Lunch and laughter – a great combination

Bob Stevenson, former Waterford District High School history teacher, recently met ‘The Vintage Ladies’ at Kerry’s St. James Street Eatery in Waterford. Behind seated Stevenson are, from left, Peggy (Lomas) Hoffman; Janice (Kersey) Schweder; Sharon (Howard) Gerrard; and in the back row, Luba (Hurnacki) Brown, Janet (Hall) Bradshaw; Louise (Kosar) Reid; and Daphne (Bernard) Schuyler. Not in the photo are Heather (Lee) Dew and Cecile (Demeulenare) Wiley. 

Brenda Moser

Advocate Correspondent

A big plus to writing for this publication is the many interesting people I get to meet and the stories they have to tell. Recently I received a text from Daphne Schuyler with an invite to join her and friends for lunch at Kerry’s St. James Street Eatery in Waterford and I couldn’t refuse.

In early October, I had the opportunity to meet one great bunch of women who call themselves ‘The Vintage Ladies.’ They are a group of nine Waterford District High School graduates that likes to meet every two or three months since attending a WDHS Reunion.

The ladies have been meeting for about six or seven years now and they take turns choosing a location and venue. Their locations vary… Paris, Elmhurst Inn in Ingersoll, St. Marys, Brantford… wherever the group chooses. They have gathered in Port Dover, Simcoe, and travelled to Ohsweken for lunch at The Burger Barn.  They have visited local wineries, a tulip farm, and the Windmill Inn in Mount Pleasant. They make every effort to support each other through surgeries and other adversities and still get together on a fairly regular basis. Besides, who doesn’t like to go out for lunch with your friends and catch up?

While students, the ladies studied different courses, but it seems that one common denominator for all of them was their history teacher, Bob Stevenson. It was easy to see he was a special teacher to all of them and a great friend since then.

At the request of Bob Stevenson, each of the ladies gave a short recollection of their lives since graduating high school. There were a lot of stories to tell and memories to share, a variety of adventures… and lots of laughter. They learned many things about each other that they never knew in school. They shared their memories about ‘the good old school days’… good, bad and funny.

The opportunity to meet all of the ‘Vintage Girls’ was a great experience and I was impressed at how young they are in heart and spirit. It’s easy to tell that they appreciate all that they have and the friendships and reconnections that they have made from becoming a Vintage Lady.

What was so refreshing to see were the smiles on Stevenson’s face as he listened to their stories and the memories they shared of their high school days at WDHS and their time with him in his classroom.

“You’ve all done very well. I knew you would all turn out good when I first met all of you. You are all hard workers!”

Stevenson was and is the epitome of what all teachers should aspire to achieve. While the world has changed, Stevenson taught them so many lessons that they have been able to carry with them all of these years.

While the food was great – thanks Kerry – the company, stories and laughter were the icing on the cake. Thank you again, Vintage Ladies, for including me in your reunion! It truly was a celebration of memories from ‘the good old days’!