NELSON HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1954

Marjorie (Dolly) FIFE

Family

Both of my parents are now dead and my brothers are spread around. The oldest, Sonny (or Arthur as he now calls himself), lives in Vancouver, as does my youngest brother, Ken. Chuck is in Canmore, Alberta, and Lloyd is in Australia. I left Nelson when I was about 22. Moved to Montreal with every intention of returning to B.C. after maybe a couple of years, but got married instead, had two children, John, now 45, and Janice, now 44. After about 17 years of marriage, divorced, and a few years later married Norman Browne, who I was with for another 17 years or so until he died 6 years ago. Then I decided to buy a house in St. Catharines, a beautiful little city (well, not so small compared to Nelson—130,000 population), just down the highway from Niagara Falls, so I’d be close to my daughter and grandson, Ryan, who lives with me now. Well, actually he has, for the most part, since he was about 6 years old. He’s a great kid and no problem at all. Ryan is only 13 but already 5’10” tall.

Working Life

I worked for Reader’s Digest for 37 years as an advertising sales assistant. Started there when I lived in Montreal, then was later transferred to Toronto and worked there until about 5 years ago, retiring, finally, at the age of 68. It just got too tiring to commute 2 hours there, 2 hours back, in rush hour traffic.

Memories of School

• Hume School, Miss Jerome—grade 1 teacher, who, before long, promoted Sally Butling, Phyllis Hillyard and me to grade 2.
• Miss Smith, sitting at my desk in grade 5, drawing the assignment picture for me in art class. I still remember the picture—a little sailor boy.
• Getting the ruler on both hands by Principal Stallwood for sitting on the fire escape. I didn’t even know we weren’t allowed. He wasn’t very gentle about it either.
• In a relay race in high school, passing the baton to the wrong team member because she was a Norman, as was I, in Junior High, and I forgot we were now on different teams. I think I either passed it to Dona Spence, or was supposed to pass it to her.

Memories of Life in Nelson

• Swimming at the boathouses near Donalda Ure’s house and sleigh riding down the hill in front of their place every winter.
• Collecting bottles at Lakeside Park to buy a triple-decker ice cream cone.
• Riding the huge boat swing at Lakeside Park.
• Dolly, the horse who pulled the milk wagon in Fairview. Kids used to tease me about having the same name as the horse but frankly I was quite proud to have the same name as a very smart horse who pretty much walked the route on her own, with the driver walking through yards to meet up with the wagon, just to get more milk to deliver.