MOOSE JAW — Plans have been underway for a few months, organizing, planning and anticipating a fun day Saturday, June 25, 2022. This occasion is meant for anyone who attended during the years 68/69 (Grade 9), 69/70 (Grade 10), 70/71 (Grade 11) or 71/72 (Grade 12). If you were any of those classes in those years, please consider this an invitation (graduated or not). It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since we were in school.
The committee of Carolyn (Holmstrom) Swanson, Rob McBride, Ken Humphrey, Ellen (Brentnell) Sjoberg and Colleen (Fortman) Lawrence have met and organized a fun day of morning at the school, tours and class picture; afternoon social with fashion display and silent auction; and a banquet and evening social with a slide show and historical Moose Jaw display, with lots of time to reconnect with our former classmates.
Looking back when Peacock Collegiate was known as A. E. Peacock Technical Collegiate has been a lot of fun. The Moose Jaw Public School Archive located at Peacock has provided a lot of interesting information pertaining to Peacock (along with the other MJ schools); but particularly to Peacock we found many interesting photos and articles. Peacock has a rich heritage of academic excellent, outstanding, award winning fine arts program and exceptional training in the industrial arts/skilled trades and extraordinary physical education and extracurricular program. The dedication of the staff cannot be emphasized enough, they have contributed so much to the enrichment of the students through so many programs and extracurricular activities.
Back in 1968/69 the girls were required to wear dresses or skirts to school, usually with knee high socks and penny loafers (pretty cold in the winter). You were assigned to classes generally through a home room system based on the program you chose. The day consisted of about 8 to 10 classes, and there was no semester system, so you had the same classes the entire school year. In addition to the school sports, there was a house system (Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Jupiter) so you could play intramural sports as well.
The following year of 1969/70, the girls could start wearing ‘dress pants’ which eventually wound up into jeans. The school had many dances back then, Freshie Dance, Turnabout Tangle, Tornado Dance, Mr. & Miss Peacock Dance, Sadie Hawkins Dance, often with live local bands of the day. This highlight of this year was the birth of a long history of the Musical Productions. In May 1970, Li’l Abner was presented, an outstanding success, which laid the groundwork for over 50 years of exceptional opportunity to showcase the fine arts program. There was definitely a ‘buzz’ around the school that year about this new venture.
Going through the year books of 1970/71 you can see so very many businesses of the day that advertised in the yearbooks that are no longer: Dowie’s Stationary, Dash Leather Goods, 722 Café, Tommy Tinkers, Peter’s Camera Shop, Joyners Departmental Store, Kleins Paint, definitely had a lot of Moose Jaw community support. This year was also the first year that our home rooms were sectioned off alphabetically, we met other students taking all sorts of classes, and each timetable was unique. This was the first year of the Noon Rock In, Springfield Plane performed. The musical that year was West Side Story. The years passed quickly with so many school activities to be enjoyed.
Those years went by quickly, as by 1971/72 we would be graduating. South Pacific was the musical that year. Mr. Feltham our Principal retired that year, he has spent 10 years as Principal, along with Mr. Eno as Vice Principal. This was also last year that we took the same classes all year long, as in the fall the Semester system was to commence. Another interesting fact that was found in April 1972, a proposal was started by the SGA and the Physical Education staff to study a request for the Board of Education. They wanted to propose for a new gymnasium (and campus). That proposal was presented late in 1972.
Fashions of those days included bell bottom pants, penny loafers, hot pants, desert boots, Adidas running shoes, alpaca sweaters. Popular music were tunes such as Harper Valley PTA, Get Back, Suspicious Minds, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves. They’re such good memories.
If you are interested in finding out more about our planned reunion, please contact Carolyn Swanson at 693-8373 or Rob McBride at 693-6407; or contact [email protected]; or join the facebook page Peacock 1972 – 50 Year Celebration.
Carolyn Swanson
Peacock Class of 1972
