I went to JAD McCurdy School in Centralia from Kindergarten in 1955 to a few   
   days in Grade 4 in Sept 1959.  Then we moved to Medicine Hat because my Father   
   was dishonorably discharged for beating up an officer in response to his crude   
   comments about my    
   Mother during a drinking session in the corporal's club.  At least, that is   
   what I was told.  If true, I wish I'd been old enough to kick him in the head   
   myself.  It destroyed my Father and our Family.  Otherwise, I loved living in   
   Centralia in my early    
   years.  I learned to skate on the outdoor rink outside the school.  The snow   
   forts and Xmas tree forts in the winter.  Going to the movie house and the   
   pool on base.  I still remember the wonderful cooking smells from food   
   prepared at the various    
   canteens and the sport set up in one of the hangars.  POPs was a highlight.    
   The visits from Montreal Canadiens (Dickie Moore, Doug Harvie, Jean Beliveau)   
   - all because somehow Charlie Gobel's Dad (an Officer) knew them.  Our Grade 1   
   to Grade 3 gang used    
   to pick all the locks in the post office near the Dutch Boy and mix all the   
   mail up.  This went on for sometime with teenagers being blamed.  All until   
   Norman Nixon got caught and turned us all in at the guard house.  My parents   
   were so upset, they    
   punished me by making me deliver flyers for the Dutch Boy on Wednesdays after   
   school.  My favorite teachers were Miss Watts (Eddie fell out of the tree at   
   our visit to her parents' farm) and Miss Erskine in Grade 2.  Air Force day   
   was always a highlight!    
    When we left, I went across the street to say good-bye to my best friend's   
   Mom.  His name was Raymond Riddell.  She gave me a dollar.  I have never   
   forgotten it.  Here's an interesting story for yous:  many years later I was   
   Salmon Fishing, staying at a    
   lodge when Ted Hamilton started relating a story about a British pilot who   
   went a bit off the deep end and started buzzing the streets of Centralia,   
   including the school,  about noon one day.  It was one of those events one   
   would never forget if you were    
   there.  I looked at Ted and said:  "You were in Centralia".  He couldn't   
   believe I knew.  Ted's oldest sister was one of my oldest sister's best   
   friends.  Her name was Colleen Hamilton.  Only her married name was "Klein".    
   Yes - she wad Ralph Klein's    
   wife, the best Premier the Province of Alberta has ever known.  I often look   
   at some of the old Coronets - the base magazine - that came out quarterly.  I   
   often wonder about what life would have held, except for that fateful night in   
   the corporals club.     
   Anyone know how I can access the information from that court marshal   
   proceeding.  Nonetheless,  things work out as they should.  I've been blessed   
   with a wonderful road to travel...and I'm grateful to God for it all!  Still   
   have my JAD McCurdy school    
   pics.  Wish Iould remember all the kids' names.  Apologies for this   
   'long-winded' post.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)