Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Former students to gather for St. John's high reunion
Sophie Shinewald sewed her own graduation dress in 1931. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )
It was one of her final projects as a student at St. John's High School -- sewing her 1931 graduation dress by hand. Sophie Shinewald and about 15 other students in the sewing class weren't allowed to use sewing machines and, because of an accident with a pot of boiling water, she had to sew the dress from a hospital bed.
Now 96 years old, Shinewald still has the graduation photo of herself and her classmates in their white dresses.
Shinewald said she has fond memories of her high school, known then as St. John's Technical High School. St. John's celebrates its centennial this spring, the first high school to reach this milestone in Winnipeg.
She is coming to the reunion because of these fond memories, just like 600 other alumni who are so far attending the event from June 17 to 20.
"I just loved St. John's Tech," she said.
"I really enjoyed every moment of it."
St. John's High School first opened its doors in 1912 in the North End of Winnipeg on Salter Street, but the first students were enrolled in 1910, where they were sent to Luxton School until the building was completed.
The only other high school in Winnipeg at the time was Central Collegiate, which was too far from the rapid development happening in Winnipeg's North End.
Shinewald grew up on Selkirk Avenue, where she said she walked to St. John's every day from 1928 to 1931.
"I walked to school in the morning, took the streetcar home for lunch," she said.
St. John's High School, which started off grades 9 to 12 with 28 students, is now home to more 1,100 students from grades 7 to 12.
The old school was demolished in 1967 because it was too expensive to repair, but the new one still stands with a few more classrooms and many more students.
"St. John's turned out a lot of prominent people that really developed Winnipeg over the decades," said Brian Burdy, a student at the school who graduated in 1965 and then taught there for 13 years.
Burdy is also the co-chair of the reunion committee and said it was his dream to come back and teach at the school that inspired his love for education.
"The high school was the hub of the community. There weren't as many things to do that occupied people's interest," he said.
"The school was the common place for people's lives."
Burdy and Shinewald both said it was the teachers that made the school.
"They wanted to instil the importance of education in everyone," Shinewald said.
St. John's High School has been home to many prominent Canadians over the years, including Burton Cummings, who is scheduled to perform at the reunion in June.
Tickets for the reunion start at $40 with tickets for a social and a gala dinner, featuring music from Cummings and Ken Kostick as the master of ceremonies, for an additional price.
Other activities over the five-day event include golf and volleyball tournaments, coffee house and a pancake breakfast.
Alumni can visit stjohnshigh100.mb.ca for more information and registration.
Famous faces from St. John's past
Recognize these St. John's High School alumni?
Burton Cummings, singer and songwriter
Ken Kostick, celebrity chef
Arnold Sphor, Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer artistic director
Monty Hall, actor, sportscaster and host of Let's Make a Deal
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 6, 2010 B2
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