By Ed Stozek
For the Herald

While watching an episode of Family Feud one of the questions made me think about high school. Steve Harvey asked the show’s contestants how many friends from high school does a typical adult keep in touch with? It was surprizing that out of the 100 people surveyed the top answer was zero.

During my three-years of attending Grades 10 to 12 at the Elphinstone Collegiate, class sizes were relatively small and I got to know most of the students at the school.

A new crop of Grade 9 students was officially welcomed in early September during Freshie Days. Dressed up in Hawaiian themed costumes they participated in a variety of initiation activities.

We all had a favourite group of individuals to “hang out with.” During recess and noon hour we often walked the hallways or sat at the back of the classroom, discussed a variety of topics and listened to our favourite music.

School dances provided more social interaction. Three of my school friends learned to play some popular rock songs. Instead of listening to 45 rpm records at the school dance, we were privileged to have them play for us. Since the caretaker did not want marks left by shoes on the gymnasium floor, students were asked to remove their foot wear at these dances. Our vigilant elderly caretaker often pointed to our feet and reminded us, “No shoes.”

Prior to the Christmas holidays each class decorated their own room.

Our Grade 12 room was judged as the best decorated and we were rewarded with a box of oranges and two boxes of chocolate. On Dec. 23 our school held an all-day Christmas party starting with a curling bonspiel. Those students who did not curl spent their day skating and playing broomball. In the evening everyone watched the film, “The Tale of Two Cities.” After the film, gifts were exchanged and the evening came to a successful end.

Organized intramural sports included volleyball, basketball, curling and badminton. They provided an avenue for us to exert physical activity during noon hour. We also participated in other “non-organized activities.”

One day a classmate brought two pairs of boxing gloves to school. During noon hour the equipment room became a boxing ring.

Dennis, a very strong specimen of physical ability challenged me to a round of boxing. Luckily, I had watched some of Mohammed Ali's moves and was able to evade most of the punches.

In June, the dreaded provincial exams were administered. The exams determined if one passed or failed the subject. Since exams were written in the morning there was no need to take the school bus and spend a whole day at school. Instead, I drove my parent’s car and was home by noon to help out with the farm work or study for the next exam. It was a great feeling to drive home after the last exam. It was even more exciting when the exam results arrived via Canada Post and passing grades were achieved.

Our grad class in 1970 coincided with Manitoba's centennial and that year we became the proud recipients of Elphinstone Collegiate’s Spirit of 70 yearbook.

In his principal’s message, Mr. Garry Bochinski noted, “Few books which you will ever own have the lasting value of this Centennial Yearbook. Its true value will only be realized in retrospect. Ten years from now as you page through this book you will again relive the events of this school year. The sound of the nine o'clock bell, the exchange of opinions over a controversial lecture, the noisy bus ride home, the excitement of planning for the spring prom, all of these make you feel the significance of these vital years.”

Mr. Bochinski's words were very true.

1970 marked the end of high school and the beginning of a new phase in my life.

Our graduating class all had different interests and we went our separate ways. It is always interesting to peruse the E.C.I. yearbook, wonder where my schoolmates ended up and reflect upon the highlights of a school year from over 50 years ago.

Sadly, the answer to the question on Family Feud turned out to be true.

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Jack and Edna Secord took over the six rural mail routes operated by Cliff Norton on Oct. 1, 1949. On that day they were at the post office at 6:45 a.m. sorting and tying the mail into bundles for easier handling and loading it into the car for the morning route.

Delivery was scheduled for three routes per day. Each route was done three times a week, averaged 35-to-45 mail boxes and took 1-1/2 to 2 hours to complete. Then it was back to the post office to pick up the mail for the next route. Typically, the day ended by 4 p.m..

“Our first route was a nightmare. The roads were terrible. Half of the mailboxes had no names on them. I had never gone around the routes, so I had lots to learn in a hurry.” (December 7, 1993, Dauphin Herald)

That year the winter was very severe with a great deal of snow. Jack started out using a car but he knew that he would need a vehicle that could handle heavy roads. He went to Winnipeg and bought a bombardier designed to go over snow banks. He paid $3,960 and it was the first of its kind in Dauphin. The first winter the bombardier put the Secords $1,200 in the hole, but it did get the mail through and proved its value in the community.

The phone rang day and night with people needing the service of the bombardier. Many calls were from people with someone sick and requiring to get to a doctor or the hospital.

The bombardier often freighted people to do business, freighted cream and eggs to town and groceries and tobacco back for those who couldn’t get to town.

The idea was that if people needed help one tried to help them. As a result, the people on the route reciprocated. Their doors were never locked and if Jack and Edna had trouble and needed to use the phone they just walked in.

“I had many scary trips. On one mail route southwest of Dauphin there was a note in the mailbox to come to the house because they needed help. I found a little child in convulsions, turning blue. I remembered my grandma saying dunking a child in water as hot as he could bear would bring him out of it. That’s what we did and it worked. Then they wrapped the baby well, took him to the bombardier and to the hospital as fast as we could go. The mother stayed at the hospital with the baby and I had to go back and finish the mail route.”

Delivering the mail ended up as a family affair. When Jack took on the contract to deliver the mail to Swan River from 1960 to 1965, Edna handled the rural routes and was often accompanied by her children. Carol, Greg and Judy took their turns helping when they were not in school. Edna had an orange crate for them to sit on so that they could reach the car window and put the mail into the box.

For deliveries on Saturday to Swan River, Carol recalled getting up at 5 a.m. to get ready to accompany her father. They dropped mail off at communities including Ethelbert, Garland, Pine River and Minitonas. Since Jack knew the owner of the store at Garland they often stopped for a break and had a soda. At Swan River they ate their bagged lunch in the truck.

Throughout their 44 years of delivering the mail the Secords wore out 25 vehicles. In spite of the poor roads during the 1950s they had no serious accidents.

They did slide into mail boxes on slippery roads and were once surrounded by a herd of elk near the Park.

Flat tires also posed delays. On one occasion Edna removed the flat tire and found that the spare was also flat. She had to walk a mile to the nearest farm to get a pump. Luckily, the farmer came to help her.

Oct, 29, 1993 marked the final day for the countless miles and adventures when Jack and Edna delivered the mail for the last time.