LCdr Nicholas Kucher hails from the Canadian Prairies, where he was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. He made the decision to join the Canadian Forces (CAF) coming out of high school and college. He made his way to St-Jean, Quebec for basic training, and as a future naval officer he saw advanced training and […]
Eugene Gutierrez was born September 14, 1921 in Harlingen, Texas. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and remembers well the tough times that the family went through. His parents had a grocery store that went out of business since customers rarely had the money to pay for groceries. Eugene graduated high […]
Richard Dodds was born November 22, 1925 in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in the city’s west end, where he attended Humber Park Public School and later Humberside Collegiate, where he played sports in all seasons. His father raised horses – racing was popular in interwar Toronto – so the family was insulated from the […]
Randy Price was born May 29, 1953 in the Neutral Hills area of Alberta, and attended school in the small community of Consort. He chose to join the Canadian Forces in the early 1970s, opting for the infantry. During that phase of his career he was deployed to Cyprus as part of the United Nations’ […]
Fishel Goldig was born in 1933 in Mielnica, in eastern Poland. In 1939 the family found itself under Soviet occupation, following the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. With Operation Barbarossa and the arrival of the Germans in 1941, Fishel and his family were forced into the ghetto in the nearby town of Borszczow. Conditions deteriorated, and rumours […]
Gordon B. Smith was born in the east end of Toronto on February 25th, 1924. He attended Eastern Commerce, but left to enter the workforce before graduating. When the war came, Gord was eager to follow his older brother’s example, and joined up right as soon as he was able. He spent a year doing […]
Pete Sayers was born January 9, 1933; he grew up on Canada’s west coast, in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Pete remembers growing up in a time of war, watching the soldiers practice live fire exercises, and he also remembers the internment of Japanese-Canadian neighbours as wartime paranoia grew. Blackouts and the reality of total war were […]
The Crestwood Oral History Project archives are a fantastic place to learn more about Black history in Canada this February! Hear the story of Stanley Grizzle, the son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to become Canada’s first federal citizenship judge. Learn about George Carter, the founder of the Toronto Negro Veterans Association and one of […]
Bill Fraser hails from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, where he was born in 1940. His father and uncles served in the Second World War, and Bill would follow them into the service, albeit in a very different time. Bill was part of the Canadian Forces during the Cold War; he joined the RCAF out of […]
Les Mitelman is a Crestwood grandfather; his grandson Liam Stern was in Grade 8 at the time this interview was completed. Les was born in Tarnopol, Poland on July 21, 1938, so he was only a baby when the war began, so growing up he had to learn the unspeakable and horrible lessons the Shoah […]
George Brewster was born April 5, 1923. He grew up in New Brunswick, the son of a Great War veteran who had enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps. After the war his father worked for the railroad, managing to keep food on the table even during the difficult days of the Great Depression, a time […]
This past weekend the Sr Girls Prep Basketball Team travelled to Montreal to participate in the Ecole Secondaire Saint-Laurent annual Showcase. The entire weekend was physically demanding for every member of the team. Our Lady Lions came in as the showcase favourites and they did not disapoint winning each game with a margin of 24 […]
Stuart Crawford was born on March 2, 1922, in Kingston, Ontario. He had three brothers, and the boys all grew up playing sports and musical instruments, and they shared the same Kingston Whig Standard paper route, passed from one brother to the next. Stuart’s family was very close, and with his parents’ sacrifices they made […]
Lara Jennings was born and raised in Grimsby, Ontario, and lived a sound childhood. She attended a plethora of high schools prior to graduation and deciding to pursue a military path. Jennings studied and graduated from Engineering at RMC prior to her choice of field in the military, which was the airforce. Beginning with regular bootcamp, she […]
Bob Farquarson hails from the Canadian Prairies; he was born on March 1, 1923, on a reservation in Alberta, where his father was the government stockman. Bob’s early years were spent on the Prairies, right in the middle of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. He recalls the conditions drove his father to bankruptcy […]
Crestwood’s Grade 10 class traveled to Ottawa for a jam-packed three days of fun, friendship and first-hand encounters with topics from their Civics and Canadian History studies. Our first stop on Wednesday took students to the Canadian War Museum. The striking building on the Ottawa River was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama to convey a […]
This week at Crestwood, we celebrated multiple awards and achievements from our many talented students. Congratulations to all! Georgia Gardner won an award of merit for playwriting from the National Theatre School Drama Festival. Armin Selzner earned the Silver Duke of Edinburgh award. He committed an average of an hour a week for an entire year […]
Gordon B. Smith was born in the east end of Toronto, not far from the Don Jail. He lost one brother when he was growing up in that neighbourhood, to a household accident. Gord attended Eastern Commerce, but he didn’t graduate, instead entering the work force. When the war came, Gord’s remaining older brother enlisted […]
Swimming The swim team had an excellent meet last Wednesday at the Markham Pan Am Centre. 62% of all races swum were personal best times, which is amazing at this point in the season. Swimmers that swam a perfect day were Martin Chang, Maggie Funnell, Matthew Laslop, Thomas Li, Jack Magan, Will Magan, Megan Pearlman, […]
Gerry Foyle served in the Canadian Forces from the 1950s to the 1990s, building a career during the period that corresponded to Canada’s “Golden Age” of foreign policy and peacekeeping. Gerry joined up in the 50s, still a teenager, when Canada was involved in the Suez Crisis, and he went on to supply the Canadian […]
Karl Wagar served in the Canadian Forces during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Karl hails from the town of Deseronto, in Prince Edward County; he enlisted at the suggestion of a veteran he met at the local Legion, recalling that the decision set him on a better life path. He boarded that jet airplane […]
Charles Dayton was born in the Prairies, but his family moved to Vancouver when he was a baby, and that is where he would grow up. When he finished high school in 1941, he joined the airforce, and he eventually became a navigator. With the war underway, Charles was stationed in many areas in Canada […]
Major Andrea Keeping grew up in the small farming community Russell, Manitoba and entered the University of Manitoba with the intention of studying to be an architect. Instead, she would end up finishing her education at Kingston’s Royal Military College and embark on a career that has seen her deployed in support roles to Afghanistan, […]
Major Dawe joined the Canadian Forces a little later than the average recruit, making the big decision when she turned 30. After initial training, she focused on the logistical and personnel side of the military. In this regard she was deployed to Afghanistan, where she was stationed at Kandahar Airfield. While there she was responsible […]
Andy Reti was born July 16, 1942 in Budapest, Hungary. He is a child survivor from the Shoah. Andy’s father did not survive those terrible years: he was taken to a forced labour battalion and later murdered in Auschwitz Birkenau. Andy, along with his mother and grandparents, survived the horrors of the war through good […]
Carl Barker is a lifelong Mainer. Born June 26, 1928, he grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, which he recounts through some fascinating specific memories, including that he slept in a drawer. As his father was a grocer, the family did not go hungry, but Carl remembers that he did not see […]
Major Daniel Matheson is a current member of the Canadian Forces, who hails from Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia, a small fishing community just outside Halifax. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1997 right out of High School under the Regular Officer Training Plan and attended Royal Military College in St Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC and […]
The name Tichelman, profile that was high arrested girl killer that was call is easily being a household-name, and not a name that is being coated softly. The main reason? It just happened one night, on an enchanted November evening in Santa Cruz, Florida, over a boat day with 51-year old Google government Hayes. […]
Mr. David Jacobs was born in Tomaszów, Poland. He grew up within the small town, and soon joined his father in working at their family tailoring shop. At age 18, when the war broke out, Mr. Jacobs was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he served as a slave labourer. Mr. Jacobs traveled across Europe […]
Michael Boyer is a veteran born in Toronto, into a big family. Fairly well-to-do, Mr. Boyer and his family were less affected by the depression than many. He joined the army at a young age and became part of the Fourth Field Royal Canadian Artillery. Travelling to Europe, Mr. Boyer fought along allied forces such […]