're ringing a bell) claimed that we were going to Wheelies to do drugs!!
Hitting Piper in the mouth with a golf club while playing mini putt!! (I hope there were no long-term injuries)?!
Akilah dressed to the nines for our CAMPING trip to Camp Kandalore!
Kicking Rob Sprague in the mouth and because he ran around screaming like a girl, I got in big trouble from Mr. Patte!
Aaron Lemon joining our group and flipping his desk over in the middle of Miss Beaton's class while chasing Shayne!
All you guys obsessing over SPRING HOLMES whenever she came near our classroom (in particular Shayne Keddy)!
Okay, I can't end this without telling you (mainly the girls) that it pains me to this day to recall that on a regular basis I refused to take ends in skipping and/or jumpsies!!! I mean who did I think I was?!!
However, did I miss out on all this smooching - I thought I had a great memory of those public school days but I don't remember smooching ANYONE - I thought we didn't do that (aside from spin the bottle at the boy-girl parties)?? Although I do remember your mom did up a real nice count-the-candies in the candy jar to win it at your party Jeff!

Nathan

First off, to all the ladies, I remember smooching with every one of you (wink, wink) - now honestly, who didn’t kiss who back then? oh well, it seems as though everyone has some sort of memory of Nathan being a ladies man and a heartbreaker - really now!?! get serious!
Craig McGibbon falling out of the tree in my backyard and breaking his arm (seems we had a lot of people from our class who were prone to falling out of trees)
Our first fledgling experiences with alcohol at Brad Jacques house - I think we have audio from some of those experiences
Jeff Turnham always seemed to be the first to vomit - gross! his food never seemed to be completely chewed when it came back out.
I remember being at Brad’s cottage and him electrocuting himself - what a flash of blue/white light!
I remember the fart spray in Quebec City and spraying it in the bottom of phone booths as people were using them
I remember we bought some fireworks in Quebec City and lit a huge, loud one off in the middle of the old city section - some old people from nearby came yelling at us after that one
Mark Davies’ endless petitions,he had one against the playing of the Lord’s prayer every morning. he had one against me for being too rough, and then one lunch hour all of my so-called ‘friends’ ostracized me (and ran away from me) and I had to go weep and be consoled by the girls
Brian Locke breaking my ankle in the schoolyard at winter - my foot was actually facing the wrong way after that one
In the early K. Rowe days being chased by the girls and having my abnormally large cheeks pinched (the cheeks on my face… by the way)
The monkey bar fights and king of the castle in the early days
What about Becky Stead (sp?) - I was amazed when at the ripe old age of 10 she proclaimed she would from that point on she would be known by only one name, Starlight (?), Moonbeam (?), or something like that? She moved away in grade 5 I think?
I remember ‘Wheelies’ and how I envied Melanie and Sandra because they could skate backwards - which turned out to be very useful for skating to slow songs. I would get jealous because they also skated with older guys I didn’t know.
I remember Wheelies would always open the night with Duran Duran’s song ‘Relax’
I remember one particular hot tub/pool party at Sue’s place (wasn’t it ‘Soozy’ at one point?) where I was an asshole and claimed I peed in the hot tub
Wayne Paddick and I accidentally lit an enormous grass fire in the field behind the school - the fire dept. had to come and everything - we hid and watched from the bushes - that was a scary one - I’d take that one back if I could
Throwing firecrackers from my backyard at passing cars with Paddick and some others - we eventually hit a car and got run down, caught, and threatened by the driver
Brad Jacques and I taking 50% longer than everyone else to finish a test, while everyone was outside for recess or lunch Brad and I were still writing not wanting the other one to get a better grade!
Road hockey and hide-and-seek on Orchard Crt.
In Peel Park I swear I got ‘married’ to almost every girl in the class over the 8 years - there was some little stupid ceremony where we proclaimed we were ‘now married’ - those little pretend marriages were the best
The Cinderella operetta we had and I played the King, Paddick was the prince and was always nervous for the solo he had to sing - I remember a voice straining with the struggle of pending puberty
Sorry Brent Knowles, but I remember dirty underpants in the garbage in the bathroom every few weeks
The combination of the boys bathroom (almost a perfect geometrical cube) and a super-bouncy superball thrown at maximum velocity was an amazing experience
I remember going on my way to explore the old ships in the port with Paddick and Jeff Wilson and getting freaked out they were smoking cigarettes and then taking off to go home
I remember the steep hill near the portables where I used to somehow run and do a bellyflop without breaking my back or suffering severe internal bleeding
I also remember never making any of the sports teams from grade 6-8 - that’s quite an achievement since there were only ~40 people in our class

Piper

Along with the top 5 lists, how about the multiple choice notes. Do you like me yes/no? And why did we have to fold them in such strange ways.
Why was it fun to pull people's pants down?
How about learning how to properly fold a road map (Mr Vernon's (sp?) gr 4 class) and having competitions to see who could do it fastest.
Play day, why don't we have those anymore?
Along with ghost in the grave yard does anyone remember the game we made up "children of the corn"?
Guns and Roses and Susie's obsession with Axl Rose.
Snowball, man I loved Wheelies.
The baseball themed cabbage patch kid we gave Mr Pattie when he left K Rowe.

Suzanne

Giant spitballs hurling out of control towards the chalk board. I wonder if Craig and Jeff can still build them to Olympic size proportions.
Mark falling out of Wayne's tree and breaking his arm. It was a good hiding spot though.....
Turnham and Davies and Sandra and I and our rendition of 'Yellow Submarine'. Were you there too, Jacques? We should do a reunion tour.
Freezing our butts off in the portables.....
Peel Park.
Red Rover.
Sandra spiking a volleyball and breaking a light in the gym, bloody low ceilings!
"We don't stop for boys." Sure changed our minds didn't we girls?
Mr. Batten, world's greatest principal and friend. May he rest in peace....
Remember the Commodore 64? Mr. Delong had all the latest and greatest computer technology.
Was it grade 8 that we had billets from Quebec come and stay with us?
My first boyfriend and first kiss.....Nathan Currier. Good times, good times. Although, he was 3-timing me with Sandra and Jocelyn, the DOG! I hope that in time he has learned his lesson and stopped breaking the hearts of many a young thing throughout his life.
I wonder if Wayne remembers playing 'lions' with Sandra and I when we were very little in his backyard using the hockey nets as lion cages.......
does anyone remember Ms. Beaton intercepting my notes in class only to write the burning questions on the board: "Is Melanie going to Wheelies on Friday night?", "Does Rob really like Sandra?", and various others that prompted me to start spewing tears and scream in the hallway.....nobody's face turned redder than mine back in the day.
Melanie Graham has always had audio tapes of us chatting it up on the train to Quebec City, do you still have those Mel? Brad Jacques sounds like a chipmunk on LSD. Darn it we were cute.
Does anyone else miss those afternoons devoted to art in 8th grade? Did we ever really get anything done? Remember Mr. Ormiston? He was the janitor that always let us in to read our horoscope when he was reading the morning paper.

Suzy

I do recall the top 5's, that's for sure.
What about "The Great Debate" in Miss Beaton's Class. Boys vs. Girls and who was more mature. Remember???
I also remember in grade four when the whole "going together phenomenon" began. My parents forbid me to do something so ridiculous, so when Brent Knowles finally asked, I had to say no even though I secretly kept pining over him.
I also remember Anne Rennie challenging me to a fight at the garbage bin because I made some comment about her make-up, and trying to come up with every excuse to stay late after school to avoid the confrontation.
One thing that has stuck with me was the knick name "Socks" from the days in grade five when we started swimming lessons and thanks to Wayne (I think) no one believed me that my boobs were real.
One not so funny memory was at an end of the year pool party at Marks house. Brad Jacques doing a reverse dive off the diving board and hitting his head on the board. Mr Delong jumping in to save him.
I do recall a smooching episode at one of Erin's parties, we all lined up with our partners, and I think on the count of three we all (very quickly) kissed. I remember being paired up with Nathan, and the next thing I recall was Nathan telling all the boys that I slipped him the tongue. Yeah.....That never happened...(sorry Nate) it's a good thing too considering peeing into a girl gets her pregnant you never know what a slip of the tongue might bring on. I'm as much to blame, I never fessed up to any of the girls that I did no such thing cause come on, having everyone think I actually slipped Nathan the tongue... made me pretty damn cool.

Wayne

I believe Jocelyn had a nickname as well as Suzy, it was ___ ____ s Bozly or something. LOL
The good thing about being the dumpy funny kid is I didn't have to try and impress by getting the perm, Turbo, sorry, that just makes me laugh. Actually looked it up in grade nine yearbook.
I remember countless games of road hockey on Orchard Ct. and Brad's red stick with the curve that was right out of the Molson Canadian commercial
Suzy, yes, I was .....well....I was infatuated with......well, let's just say that I know you found out the lengths I went to to see if they were real, and again, I'm sorry
I remember sleeping out in the tent in my backyard with Shayne and Jeff wilson coming over in his Ninja outfit and we slunk around town and went on the old ships down at the harbour
the sleep over at Shayne's with Brad, Turbo, Mark where we played Dr. Ruth for crying out loud then sunck out and met Suzy and Jocelyn at the school
Turbo's perm...........sry Jeff, can't let it go
French bingo with Mme Harushka in grade six and Jon getting kicked out for "e says what?"
I remember being invited to a couple of the couples parties and having the girls try to avoid having the bottle land on me....ya, ok, a little self pity never hurt.
Foot hockey and red ass and fumbles
the most amazing memory I think though was, and I will sign off, ws the spray painting of the school episode. Yes, Jeff W and I did it and I know Ms. Beaton found out (gee, don't know how that happened) but the funny thing is she never said a word about it. I think we lucked out with her and I hope she comes so we can all say thanks.

Kathleen Rowe Class of '87

Monday, February 26, 2007

Mark's K. Rowe Memories...

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Piper's Memories

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Photos from Craig

wow, 20 years!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

A bunch of photos

Weird stuff we remember

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