School Days in Montgomery

This is really more of note-taking than anything. Pictured above is the Terrace Road School in Montgomery, now part of Calgary, Alberta. In September of 1962 I entered the doors of that school and began Grade One.

The year or so that we lived at 2007 52 St NW in Montgomery were, as I dig stuff out of my memory, remarkable.

Of the school I recall almost nothing beyond a vague memory of the classroom, and of the chain-hung-over-short-posts fencing at the edge of the school grounds - where I flipped over backwards and whacked my head.

I know that I routinely walked home from school. I remember one day, walking with some friend or classmate, and discovering a very dead cat, with maggots, at the side of an alley. And, another time, I remember being convinced that the Big Kids - likely seven year olds - were following me to do me harm, and me pulling the collar of my jacket over the top of my head so they couldn't recognise me.

Is that normal six-year old behaviour? Damned if I know.

Up at the top of 52nd was The Crematorium. In retrospect I can't believe that at six years old I knew what actually happened there, but we knew it was scary.

I now know it was the former Shouldice Mansion, built in 1911, which was converted into a crematorium in 1937, and eventually torn down in 1974. I, of course, knew none of this until today.

One thing that I don't remember was getting hit by a truck while running across 52nd in front of our house; winding up in hospital with a concussion. It was a dump truck, but that's pretty much all that I know - beyond recalling waking up in a hospital crib, and tearing up yellow flowers and throwing the petals all over the room.

I had, and if I look, perhaps still have, a scar on my forehead from that injury.

And we had a friend, with a Mom who gave us cake, who lived across the street. I wonder where he is today?

Take notes folks. Write things down, preserve your past. It might not seem important now, but some day someone - perhaps even yourself - will thank you. Like it or not, Google is not really useful for this kind of thing - it's up to you.

Oh yes: here is our house, today.

And a map of where Montgomery was at that time.