Places: Traf

Popular name: Traf – not Trafalgar – spelled backwards – raglafart – oh dear.

Why there: My mom and dad wanted my sister and I to have better teachers especially in French. We got that. Madame Brouillette was very strict with the grammar. Madame Garrett liked to talk about her dogs – French poodles I think.

Other Traf graduates: I was wearing my school ring when teaching Sunday School. A colleague asked me whether that was a Traf ring and I said yes. She had attended as a boarder as well – some years before me.

In casual conversation with another friend something was mentioned about skirt and tunic length. She remembers kneeling on the floor and having the ruler to mark no more than 6 inches from the floor. This did not prevent anyone from hiking up the tunic over one's sash to make it look shorter.

Friends old and new: My best friend from home spent 2 years at Traf but only 1 year as a boarder.

I made a new friend whom I still keep in touch with. She liked to ride horses too and would come to Lachute for weekends.

Boarding school: More rules and regulations; milk and cookies at morning recess; walking to St. George's Anglican Church downtown. Booth Kathi and I were confirmed there. I learned later that my mom's mom and dad were married there.

Cubicles and private rooms: I had a cubicle in the dorm for 2 years. I had a private room my last year and the year before as well. A friend from my class liked to come to study there as it was a lot quieter than at her home.

Walking: Boarders walk morning and afternoon – sometimes up the hill from Sherbrooke Street; to the park across the street with yapping little dogs. (I still do not like them); up the mountain.

Studying: I had to learn how to study but I think now that was because of the transition to high school. I always had my Latin homework done. I enjoyed helping others with their Latin homework.

It is not surprising that in my final yearbook one of the statements was:
Can you imagine Vicki not doing her Latin homework?

Athletic: I was never too athletic. Others in my class were much more athletic. Every year there was a gym dem. We all marched into the gym to some music.