Lejac Indian Residential School: November 2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

P.S....

If anyone wishes to share any OLD PHOTOS on our BLOG, please email them to me at jackman2@telus.net and we will get it up on the board for you. Thank you.

When Jim Lunday came to Lejac way back in about 1966 or '67, we were told he was a Judo expert and that he also played hockey. He used to teach us Judo in the boys Rec room as a form of self-defense. We were also told that he had tried out for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I always wondered about that. All I know was that he was very good on the ice!!

Also, one evening, after supper in the fall of about 1967, all the Intermediate and Senior boys were told to meet up stairs in one of the class rooms. Of course, we never met in the classrooms in the evenings unless it was for 'Night Class' and so we were all wondering what was up.

Here he refers to 'Night Class'. Back in the 1960s and 70s, kids at Lejac Indian Residential School used to attend evening classes during the week. This was for grades 4-8. Evening class, or Night Class was when you did your homework.

Well it turns out Mr. Lundy had planned 'hockey class' for us. We were all pretty excited because it was all very new and different than anything we'd seen so far in the 1960s at residential school. Mr. Lundy was our teacher. He taught us everything about the rules on the ice, like what was a 'two-line pass', what is an 'off-side', high-sticking, holding, tripping, etc. Everything! Then it was off to the ice and he put us through a lot of skating exercises, jumping over sticks, skating backward, end-to-end, and free-for all skirmishes. Was a lot of fun!!

LATIN...

One year, in about 1967 or '68, we were told that we were going to learn Latin. The reason being, many of us Boys served as altar boys in church on Sundays. I was in Intermediates back then. And Jim Lundy was our Supervisor. All the boys in Seniors and Intermediates then went through training up at the church learning how to be altar boys. Since the Priest held mass in Latin, we each had to learn certain phrases so we could pray along with him.