Mackenzie Reunion Part 2

Bottom line: I wouldn’t have missed my high school reunion for the world.


I was there on Saturday night not just as a 1974 graduate, but also to take pictures for The CJN. I regret that I didn’t manage to capture some of the best moments, like the sudden recognition of an old friend or former teacher, and the resulting exuberant hugs. They were over so quickly, and there were so many people to reconnect with!

But, for me personally, there was also a poignancy that I didn’t remember from previous reunions. Several people I spoke to had lost a parent in recent years. As well, the pleasure of seeing a few old classmates in particular was tempered by the thought that one of my best friends in high school, who died at age 40, couldn’t see for herself the type of adults they had become.

On a brighter note, I was delighted to see almost a dozen of my elementary school classmates, who I discovered last summer have become a group of warm and interesting adults. We reconnected in July for a Grade 3, 4 and 5 reunion, and got to know each other again through a series of more than 600 group e-mails – no exaggeration. (I wrote about it in The CJN’s Community Focus supplement last August. You can view it by clicking here.)

The internet is a wonderful adjunct for reunions, building anticipation and helping people connect. I found this blog on the Mackenzie Facebook page and enjoyed it very much.

Now that it’s over, people are already talking about the next one. Only 10 more years.

Mackenzie reunion weekend

I admit it – I’m hyped. Last night I attended the kickoff event for my high school reunion, after writing about it in an advance article last month. (You can read it here.)

It’s now (yikes!) 36 years since I graduated from William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in 1974, and the school is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The program last night was fun – speaker Jeanne Beker, host of CTV’s Fashion Television and a 1970 alumna, reminisced about her Mackenzie days, including protests over the fact that girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school.

And the combined school/alumni band was a highlight, with a spirited rendition of the school song, led onstage by Karen Mock, née Greenberg, Thornhill’s federal Liberal candidate and the song’s co-writer.


Full disclosure – I have friends in the band. But the truth is, I don’t remember that kind of school spirit in the ’70s.

The band also played Memories of Mac, composed for the occasion by 1973 graduate Jack Gelbloom (far left, with former music teacher Michael Cole) and dedicated in memory of John Krongold, his fellow alumnus, who died in March.

Tonight, David Eisner and Avery Saltzman, co-artistic directors of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, will speak in the school library. Nathan Shuster, their former drama teacher – I still think of him as Mr. Shuster – will introduce them.

Last night I sat beside Mr. Gregg, my former Latin teacher, but I neglected to tell him that I still remember the difference between alumnus (masculine, singular) and alumna (feminine singular), and their plural equivalents, alumni and alumnae. And now I get to use them all in the same blog entry.

Looking forward to the main event tomorrow night.