Jeff Harris:
CLASS OF 1976
Elora Senior Public SchoolClass of 1976
Elora, ON
Conestoga CollegeClass of 1982
Kitchener, ON
Centre Wellington High SchoolClass of 1979
Fergus, ON
John Black SchoolClass of 1974
Fergus, ON
Rockwood Centennial SchoolClass of 1974
Rockwood, ON
Jeff's Story
Life
Life... You know, as I read a few bio's I contemplate that most folks have bad memories of high school in particular, and those years' become defining ones in the choice to face them or suppress them. I was mostly in the latter category until with age and time I have come to realize that the good out weighed the bad. We are bound by every experience we shared, we can't remove the memory cells and with time I have come to savour most memories and welcome the 'do over' of the bad ones that life provides us each day. Like at least 50 percent of you I have suffered a failed marriage. I know what it's like to bury my father. I've survived financial difficulty. I've succumbed to the lure of money, shiney things and knowledge.
I have come to notice that what's important is the people I spend time with. I really miss you all but realize that I can't stay back there. I choose to enjoy and engage the friends I have now in spirit and in truth. You will always be a part of me as I will with you, and this acceptance makes a difference in my day to day life.
My youth relishes the thoughts I keep of: the Forest Brothers, Bob Hudson, Bart Schuller, Mary Lou Kelly, Kris Anderson, Brian Watson, Scott Amy, Kerri MacPherson, Brad Gerrie, Mark Dennis, Lyman Smith, Rod Saunders, Cindy Eaves, Jim Brown, Andrew Wilson, Kevin Paczay, James Calder, Elise Tupy...to mention a few...and you too:)
School
As I reckon, I think school and I were set up from day one, to be at odds with one another.
I remember my first day of school at Rockwood Centennial was met with much angst and tears as I was plucked from my care free, obligation absent life. Mother had to escort me - a rarity in those days, especially when I lived not 2 blocks away. Suddenly, things were being expected of me. I was inserted amongst people I did not want to especially know. My world was exploding.
My fondest memories are not of classroom events but of school ground ones. I really enjoyed collecting hockey cards and then trading them with my chums.
I enjoyed bus trips. One to Guelph to see the original film 'Oliver'. Other trips were to Toronto where I remember going past the Carling plant singing the Black Label song with our thumbs stuck out like the commercial of that day.
My first best friend was my neighbour Ricky Gooyers. He was a gregarious valiant boy who skated like the wind and never wore socks in his skates. We were blessed living next to the town outdoor rink and we played every night after school in winter and at the old school ground across from Neil McMynn's in the other seasons.
Rick McNabb became my best friend in school as we were in the same class and we took to each other. We enjoyed the pretty girls in our class and getting into mischief whenever warranted.
Rockwood was a great village to grow up in. It provided all the best adventures for a young boy. It had a river, a train trestle, a conservation area, Fred Meadows' BP, Pearl's 5 & Dime, and of course the famous Saunders Bakery. Scenes right out of "Stand By Me".
Warm summer days and freedom on 2 wheels meant no boundaries for me and my gang of explorers. Innocence personified.
Then we moved to Belwood when I was done grade 5. My sister and I started as the new kids to John Black. New friends awaited in the form of Brian Watson, Scott Amy and the gang. I seemed to get along with every one and Mr. Sullivan brought a cheeriness to the everyday grind. I remember Gary Sullivan being in a bad snowmobile accident and missing some school - lucky dog. I only got my finger broken by Murray McDonald while playing a full contact game of hockey at lunchtime in the parking lot. Off to the doctor and I had a splint on for several weeks. Scott Amy and I spun our imagination in English as we created one short story after another displaying our active imaginations in the process. Ruler hockey in the gym was the favori...Expand for more
te past time of us guys. It helped us escape from recorder lessons.
Then it was on to Elora Senior for grade 7 & 8. Great expansion times where I met more new friends like Brad Gerrie, Mike Faulconbridge, Garth Rooney to name only a few. I discovered girls as other than competitors for a good seat and suffered the sweats with everyone at the dances that were held. Things were changing on all fronts. I enjoyed the rocket club and the A/V club where I learned my love of being a cameraman.
Next was high school where freedom and choices came alive and I had some control over my life as to what courses to take. I looked at high school as an
a la carte experience where I took electricity and electronics all through and enjoyed it thoroughly. I played basketball on the varsity team one year, I took grade 9 typing in grade 10, I enjoyed the trombone and junior band. I sang in Surge one year and I flourished in drama and loved the people I met there and expressing myself in that community regardless of my skill level. I would not change a thing that happened to me or that I did. It was diverse and not always good, but I think I got a lot out of my experience there.
Next, it was on to Conestoga where I took Film Production under Robert Bocking and enjoyed new experience's to round out my youth and young adulthood.
College
High School Continued...
1976-1979 We are "The 70's Show!" We lived it man. We don't need a TV show to find out what it was like. We have the bragging rights to proclaim that polyester suits and perms for guys were cool... Disco and crystal balls were the place to be. Music takes us back in a heartbeat.
Styx, ELO, The Who, BTO, QUEEN (News of the World!!), Supertramp, YES, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Led Zeppelin, RUSH, Max Webster, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Black Sabbath, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Journey...
And for others - England Dan & John Ford Coley, Elton John, Leo Sayer, Pagliaro, Billy Joel, The Bee Gees, Seals & Croft, Hall & Oates, Donna Summer...
Until middle age sheds new perspective on the following words:
Stood there boldly
Sweatin' in the sun
Felt like a million
Felt like number one
The height of summer
I'd never felt that strong
Like a rock
I was eighteen
Didn't have a care
Working for peanuts
Not a dime to spare
But I was lean and
Solid everywhere
Like a rock
My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
Like a rock
Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin' ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, and I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
Twenty years now
Where'd they go?
Twenty years
I don't know
I sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they've gone
And sometimes late at night
When I'm bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin' a ghostly white
And I recall
I recall
Like a rock, standin' arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin' from the gate
Like a rock, carryin' the weight
Like a rock
Like a rock, the sun upon my skin
Like a rock, hard against the wind
Like a rock, I see myself again
Like a rock
Bob Seger
Workplace
As you can see from my history I've worked at a few different things in my life. I've heard stats that claim the average career change now a days is 6. I'm not quite there yet.
I've always liked tinkering with things and what I do now plays right in to that tendency. I'm a tradesman. I have my refrigeration ticket and gas ticket since 1999 and currently work as a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) service technician in the commercial building sector.
AC is as important as heat here in the Okanagan and we keep busy taking care of our customers' needs year round.
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