RVRHS Alumni February 2003 Newsletter

This months newsletter is sponsored by http://www.thesnatcher.com - a software used for grabbing images off of websites. Comes in pretty handy when you are grabbing clip art or wallpapers from large sites. Simply type in the URL you want it to scope and it will grab all the images from the site based on the size parameters and depth of scan you set. Thanks to Dan Pyke for the sponsorship.

First off this month a special message from Mike Sullivan:
"While it is anticipated that the reunion will attract a fair number of us to Otterburn on May 18th, logistics or other committments might not make it possible for everyone.

To ensure that we get to "see everybody", Bill Morency and I have agreed to prepare a photo montage of yesterday and today photos, but the success of the montage depends on you. A significant number of pictures, that never made it into the yearbook, have been locked away in Bill Morency's vault for the last two decades. Those photos, coupled with recent shots of you and your loved ones, would allow us to see how far we've come in the last 20 years and re-aquaint ourselves with the past.

If you could send me a couple of recent photos of you and your loved ones by e-mail, along with a caption indicating who is in the shot, we will incorporate them into the montage, which will run at some point during the evening. My e-mail address is: reebus AT shaw.ca

Also, we urge you to bring your own cameras - digital or 35 mm - and take shots throughout the evening on the 18th. Following the reunion, we would like to make a number of the photos available on the RVRHS website as well as the montage.

Here is an opportunity to revisit the past, embrace the present and capture an evening that has been waiting to happen for the past 20 years.

I hope you will indulge us and send your photos!"

Next up:

Congratulations to Carol Critchlow (Class of 80) CRITCHLO AT HWS.EDU and her husband Tim Davis on the birth of their son on Jan 02, 03. By all reports Eric Andrew Davis is healthy and prospering.

D. Ken Ballantyne (Class of 66) I guess I'm one of the originals,having started in grade 1 at the Mcmasterville Elementary School in 1954. Then on to WMHS in 1961.it's a bit foggy from then on. I spent the next 3 or 4 years trying to get out of gr.9.(back then there was no diagnosis for the syndrome, but it's now been recognized as attention deficiet syndrome). Then I went to Mountainview h.s., but left after only a year and a half when I was almost finished gr.11. I eventually got my high school equivalancy in Manitoba about 6 years later. my circle of friends from the three schools could fill a couple of pages if I listed them all. I still run into alumni out here but I guess the most famous would have to be Margot(margie) Kidder of Superman fame who attended gr. 7&8 at MES&WMHS. I live in the Vancouver area as I have for most of the last almost 28 yrs.

Janice Arlene McIntosh Barclay (Class of 67) j-bbarclay AT rogers.com
After short stays in Regina and Windsor, Canada, as well as London, England, I now live in Mississauga, Ontario with my husband of 30 years,Bob. We met at Bishops University, where I went after High School. After teaching High School for a few years (History and geography), I became a stay-home Mom and loved every minute of it. Bob and I are now empty nestors, as our three kids are now all in university,ages 23,21,and 19. Would love to hear from anyone who remembers me. I still hear from Joyce Anne Ormerod.

Scott Birks 1969 ScottBirks AT hotmail.com
After I graduated from William McMaster High in 1969, I started at Bishop's University in Science. I changed to Commerce and graduated from Sir George Williams University with a Commerce degree an accounting Major. I also got married to a Pauline who I met at Bishop's. I worked as an accountant and auditor for several years and in 1976 Pauline and I ran a group home for Intellectually Handicapped children for two and 1/2 years. We then started our own family. we have two children, Sara our oldest graduated from McGill and is now a teacher in Pointe Claire, Quebec, where we now live. Matthew is in his second year at John Abbott studying Social Science. As for me I got interested in working with the Intellectually Challenged and retrained as a Special Care Councillor and worked in an institution for almost ten years. After that I got my Degree in Education from McGill and started teaching. Right now I teach in a small high school right over the border in Ontario, Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute where I am the Head of Business and Social Sciences.

My brothers, Peter and John are well. Peter is living in Chicago, married with two children and John is living in Toronto also married with two daughters. I still see Debbie Elliott who lives in nearby Beaconsfield and many of us were at Jim St.Amours' funeral in 2001.

When I read in the paper that our old high school WMHS/RVRHS was being "closed" and becoming a french school I became nostalgic for the old "gang". One item that I found amusing when I went back to the reunion was a display of old WMHS items. One of them was a warmup jacket from an old player on the basketball team. It was mine, I left it in my locker back in
1969 when I feft WMHS and forgot about it and now it sits in a display. There were other items on display so if the old lost and found is still there get your stuff before it gets lost again. I am interested in where everyone ended up and would like to hear from others.

Colleen Chipman (Class of 71) chipmancolleen AT hotmail.com
Seperated three beautiful daughters, living in chambly. Has anybody heard from Gwen and Glen Lancaster miss them much, also looking for Debbie Thompson. If anybody has any info please e-mail me, Thank you.

Carol Hynd (now Uttaro) (Class of 73) carol_hynd AT hotmail.com
I graduated in 1976 as a RNA. I worked in the Montreal General Hospital for 12 years. I married Mike Uttaro, in 1979. We have 3 wonderful sons. Jeremy 20, Christopher 15 and Joshua 13. We now live in North Bay, Ontario.

Mike Carlson (Class of 74) carlsons_5 AT msn.com
After Champlain College I moved back to the U.S., joined the Air Force and married Christine Languay. (Tom Gurr married her sister, Colleen, from Otterburn Park). Hilary Wrong (class of 73) married Christine's brother Cliff. Left the Air Force, moved to Tucson, then Denver, and have been in the Baltimore area for the past 19 yrs. We have 3 sons, Andrew 18, Nick 17 and Kevin 13. Just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Get back to Otterburn frequently to visit Christine's family and some old friends still in the area. Own my own sign installation company for 10 yrs now. Would like to hear from others back home so we can get together when we visit.

Philippe Cherpit (Class of 74) cherpit AT info07.zzn.com
Hello class of '74

It is a wonderful experience to browse through the alumni site of RVRHS.org and take a trip down memory lane by reading about all of you and what you've become. I have been living in France now for the last ten years, 8 in Paris and the last two in Bordeaux. I am married and have a daughter and son aged 5 and 3.Would love to hear from anyone from my class.

Debbie Jamieson (Class of 74) friesen562 AT shaw.ca
I was living in Boucherville with my sister Marcia Dixon at the time and would have graduated in 1974 but moved away and got a job instead. Am currently married to Dennis Friesen (met him after moving to B.C. in 1980) we have a 16 yr old daughter, Megan and live in Abbotsford, B.C. Would love to here from anyone who remembers me.

Mederic Corvec (Class of 75) medcorvec AT hotmail.com
Living in b.c. travel western canada and u.s.a. would be nice to hear from my old classmates

John Glew (Class of 75) John_Glew AT hotmail.com
I am living in Ottawa, Married, two sons one daughter email.

Pamela May Wilson (Class of 75) romancandles AT hotmail.com

Michael McAllister (Class of 77) michael2 AT backpacker.com
Wow, almost 25 years have passed since RVR. Left Quebec for Toronto just a week or so after Grad. Initially kept in touch with a couple of people, but as lives got busier, lost touch. My wife Vicki and I just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary, and we have a beautiful 14 year old daughter. We live in Whitby, Ontario (just east of Toronto). I am a Certified General Accountant, and have spent the last 11 years as the CFO of a medium sized consulting engineering firm based in Whitby.

Marc Bourdages (Class of 79) mbourdages AT centrebell.ca

Stuart Smith (Class of 80) stuart.smith AT sympatico.ca
I have a house in Otterburn with my wife of 12 years and my 8 year old daughter whom we adopted from China when she was 3 months old.
Has anyone else gone through the adoption process?
I'm still working at Pratt&whitney in Longueuil but business is slow since 911.
It was great to see everyone at the last reunion.Is there another one in the works?

Natalie Palfreeman (Class of 81) natalie.palfreeman AT mail.mcgill.ca
I have lost touch with most of you. How interesting to see what people have gone on to do! After high school, I did a degree in Biochemisty at McGill. I went on to work in biotech research (too boring) and in the pharmaceutical industry ( too business) to finally return to McGill and do an MSc in Human Genetics with a specialty in Genetic Counselling. I am married with two kids ( two girls 4 years old and 1 year old). I am living in Beaconsfield and working as a genetic counsellor at Ste. Justine hospital. January 2003.

Diane L'Italien (now Gebhardt) (Class of 82) gebca AT cox.net
Wow! I has been a very long time! I would have graduated with you but I moved to Arizona. I met Carl, the man of my dreams in 1990 and married him in 1998. I have spent the past 12 years in the apartment industry. I now hold the best job in the world, I am a stay at home Mom to Nicholas who is 5 months old, Booger and Little Miss, our cats. I would love to hear from you all!

Robert Murphy (Class of 83) murphyrobert AT sympatico.ca
I moved to Monteal after founding Fotowerkz photography and design. Operated it for about 12 years, got sick of it, and started freelancing for design and architectural firms. I have 2 beautiful little girls;
Elizabeth and Juliette, whom I love more than anything in the world. And that's about all the news that's fit to print... Montreal, job, kids. Yep, that's all, folks. Thanks and drop me a line: murphyrobert AT sympatico.ca

Rita Desfosses (Class of 83) r_desfosses AT hotmail.com
I am currently living in Cambridge Ontario with my sweetheart Rob Edlefsen and a step-mom of 2 beautiful girls. I have been working for the same company for 15 1/2 yrs. I was able to transfer to Toronto in June 2000 and am currently working in Waterloo.

Colleen Ross (Class of 83) colleen.work AT sympatico.ca
Colleen is currently living in London, Ontario with her wonderful husband and their two active little boys, Andy (5) and Tom (3). She graduated from Concordia with a BA Economics and now works as a Financial Controller for a Children's Theatre Company. All is Well!

Dave St. Denis (Class of 84) talus94 AT hotmail.com

Nathaly J. Vermette (Class of 84) njvermette AT gplegal.com
NATHALY J. VERMETTE received her Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Université de Montréal in 1993 and became a member of the Quebec Bar in 1994. While in private practice, she pursued her Masters of Law (LL.M.) degree at Université de Montréal, which she completed in February 2000. The subject matter of Nathaly's thesis relates to internet domain names and trade-marks in an international context. Nathaly has published several articles and has made numerous presentations on the intellectual property issues related to the internet in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom and has on several occasions been interviewed on television in her field of expertise. Nathaly is currently in the process of writing a French textbook on trademarks for the province of Quebec.

Nathaly joined the Montreal law firm of Greenspoon Perreault in 1999. She practices in the area of corporate and commercial law, with a specialization in technology and intellectual property law. Nathaly handles a large number of trade-mark, domain name and copyright registrations and disputes on behalf of clients. She also has considerable experience in the areas of electronic commerce, entertainment, multimedia and internet gaming. In addition, she regularly assists clients with a variety of commercial agreements, including employment and consulting agreements, mergers and acquisitions, commercial lease agreements and shareholders' agreements.

Currently, Nathaly lives with her husband in Montreal.

Francine Giroux (Class of 85) fgiroux AT smurfit.com
Paul Davidson (brother of Pamela Davidson - class of '85) and I got married in 1991. My work has brought us to a few places including Pennsylvania. We now live in Virginia and have 2 sons. Matthew is 10 and Timothy is 4. Matthew rides a Kawasaki KX 65 and races whenever he can. Timothy just started riding a Honda 50.

We have a wonderful home and family and love living in the U.S.A.

Paul Davidson (Class of 86) davidsonfmly AT aol.com
My last year at RVR was in 1985. My family moved to Chicago, IL. I came back to Montreal after a couple of years and got together with old friends from school.

I am married to Francine Giroux (class of '85). We live in Virginia and I own a distribution company. I also build houses. In our spare time we ride motocross with our two sons, Matthew and Timothy.

If anyone wants to race their motocross with me, write me and we'll set it up!

Kim Belley (Class of 87) kbelley70 AT hotmail.com
I have been working as production manager and controller in a company for 14 years now and I am also a regular volunteer at the Fauna Foundation, a sanctuary for abused animals and 14 very special Chimanzees that have been retired from research labs in the US. It's a great place and it has changed my life.

I have been married for 7 years now, and no kiddies yet!!

I have been in touch with Patricia on a regular basis; I will let her know she can drop a message on the site. She is working as an insurance broker for Wawanessa in Montreal, and has a beautiful 4- year-old girl named Serina.

I hope to hear from some old friends!!
Vicky, Brenda, Kim Batten, Debbie, Craig, Karine...
Bye
Kim

Sylvianne Giroux (now Humber) (Class of 87) humber mls AT forces.gc.ca
(I now go by Humber)Some of you make the rest of us sound like we have dull lives. Nice to know everyone's doing so well. I headed to Dawson and the Army Reserves after RVR and instead of finishing off there I fell madly in love with an guy in the Army, David, moved to Gagetown NB and got married. We've been married 12 years. We have a wonderful 11 year old son Sheldon and a beautiful 10 year old Daughter Rebecca. Guess the army realy ended up being my thing since it's now 14 years later and I'm still in the army, the last seven as Regular Force, 5 years as a Mechanic(so there Mr. Ball, see, women can be mechanics!)and just recently changed to administration and finance(Computers are just that much nicer to work with). Just moved to North Bay and work with NORAD in the underground(600ft underground) and still in love with my family and life. All the best to everyone.

April Crux (Class of 89) acruz AT mojoradio.ca
I specialize in GPS locators, and enjoy knowing where most of you frequent for late night "coffee". Life on the West Coast is numbing at the best of times and I have endured the rains for the last 9 years. I hope to return to the East eventually so I can escape the clutches of the professional protesters. Drop me a line if you have any suggestions as to what to do with a rutabaga, a possum and scotch tape.

Tracy Payne (Class of 89) tweety2k AT aol.com
I have been teaching now for six years and am anxiously awaiting for maternity leave to start in March as our first child is due on St. Patrick's Day 2003. Urban sprawl continues to flourish in the Greater Toronto Area and now we will have to move from Brampton to Acton in order to find some peace. A beautiful bungalow out in the country... can't wait!

Cristina Kakebeeke (Class of 91) ckakebeeke AT hotmail.com
Living in NDG with sister Mia - working for Marsh Canada as Client Representative for Custom Risk Department right downtown Mtl.

Patrick Karim (Class of 93) pkarim76 AT hotmail.com
I didn't even know this site existed until I met Jennifer H. which told me about it...
I guess it's only the successfull people who wrote a C.V. under there name... So I'm outta here !!!!

Jason Doucet (Class of 94) j_at_dr_ville AT hotmail.com
Wow, it's already been 9 years! Time flies by fast when you're having fun... or so we're meant to believe! After RVR, it was off to Champlain and then Concordia in Psych. Lived in Otterburn, St-Bruno, Drummondville and now here. Jay's gotta gun!!! - Peace Officer for the Ministère de la Sécurité Publique du Québec. Working out of the Sorel-Tracy Prison. Baught my first home this year but have been living with the love of my life: Marie-Eve for 4 years. Marriage and kids are on our list of things to do... Already got the cats (2) and dog. Still in touch with a couple of you, some more than others! Would love to hear from anyone and everyone; j_at_dr_ville AT hotmail.com

Julie Dubois (Class of 94) juliedubois77 AT hotmail.com

Melanie Hazel (Class of 94) mel AT petergravelle.com

Jonathan Sierant (Class of 95) johnsierant AT sympatico.ca
Let's see, after graduation I bumbed around for a year before going to Cegep in Creative Arts. Took me 3 years to finish that but I did get a DEC. Went to work for a company called Expertech which has nothing to do with Creative Arts. After a year in a dead end job there, I went to school in Cornwall Ontario for 5 months to get a better job at Expertech. That all worked out. Since April 2002 I have been strugling with Chron's disease. In and out of the hospital. It is now Jan. '03 and I haven't worked since the end of Sept. '02. Been on sick leave and looks like I will be for a while. Would love to hear from anyone. Helps pass the time

Kathleen Boisvert (Class of 96) designkode AT sympatico.ca

Melissa Breton (Class of 97) Cinnamon_dreams AT hotmail.com
Hey everyone from R.V.R.Cegep was a blast got my degree in professional theatre and now I have moved to Toronto to pursue my acting career. My stage name is now Melissa Carter and I have recently had the chance to work in the film Confessions of a dangerous mind along side Goerge Clooney and Sam Rockwell. They are the two nicest people I have met. I've done a few commercials and stand in work on the set of the skulls 3. I hope to be in Los Angeles by next October to look for a place to live. If you havn't seen the movie look for me in the preview! Take care see ya at the reunion!
Ciao

Shirley Hazel (Class of 98) squirley AT canada.com

please_post: Hey everyone. Miss you all. Everything is going great. I work in insurance and I'm married to chirs Pilon, we will be hitting two years on June 2 2003. Hope to hear from some of you.
Just wanted to send out a message to Nancy Newman, I found all those letters (snowflake). See ya

James Standish (Class of 00) insaneinthebr1 AT hotmail.com
Hey Guys! Everything is going great. I'm at champlian now and will be for the next year. I hope everyone is well and we all should get together and remember the good old days (haha)
Keep in touch!!

Jean-Francois Laurence (Class of 02) untamed_55 AT hotmail.com
I am now studying(if thats how you spell it) in Publication Design and Management at Champlain St-Lambert. I miss a couple of people from school...it's not even been a year. But that's life...we need to separate every single time...Best wishes to everyone. -J-

Dennis Thibault (Class of 03) v0rtex17 AT hotmail.com
Hey I would just like to give a big shout out to everyone who has graduated at RVRHS while it existed. I am proud to be able to be part of the last graduating class! Don't worry everyone we will make it a year to remember!! RVR will live on in our hearts and memories forever.