I hated my friend Vivian. She got the part I coveted - Mary in our Christmas play. How dare Mr. Havelaar cast me as dull old Martha while Vivian got to be the star!

Actually, those were great years that I spent at South Park School in the sixties. Mr. Havelaar was my favourite teacher in all my school years. A kind and talented man, he made learning fun. As head of the drama club, Mr. Havelaar taught me a love of acting.

Built in 1894, South Park is the oldest operational public school in Western Canada. It is rich in history with many tales to tell. Now, two South Park teachers are putting the school on the map in a new book about this James Bay fixture. They have conjured up ghosts of quirky characters and revisited fascinating events from long ago.

The book is still a work in progress with the tentative title, The History of South Park School: 1894-2006. The aim of the authors is to “record, share and celebrate the stories of South Park.” Linda Picciotto, now retired, taught for twenty-five years at South Park. Her reason for doing the book is because “South Park has been so important to so many people.” Debbie Marchand, the other author, is both a teacher at South Park and a parent of three former students. She “wanted to bring South Park’s history to life through personal memoirs.”

The book will be a history of the school and a collection of personal accounts of life at South Park from former students, parents and past and present staff. Each chapter will capture a decade of history with photos and memoirs and will have a synopsis of facts and events going on in the school, city and the world at that time. There will be a feature article in each chapter on a part of South Park history. The writers will be working on the book over the summer and hope to have it all finished by the fall of this year. Jeff Mitchell, South Park Principal, proudly states that he is “thrilled at this undertaking by two long-term teachers.”

The book is full of colourful incidents and characters. From her student days at South Park, it was obvious that Carole James was a born politician. While in Grade 7, she organized a strike against the school because they would not let girls wear pants. “Lipstick Annie” was a teacher in the 1930s. She was the first teacher at South Park to wear lipstick, flashing a garish bright red grin to her pupils. South Park teachers had creative ways to reprimand students. In 1923, R. W. Owen had to haul a fifty-foot tug-of-war rope to another school to pay for his misdeeds. Mavis De Girolamo, Carole James’ mother, taught at South Park from 1971 to 1973. She recalls when a student teacher brought earthworms to the class for a science lesson. She left the class and when she returned, there were worms everywhere. They were on the desks, hanging from the lights, “in the air,” and on the floor. And those pesky boys were putting the slimy things down girls’ dresses.

The writers believe the book will benefit James Bay by giving residents a sense of community with strong roots in the past. It will educate readers about South Park history in the context of local and world events. Picciotto and Marchand are seeking assistance with the costs of self-publishing. They received a substantial grant from the Victoria Foundation and have applied to the City of Victoria’s Special Projects Grants to make up the rest of their expenses. They still need personal memoirs and photos of special events from all the decades of South Park history, especially from 1950 to 1970. Anyone wishing to participate in the book can contact Linda at lindapicciotto@shaw.ca (Tel: 598-3450) or Debbie at debbiemarchand@telus.net.

The heart of South Park School has been beating for over a hundred years. This unique institution in James Bay is an icon of lived history - a saga of human achievement and fallibility, and hope for the future. And the new book will resurrect its spirited past.

The UVic Theatre Department is interested in doing some enactments of the book. Maybe I’ll audition for a lead role. Eat your heart out, Vivian.