By Lorne Perry C’49 – Born in 1931, at the real start of the Great Depression, I spent my growing up years in and around St.Lambert, Quebec. This was a dormitory community of about 6,000 people. The majority of its workforce found gainful employment in Montreal, that is, when they could find it.
By Lorne Perry, C’49 – After Grade 4 we all moved to St. Lambert High School for Grades 5 through 11. Grade five was kind of hard for me and then grade six was a breeze. I remember Miss Dolena Smith as being a rather ordinary grade 5 teacher, while Miss Elliot (later in the year she became Mrs. Darley) excelled in grade 6.
By Lorne Perry, C’49 – By September 1942, when I moved to the big school in the center of town, the world was in the depths of global war, but I cannot say it intruded much on school life. We saved our pennies to donate to the Red Cross, and quarters went towards War Savings Certificates, but I don’t remember being taught about the countries war was affecting so seriously, nor do I remember any reference to the frequent tragic events taking place all over the world.
By Lorne Perry, C’49 – Radio was a prime form of home entertainment. We had a big old Stromberg-Carlson console radio, really a fancy piece of furniture with some radio parts inside. Sometimes we could pick up short wave broadcasts from around the world, and a few strong US AM stations late at night.
By Lorne Perry, C’49 – C.W. Smiley was the supplier of coal for furnaces or stoves, and wood for fireplaces. Most deliveries were made by horse and wagon in the warmer months and by sleigh in winter. These vehicles could only handle a ton at the most. The wagons consisted of an open top box on very high wheels, the driver sitting at the front as the horse plodded along.
By Lorne Perry, C’49 – There are lots of memories wrapped up in the various deliveries made to our house. Every day except Sunday, the milkman from Elmhurst Dairy trundled his horse and wagon from Montreal West to St.Lambert by way of the mile and three-quarters Victoria Bridge, starting out at 4 am.