St. Peter's Intermediate (a.k.a. St. Peter's Junior High)

I still don't have time to write new articles for THE LOST VALLEY, but Google Analytics keeps me abreast of visitors who still surf in daily, and I've seen some of my photos scraped and posted on other websites.
A few months ago I bought a new scanner to copy photos for a prison documentary. I also made up digital files of a few personal photos. I didn't own a camera in my teens and when I joined the Camera Club at Saint John High I was still using a German camera with an awkward large square negative roll. My first attempts in 1974 were disastrous. I couldn't get used to winding the roll tight. Invariably the first 3-5 photos were ruined on each roll I had processed. A case in point... this series I took of my classmates at St. Peters' Intermediate. I am nostalgic about my old Catholic junior high in the Saint John's North End but sadly, I will never see it again. The three buildings were bulldozed and the land sold for condominiums. It's a pattern across Canada, with Catholic Separate schools disappearing. St Pete's was made redundant and the Church sold the property.

A photo scraped from FACEBOOK (tit for tat) - shows Dufferin kids on the paved exercise yard between St. Peter's Intermediate and Dufferin School. I recall not only leaning against this fence but also a vivid daydream about directing a movie in which an old car would smash through the chainlink and drop down onto Elm Street. Yes, I not only recall St. Peters' teachers and events, but also my adolescent daydreaming!

The Grade 9 classroom of Mr. Fred O'Brien. Row 1, seat 1 by the door was mine. In seat 2 sits my good friend John McCrossin, who not only shared my passion for reading but joined me in the Book of the Month Club. (Wed. June 5, 1974) The fellow sitting in 2nd desk, 2nd row, I believe to be Jerry Frigault. My memory of him was that at lunchtime he would shoftlift small items at Fairview Plaza and then give them away just before first class in the afternoon. I recall thanking him for a paperback he had filched - Xaviera Hollander's book THE HAPPY HOOKER. At that age I was starving for sexual knowledge and I read it from cover to cover!

St. Peters did not take student photos and did not publish a yearbook, so all of the names are lost to me though I remember the faces. I learned that Mr. O'Brien died a few years back. He was an icon in the school and gave me shit when I deserved it. (June 1974)

Rows 4 and5 by the windows. I have no idea what became of any of these young people but I assume that after 36 years most are beginning life as grandparents, (June 1974)

Three of my teachers on the sidewalk in front of St. Peters Intermediate. - Mr. Mathew's, Mr. Martin and Mr. Howard, in 1979, By then I was attending university. [I admit I scraped this image. "Jocelyn" posted it on Facebook.] Fort Howe looms in the background. These men were probably pensioned off long ago. Can anyone provide their full names?

And here is proof that the entire June 1974 roll of film was not spoiled: Later I climbed Fort Howe hill and got a shot of HMS HERMES in Saint John harbour. The carriers HERMES and ALBION visited port a few years in a row to offload British Commandos and their vehicles, which were deployed to CFB Gagetown for joint exercises with Canadians. I got a tour of ALBION when I was a sea cadet with HMCS BRUNSWICKER.

One of many books which made an impression on me while attending Junior High was Alvin Toffler's FUTURE SHOCK which predicted dire effects from exposure to constant change at an ever accelerating pace. (A filmed version, shown on TV, and cheesy by today's production standards, is now on YouTube.) By 1974 I had witnessed most of our beloved North End smashed and bulldozed by contractors working for the Urban Renewal bureaucrats. Somehow I imagined that my school, set one street back from the swathe of destruction, would avoid being ground up like the apartment buildings and old businesses along Main Street. I recorded my grandfathers memories of attending St. Pete's in the 1920s and it was comforting to live in a world with that kind of physical connection between the generations.
In June of 1974 Fred O'Brien had lectured us on the sacrifices and accomplishments of "the Old Catholics" and insisted that we respect them by choosing to attend the local Catholic High Schools - St. Malachy's (male) and St. Vincent's (female). I assume that most of the kids in my three photos listened to him. John McCrossin and I chose to enroll in Saint John High.

UPDATED - April 30, 2010. I received an email yesterday from a Grade 9 classmate KEVIN LASKEY, who surfed in and added more names to these photos.

"Hello Ron - This evening I was randomly searching the internet for memories of Saint John when I stumbled upon this article. What caught my eye were the pictures of the late Fred O'Brien's June 1974 class and the reference to John McCrossin. After a double take, I said to myself that's my grade 9 homeroom class. Looking closer at the three pictures, I realized I was there as well. I remember you sitting in row 1, seat 1 and John sitting behind you. I sat in the last seat of row three. Pam Davis sat immediately in front of me and Shirley Alexander sat to my left. I recognize other classmates such as Mark Boyle, standing at the back of row 5 against the window and Tammy McClary sitting in row 5, seat 1.
I can remember our English teacher, Mr. Mathews, commenting on your book report saying it was comparable to a book review that could be found in TIME magazine. I remember him commenting that he presented your report to Mr. Morris. That memory of you has always stayed with me. I am glad to see you are well and doing fine. Thanks for the memories. Best regards, Kevin Laskey."

Thanks very much Kevin. We haven't seen each other since June 1974 so it's a great pleasure to hear from you. I am posting your letter with the names in the hope that other classmates might find their way to this article. Am I correct that the fellow sitting in Row 2, seat 2 is Gerry (or Jerry) Frigeault ? By the way, our old principal Mr. Morris is still living in the North End. A regular LOST VALLEY reader informed me that he is still to be seen regularly attending mass at St. Peter's Church.