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Bringing Back the Fifties! By Patrick McCluskey, Academy '49, BA '53, BEd '55 |
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1950 : CBS began to broadcast colour TV programs; process cheese slices were sandwiched into our menus; “Peanuts” made its debut. And at St. Thomas College and Academy in Chatham, the choir won a music festival, and the Institution entered the 40th year of its existence on the banks of the Miramichi. 1951 : Harry Truman fires Gen. Douglas MacArthur; the post-war years shift into high gear; Willie Mays begins his baseball career and Joe Dimaggio ends his; power steering is wheeled in. At the College, 35 students unite in the Aquinas Choral Society, sparking intense interest in things musical in many a student. 1952 : King George VI of Britain dies in his sleep; Lipton Onion Soup boils up; newly-formed Sony turns on the first transistorized pocket radio. At STC, life continues apace: the long-short walks to the refectory and the limitless supply of porridge, classes offered wherever space permitted; Friday and Saturday nights at the MAEA were exciting. Room and board plus tuition: $489.25! 1953 : Twenty-two grads. Joseph Stalin goes to his reward; the first James Bond novel shoots across the horizon; major league baseball ruled a sport, not a business. The “Aquinian”, debating, and drama accorded centre stage. 1954 : The Church says watching Mass on television does not fulfill obligation; Hank Aaron becomes a “Swinger”; the use of sterilized male insects wipes out screwworm flies in Carocao in four months. ‘Ned’ Butler joins faculty. Green and gold colour male-female collaboration in Miramichi socializing. 1955 : The Lord Beaverbrook Arena opens. Much credit due Father McFadden, - who never sleeps. 1956 : Barbie and BIC ballpoint pens sign in; STU athletic teams make waves, especially hockey and football. On June 21st, Father J. Arthur Scott dies suddenly, aged 45. 1957 : Maxwell House Coffee declared “Good to the Last Drop!”; the microchip becomes part of life; pantyhose, devised by a man, adds sheer delight. More First Nations students attending the Academy, and J.R. Tolkien is making his mark. 1958 : The Miramichi Area transferred “fait accompli” from the Diocese of Bathurst to the Diocese of Saint John. Mixed Blessing! A.B. Leverman becomes Chancellor of STU. Thus commences the intrigue-laden demise of STU on the Miramichi. 1959 : Successful drive for funds launched, with a view to building, expanding and renovating the Chatham facilities. The move to Fredericton will be announced three years later. And that was a glimpse of our life in the “Fabulous Fifties”. The sports teams of STC/STU reached the heights; the faculty was enhanced; students engaged energetically in debating, theatricals, and writing. They participated more and more in religious, social and cultural activities of the community-at-large. Many a student met his of her mate/fate. Today, as we stroll the paths that once led us to learning and adventure, it seems that memory re-creates familiar times and places of the past: the edifices, now gone, - the gym, the hand-ball alleys, the sports field, the Administration Building. The niche that was to embrace the new chapel still gapes in astonishment at what transpired in 1964. The “bishop’s palace” houses a clutch of RHSJ Sisters. The NB Community College, Miramichi Campus, fills the rooms that were to signal expansion of STU in Chatham. St. Michael’s Academy forms part of the Community College. And St. Michael’s Basilica, around which life seemed to revolve, stands yet in mute testimony to the rise and fall of the institution in which so many of us had refuge when we needed it, and in which we found the path on which we marched to the present. And now it is time, perhaps just one more time, for everyone who attended the College or Academy on the Miramichi to converge on today’s repository of our memories.Please know that a MAJOR REUNION will take place on the FREDERICTON CAMPUS of ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY, on MAY 16-18, 2003. A happy program is being developed, and the FABULOUS FIFTIES are to be highlighted. Whatever the Planning
Committee can do, can only be enhanced by the STUDENTS OF 1950-1959,
and your presence, your memories, and your participation will make the
event come alive. Please start to
plan your pilgrimage to Fredericton in 2003. And be alert to more information
coming your way over the months to follow. And, students of any other
years are also invited! |