Alumni Connection May 2025

May 2025

Curtis Ingalls

I was watching the Juno awards recently. One of the awards was given for Best Music Teacher in Canada and the winner’s speech was very moving. The teaching of music was valued, as it should be. But I see that music programs in many schools in Canada are fighting to survive, despite their value. 

So I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge Curtis Ingalls, who was my music teacher at CCHS from 1961 to 1964. I also was in the school choir during those years and Mr. Ingalls was our conductor. 

Curtis, may I say Curtis?, loved music and imparted that love to his students. I didn’t realize it at the time but what happened in that classroom and choir, what I heard and learned, has stayed with me throughout my life.

I am a child of the sixties so the Stones, Motown and Beatles reign supreme but, oh my lord, I love Beethoven and Mozart just as much, thanks to the introduction from Curtis: Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela……He even had us singing lyrics to Strauss waltzes……anyone remember them??

”Dear Vienna thy name….all thy music and art now lie deep in my heart (or something like that!)

A long time ago and yet I remember them….with a few gaps.

Our choir in Grade Eleven won a city wide award. We sang Oklahoma and other pieces I can’t recall; but we beat a choir which had won first place for many years and we were ecstatic. If anyone else remembers that night, perhaps you also recall another song we sang that I can’t quite retrieve….”Madame Genest, when the sun goes down…..”. Ring any bells?

Thanks for all you’re doing, Harvey; I enjoy the monthly missives.

Susan Collins

Ian takes on the Law (and wins)

A friend sent me this Facebook post but since I don’t use Facebook I called Ian and asked him to fill me in. It is a rather complicated story related to me by Ian with names and a few details omitted to protect the privacy of certain individuals.

It all started when Ian learned that his old friend from St. Lambert, Will John Hennessy, was in the hospital and not expected to live much longer. Ian set out to visit him - a sort of farewell gesture. Ian was staying with another friend in the area and planned to visit Will John the next morning. But that night he received a call from home letting him know that a family member had been hospitalized and was in very serious condition. Ian immediately left and returned home hoping to visit Will John in a couple of days.

When he arrived home and after seeing about his family member Ian was visited unannounced by another friend. Iain got out a bottle of Bailey’s and poured them each a drink. Ian then learns that Will John had passed away and he would not be able to visit him. His friend left and Ian had another drink by himself. This was a mistake, Ian does not drink frequently or very much when he does. On top of that he was taking medication that does not mix well with alcohol. He got up to put a log on the fire and while placing the log stumbled and suffered a burn on his arm. His wife heard the commotion and berated him saying if he wasn’t careful he was going to kill himself.

Ian then placed a call to a helpline seeking more information about what services were available for his family member. While on the line he made a comment to the person he was talking to that his wife thought he was going to kill himself. Oops wrong thing say, it was taken as a serious threat and the person sent the police to the house.

The police arrive and ask Ian if he has any guns in the house and whether he was planning to kill himself. Ian said yes he had three hunting rifles that were under lock and key with trigger guards in place. He explained to the police that his comments about “killing himself” were misinterpreted; he was just relating what his wife had said and that he had no intention of killing himself. He even showed the two officers the burn he suffered that prompted the comment.

It didn’t matter, the officers confiscated his guns and told Ian they would be destroyed. Now Ian doesn’t hunt anymore (hadn’t for 20 years) but wanted the guns to be passed on to his children when he died so he went to court and sued to have them returned. When you are right you are right.

During the court proceedings Ian told the judge he had shown both officers the burn he had received and had told them it was all a misunderstanding. One officer lied and said Ian had not shown him the burn. The second officer who was not present for the first officer’s testimony told the judge that yes Ian had shown both of them the burn.

The judge ruled in Ian’s favour but I suppose in an effort not to make everyone involved not look too bad, required the guns to be held by the police for one year before being returned. Ian was satisfied with that arrangement.   

The moral of the story is - don’t mess with Ian!  

Tales from The Dirty Dozen

This is one of the stories related to the Dirty Dozen golf gang at our weekly Thursday lunch at Scotyz bar. It’s clean so can be shared.

Rob plays defense in two different 70 year old plus hockey leagues. Because the two team captains figure he has some ability (more than most) he is paired with the two oldest and least capable defense partners.

He explains their non-performance. Neither can skate backwards and going forward is only in slow motion. They basically stand at the blue line and try to get in the way. Once in a while one of them will get his stick on the puck but it will be entirely by accident. Oh well I shouldn’t be so judgmental at least they are out there trying and yes perhaps I am a little jealous. I haven’t played hockey in 65 years and gave up curling because my bum left leg is unstable and might lead to a fall on the ice. But, why anyone who is that old thinks hockey is a good idea I don’t know. Stick with golf or croquet.

Rob then tells us that the 89 year old had a heart attact and will be out for the rest of the season perhaps more. As for the 94 year old, he fell down some stairs at home and is all banged up. He dropped in to see his teammates and told them not to worry he would be back next year. Optimism reigns supreme. Too bad there are no pictures.

Last year Rob joined the Country Club but maintained his membership at the Saint Lambert Club (Rock Pile). This year he switched allegiance and now plays full time at the County Club while being considered a member on leave at the Rock. He has kept his association with his friends in our Dirty Dozen golf league and will play as a spare when we need him and if he is available.

Can’t wait to see how much his game has improved (or not). The Country Club has two or three simulators and he frequently partakes and, he has had a bunch of lessons from the club pro. Rob of course is over 80 and I wonder if you can teach an old dog (golfer) new tricks. We shall see soon enough.

Looking For Her

Hi Harvey,

Hope you are doing well despite all the weirdness in the world these days. As an alumnus of CCHS, I am wondering whether you would consider publishing this text I have written in the next newsletter. It should be free of errors as I am a writer. This, of course, will save you time.

I am including a photo to go with it. I am also attaching the text as a Word doc & pasting it into this email. 

Thank you in advance for considering my request.

Carolyn

Carolyn Souaid (Class of ‘76) recently released Looking for Her, her second novel with Montreal publisher Baraka Books. The author of nine previous books of poetry, Carolyn made the leap to fiction in 2017 with her debut novel Yasmeen Haddad Loves Joanasi Maqaittik, a cross-cultural love story set in Arctic Quebec, which explores the aftermath of colonization in a fictional Inuit community. Loosely based on her own experience as a teacher in the North during the 1980s, the book was praised by Indigenous playwright Tomson Highway and was a silver medalist at the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2018. Last year, an Arabic translation was published in Cairo. 

The new novel, Looking for Her, unfolds as a thrilling road trip in the tradition of American classics like Thelma and Louise. In this case, two friends embark on a journey to solve the mystery of a missing Inuk girl, leading them on an emotional and turbulent path from Montreal to Ottawa to Arctic Quebec. As the tension builds, the narrative draws viewers into a dramatic, fast-paced, deeply moving experience that intertwines personal growth, mystery, and social commentary. 

Soon after its release, Carolyn went on the road delivering talks, including a recent visit to Hungary where she lectured at five universities on the important themes and motifs of the book, and the structural and interpersonal ways in which Indigenous people in Canada experience and navigate racism. 

The novel has already garnered attention from Canadian reviewers who have called it, among other things, “a novel worth unpacking and talking about” (Montreal Review of Books). Another reviewer remarked that it “raises some important questions about the White perspective of what our Indigenous people ‘need.’”  What, in other words, is the true purpose of Western education for Indigenous peoples: to assimilate them into the dominant culture, or to equip them with the tools needed to empower and uplift their own communities?

Both of Carolyn’s novels represent a career spent building bridges between linguistic and cultural communities in Quebec, and her decades-long involvement with Inuit. Locals can obtain a copy of Looking for Her at Librairie Pulp Books & Café in Verdun. It and Yasmeen Haddad Loves Joanasi Maqaittik are also available directly from Baraka Books, with free shipping anywhere in North America. https://www.barakabooks.com

Elbows up! Support Canadian literature!

D’Anita Kay (Kozleck) Banning Gamlyn
Class of 1957

D’Anita-Kay Banning-Gamlyn, 85, of Thousand Oaks, California, passed away peacefully on March 26, 2025 at her home, her husband John with her.

She was born Anita Kozleck on January 15, 1940, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and was raised by a single mother. Anita was an outstanding, hard-working student, excelling in languages and the arts. As a youth, she took several dance classes, crushed on Elvis, liked perusing magazines about celebrities and, with an active imagination, dreamt of seeing Hollywood someday. She was super creative (she later taught herself how to knit) and a fashionista (she embellished her school uniform with accessories!). While walking home from school, Saint-Lambert International High School, Anita met Charles Banning.

The young couple married in 1960 and eventually fled to California for warmer climes.Their family blossomed with five children: Debbie, Darlena, Doresa, Chris, and Chazz (Desmond).

Some years after a divorce in the early 1980s and after changing her name, D’Anita-Kay met fellow ballroom dancing enthusiast, John Gamlyn, and the two married in 2005.

Likeable and fun, with a sense of humor and energetic laugh, D’Anita was a loyal friend who remained in contact with several of her Canadian friends over the decades. She loved being in the limelight, performing with her daughters as a family singing group, and ballroom dancing, her greatest passion. D’Anita participated in many variety shows, wowing audiences with her talents.

Adventurous, she enjoyed traveling and the outdoors, especially the sun and the beach. She was quite creative and aimed for perfection in her various pursuits, always a fashionista and back in the day, a superb knitter.

Along with being committed to her Christian faith, she was health conscious and community minded. In the 1970s, D’Anita was among the co-founders and a dedicated member of Organic Cellars, a long-lived, health food cooperative. Before joining Pleasant Holidays as a wholesale travel agent in the 1990s, D’Anita was a distributor for Holiday Magic Cosmetics and Princess House Crystal.

In recent years, she resided at the Atria Grand Oaks senior community, where she rarely missed an activity and had many friends.

D’Anita is survived by her husband John, her five children, her former spouse Charles Banning and six grandchildren.

Blue Whale Ranks #2

Fun fact: A blue whale’s anus can stretch to about 3.5 feet in diameter—making it the second largest asshole on the planet. Guess who is #1

The seat wars

“Excuse me,” Tom said, trying to stay polite. “That’s my seat. I specifically booked it.”

The woman looked up and said confidently, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until the plane lands in Chicago.”

Tom frowned and checked her ticket. Sure enough, it clearly showed she was assigned the middle seat.

“Your ticket says you’re in the middle,” he pointed out. “I booked this aisle seat because I’m six-foot-five, and I need the legroom. You’re, what, five-foot-one? You’ll be just fine in the middle seat.”

The blonde, completely unfazed, repeated, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until the plane lands in Chicago.”

The woman in the window seat chimed in, “You should probably move. My ex was only six-foot-one, and he always needed the aisle seat to avoid feeling cramped.”

Still, the blonde replied, “I’m blonde, I’m smart, and I’m sitting in this aisle seat until the plane lands in Chicago.”

Frustrated, Tom finally called over a flight attendant. After listening to the situation, the attendant nodded, leaned down, and whispered something in the blonde’s ear.

Suddenly, the blonde’s expression changed. Without a word, she grabbed her things and moved to the middle seat.

Relieved, Tom settled into his aisle seat.

After landing in Chicago, curiosity got the better of him. He approached the flight attendant and asked, “What did you say to her?”

The attendant grinned. “I told her the aisle seat wasn’t going to Chicago.”