Downie Central’s first Grade 8 class reunites, honours classmate Sgt. Margaret Eve

Members of Downie Central School’s first Grade 8 graduating class reunite 50 years after graduating from the school. Back row, from left: Jane Bickell Otto, Mr. Graham (spouse), Jayne Shackleton Dill, Colleen Eve (Margaret Eve’s daughter), Brenda Vink (Margaret’s sister), Sherry Forster Moraca, Pierre Chateauvert, Dave Gorvett (spouse), Peter Bisset, Daryl Stacey, Ken Brooks, Steve Otto, Andy Graham, Dan Jackson, Joan Tettman, Bob Galloway, Elaine Strawbridge and Reid Dundas. Front row, from left: Barb Costtick Gorvett, Lois Worden Gascho, Catherine Gibb, Liz Hislop Clarke, Jane Humphrys, Susan Hewitt Graham, Sherrie Wickenheiser Roulston and Kathryn Mallon (daughter of Bessie Blair, a kindergarten/Grade 1 teacher).

By: Amanda Nelson

The original class of Downie Central Elementary School held a reunion this month for the first graduating class of those born in 1962. These students were the first to attend kindergarten through Grade 8. They graduated from Grade 8 at Downie Central 50 years ago.

“It was wonderful to see everyone; the energy in the room was electric,” said Elaine Strawbridge, organizer. “Everyone was hugging and introducing themselves because, you know, we don’t look the same as we did when we were 14. People were thrilled to attend.”

The school was built during a period when Ontario was increasingly consolidating rural school sections into larger central schools. Instead of maintaining numerous small one-room schools, school boards began bringing students together in larger buildings, often with several classrooms, specialized facilities and eventually school-bus transportation, which came with its ups and downs, said Strawbridge.

“We had quite an adventure on Jan. 26, 1971,” said Strawbridge. “There was a massive snowstorm. Our bus and one other bus got as far as Aventon, about three kilometres from the school, but couldn’t make it any farther. The only reason we got as far as we did was that one of the Grade 8 boys ran in front of the bus to show the bus driver where the road was. Three buses were stuck at the school for three days with the teachers that week, too.”

Downie Central is part of the Avon Maitland District School Board and is located in the Downie Ward of the Township of Perth South. The school is located at 4384 Perth Line 20, Saint Pauls Station, between Stratford and St. Marys.

One person who attended the school and graduated with the first class was Sgt. Margaret Eve, a sergeant who was killed at a roadside stop during her time working with the Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

On the afternoon of June 7, 2000, on a deadly stretch of Highway 401 (known as “Carnage Alley”), Sgt. Eve, along with Constables Brad Sakalo and Patti Pask, checked a vehicle that was suspected to have been involved in an armed robbery in Windsor.

While talking with the occupants of the car, the driver of a transport truck drove directly into the three police cruisers, the suspect vehicle and all five people standing on the shoulder of the highway. All were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Sgt. Eve was airlifted to the Trauma Unit at the London Health Sciences Centre but later died on June 9, 2000.

Approximately 4,500 police officers and civilians attended the funeral service that day.

She was the first female police officer killed in the line of duty in Ontario, as per the OPP website.

Sgt. Eve was known as an incredible person and a true leader. She lived by two mottos: Lead by Example and Do It Right, or not at all.

Although Sgt. Eve’s tragic death was felt by communities across the province, her death was one of the tragedies that helped lead to Ontario’s Move Over law, which requires drivers to slow down and, when it is safe, move over when passing certain stopped emergency vehicles.

The legislation was introduced in 2002 and, since then, has been said to have saved countless police officers’ lives.

Sgt. Eve’s daughter, Colleen Eve, attended the reunion on her mother’s behalf and said she was grateful for the opportunity to connect with those who knew her mother as a young child and teenager.

“It was such an honour for our family to be invited to the Downie Central Elementary School class of 1976 50th reunion,” said Eve. “To have the opportunity to speak with her classmates and hear their stories was particularly special for our family. Margaret valued friendship and community, and we know that this class reunion would have been something she would have loved to attend herself.”

The graduating class has now started a scholarship in Sgt. Eve’s name. This fund will support a student graduating from Downie Central School and aims to recognize a student who exemplifies kindness, as Eve did.

“We are equally honoured that the class members had the idea to establish a scholarship in Margaret’s name with kindness at its heart,” said Eve. “It feels like a particularly fitting way to carry her legacy forward in her own community.”

Anyone interested in more information about the scholarship can contact Strawbridge at strawbridge.elainef@gmail.com.