PEOPLE

Not everything was always fun at Lejac. In about 1966 we were in class one day when there was a sudden banging on the fire escape door. Our teacher answered the door and all of a sudden she ran out after speaking to whoever was there. Later a substitute teacher came in and explained to us what had happened.

Bill Leslie is our bus driver. He and his wife, Mrs. Leslie, lived in one of those houses next to our school. They said she was sweeping the floor when something happened to her and she had passed away. Someone found her lying on the floor where they live. Our Substitute and us all said a prayer for her that day in class.

That happened again later.

Randy Williams was an older boy in Grade 7 when I was still in Grade 6 in about 1968. His mom used to work in the laundry room before Mrs. Robison came. Mrs. Williams was a Native woman except I don’t know from where. Then one day that year, Brother asked a bunch of us boys from our school to attend church with him on Saturday at Fort Fraser. Fort Fraser is about 7 miles east of Lejac. I guess they had his funeral services at Fort Fraser. He was only 12 years old.

Then in 1970 the boys from Tachie had to go to Thomas’ funeral. Thomas Hansen started Lejac maybe in 1966 or ‘67. He was an older boy always joking and doing funny and crazy stuff. He was always making us laugh. Except he quit Lejac maybe in 1970 and right around that time he had an accident at Tachie where he lived.

So Brother and all the boys from Tachie all went to his funeral. That really put us all in the dumps!

OUR NEWEST FOLLOWER....

'lejac.blogspot.com' Welcomes 'nechakotess' to our BLOG. Cheers Folks. Administrator.

LES IN THE NFL NOW....

Lester Chingee was a boy from McLeod Lake in Intermediate dorm with us in the late 1960s. Maybe in about 1969 all us boys in the Band were in Senior Dorm one day and they were handing out our uniforms to us. Before a ‘road trip’.

Road trips were the most awesome! A lot of preparation went on there. Us practicing for hours and hours. And days and days. And then weeks and weeks. It wasn’t just our music but there were our formations. And our beautiful red and white uniforms. And of course us and our look.

There was our red Cadet Jacket. With the yellow tassle strung through the shoulder and our pressed white slacks. They added a red stripe down the leg that year really sharpening our look! And our black leather marching shoes spit-polished to perfection. Brother James showed us that. And then they got to our socks. There was a lot of hustling and bustling as all us 35 boys in the Band took turns going up to Sir to get our red socks.

At Residential School all the boys called their male Supervisors ‘Sir’.

We were completely excited now. Because we spent so many weeks preparing then one day they called us all together to hand out the uniform which is the last step before a road trip. And to our 15 minutes of fame.

I don’t think anyone else noticed it. Everyone was so busy getting ready in dorm. But Lester just got his socks from Sir and I was next in line when I heard him cheer just as I turned back around to see him throw his bundle of socks up in the air. And at residential school the ceilings in all the dorms were at least some 20 feet high from the floor. And our dorm lights were all covered with these huge glass fixtures. Glass fixtures the size of a football and held in place by screws.

And Les’ socks hit one of the light fixtures. Directly above us. And of course you know exactly what happened next. Sir had his back to us! And I watched as his socks suddenly knocked this huge opaque glass fixture straight off the light 20 feet above us. And straight down toward us. And the floor. And......and…..Les…..for the life of me suddenly realized his error. His blunder as this light fixture came hurtling downwards toward us, and the floor, and Sir, and the whole wide world and braced himself much like a quarterback at the end zone bracing to catch an in-coming football.

AND JESUS....HE CAUGHT IT! I couldn’t believe how he managed to place himself just right, both arms out, knees bent perfectly and to make such a perfect catch. That was the best best BEST catch I ever seen at Residential School!!

Sir finished handing out the socks. And everyone tried on all their uniforms. And we all looked so smart in Dorm when we were all done. And no one in Dorm ever saw that game-winning catch down in our end-zone Les made! Except me.

LES. BEST BEST CATCH! BEST BEST CATCH EVER! At residential school.

US....

When I first entered residential school back in 1963 there were boys there from Hazelton some 180 miles (300 km) out west. Like Charles Sampson who was an older boy in Seniors and much later Wilfred Sampson who was our Drum Major in Band in 1971. The Gunanoots were also from the Hazelton area. Shubert was in Seniors in 1969, Harvey in Intermediates and of course Elaine was in my class in the 1960s.

We had students from Moricetown not far from Hazelton in the late 60s. There were a number of students from Burns Lake like Steven Tom, Francis Holland and the Alecs and the Augustas. North of Burns Lake is Babine. Roger West, Paul West and Alec West were brothers in Intermediates and Seniors in 1968 at Lejac. Garnet Williams and I both finished Lejac Indian Residential School in 1971. He and I were in Band that year and I saw him on tour. Funniest thing ever is after residential school I moved to Fraser Lake some 3 miles up the road to start Grade 9. And Garnet also registered at Fraser Lake the following year for Grade 10 in 1972.

Garnet was in Seniors with me in 1970-71. Victor Williams, his older brother, was in Seniors with us in 1969. Victor used to be in our dance band along with Alec West and all the other boys from Babine. The guys from Babine were all very good on guitar and were always playing in the band.

Antoine Madam was a much older boy at residential school in the early 1960s who left then came back later. Philip Madam was the school night watchman in 1970 for a few years. The Madams were from Babine. Takla was east of Babine. Victor and Kenny West were from Takla. They were in Senior Dorm in 1971. Also students like Tina and Doreen French attended Lejac in the mid to late 60s. A lot of our students came from Takla.

Stellaquo was a reserve just 7 miles (11 km) west of Lejac on Highway 16. Many of the students at Lejac through the 1960s and 70s came from Stellaquo. Students like Evan Casimel, Gary Michelle and Peter Luggi. Pete Luggi (Peter’s dad) used to also be our night watchman. All the students from Stellaquo were ‘day scholars’. They came in…in the mornings on the bus and went home at the end of the day. Gary, Evan and I hung out at Fraser Lake in the 1970s after residential school.

All the names used here for the different communities are the names used in the 1960s. For instance, Stellaquo is today called Stellat’en. Nautley is Nadleh, Shelley is Leihdli, Stony Creek is Saikuz, Fort is Nak’azdli, Portage is Yekooche, Tachie is part of Tlazten, Moricetown is Wetsuwet’en, Ingenika is Tsay Keh Dene and Fort Ware is Kwadacha.

We also had a couple of students from Nadleh just east of Lejac. Junior Ketlo and Richard Ketlo attended Lejac Residential School with us in the mid-1960s for a short time. Richard and I were in Grade 9 and 10 at Fraser Lake in 1971 and 1972.

Richard Patrick and George Patrick were from Stony Creek outside Vanderhoof. We had a few students from there in the 60s. Brady Antoine and his brothers and sisters also were from Stony.

A lot of our students were from Tachie, Pinchi, Portage and Fort. Everybody at residential school called Fort St. James ‘Fort’. There were a lot of Josephs at residential school. Shirley was in my class all the way through residential school. She and I used to hang out in class. Also Art was my best friend, him and Morris back in 1969-70. Emma Joseph, Andy Joseph, Bob Cho, Mojo, Alec M, Alec C, Philip, Benny, Stuart, James, Greta, Ann, Ronnie and so on. Lots of Josephs. And Thomas, or Alexander, Duncan, those were their last names. Barry, Ronnie, Yvon, Lucille and Teddy. A lot of students from the Prince families at Fort. Like Oliver Prince, James Prince and Tony (Hobo).

We had a few students at residential school from Shelley reserve like Domo Frederick and his brother, Robert. Also Peter and Clifford Quaw.

All the Solonas, Inyallies, Chingees, McCooks, Thomahs, Pierres, Izony, came from McLeod Lake, Ingenika and Fort Ware. In the 1960s. The Isadores, Abau, and so on. Too many to name but these were some of the kids who went to Lejac in the 1960s and 70s.

WHERE WE CAME FROM.....

NEIL DIAMOND & WHITE BOARDS

I always sort of hated chores. We were assigned chores after school like cleaning the Rec room or washroom downstairs or our dorms and washroom upstairs. Also the cloak room where we changed into our boots and coats before going outside. Some of the boys were assigned to the dining room cleaning it up after meals. After they built our great big dining room in 1967 they had to teach the boys and girls how to clean the new dining room. One of the reasons is because in the old dining room there were booths but the new dining room had these great big tables which could be folded up and had wheels on the ends so you can roll these tables out of the way while sweeping and mopping the floors. Trick was move the tables without toppling them over which could be dangerous they were so heavy.

We also had spring chores once the snow melted and everything warmed up. Spring chores involved working on the rinks outside, the ball diamonds, cutting the grass in the fields or up at the barn. One spring once the snow went they called all us Intermediate and Senior boys together on a nice warm sunny Saturday and assigned us different chores throughout the school. Me and couple other boys got sent out to the Old Rink and we had to paint the boards. And it wasn’t all that bad because first of all we were outside and it was so nice out. So warm and so nice and sunny with music blaring over the P.A. system you could hear it all over the school even way out to the rinks.

That was the first time I ever heard Neil Diamond. He’s a real famous singer in case you never heard of him. We painted our boards white. story and photo by verne solonas