by Ron Hall, 1959-1961
(a transplant from Winston Churchill C.I. where I did grades 9 to 11 )
As we near Thomson C.I.’s celebrations of fifty years educating Scarborough students, I did some recollecting on the first two years that the school was open and I was a student recently moved over from Winston Churchill C.I . after completing Grade Eleven there.
Naturally, there was a great sense of promise for both the individuals who would be the first to graduate, and for the new school itself. There were new houses here and there in the area, but there were also huge open grounds untouched as of 1959, lending weight to the feeling of untapped potential. In fact, Sheppard Avenue, just a couple of minutes away, was still a gravel road that threw up clouds of fine dust whenever one of the few cars back then ventured onto it. And new subdivisions, such as the one off McCowan Road above Lawrence Avenue on the west side, offered spanking new brick bungalows that were accessible only by deeply rutted mud roads. Much was yet to be decided or built, as this part of Scarborough was considered to be on the fringes of city development. But the newly erected Scarborough General Hospital assured people that progress was certain to fill in the blank land before too long, so they continued to arrive.
But we were soon made aware as students of the people who came before us and whose name the school adopted. Just a short distance away, David and Mary Thomson were among the very first settlers at the end of the eighteenth century. Our school song, written by one of the new staff, Dick Joliffe, reminded us : ” Out of the darkness of the forests… ” the family toiled to tame the land, carving their futures from very difficult conditions. One of those challenges included attacks by local Indians who had occupied these lands for many generations before Europeans arrived. This knowledge provided a clear and strong link with those who had arrived here a century-and-a-half before us. Many of us saw our academic challenges as being less life-threatening but equally perilous if we failed to reach our goals safely – our parents would have been up in arms with anything less !
The newly-hired staff exuded such enthusiasm for this bright new opportunity that it was contagious to all. Gatherings in the large and inviting assembly hall were meaningful and anticipated with some excitement. Plays were acted on the stage that garnered praise from the community, and served to engage many students in their artistic interests. Several competent staff encouraged us to direct some of our skills and energy in areas other than academics, and people like Carol Ann Balmer rewarded those nudges with memorable performances, and helped to boost self-esteem for others who recognized the pool of talent we had to draw on.
And as for academics, we benefitted from such a strong staff, which included Harvey Bride, Wally London, Peter Sidorchuk, J.Ross Stevenson (our first principal ), and, of course, the irrepressible Stan Farrow, who continued to add to the vitality of the school for the next half century ! Still young and keen back then, these and others threw themselves wholeheartedly into the task of providing a quality education for us. Many, many thanks for setting the bar high!
Every one of the thirty-three seniors who came out of that first Grade Thirteen class in 1961 went on to post-secondary education. Obviously, they had a unique motivation, and lots of assistance from the very professional staff. Many were active in sports, and other endeavors, and that helped get Thomson on the map from the outset in intercollegiate athletics. This group of students went into a wide variety of careers, including, as I recall, medicine, finance, politics, science, and fittingly, education. They contributed meaningfully to the development of Scarborough, and to areas farther afield.
Five decades ago, David and Mary Thomson C.I. got off to a promising start. Since then, many thousands more students received their secondary school education here. There is much to be proud of and much to be thankful for!
