PRINCE ALBERT — Riverside Collegiate Institute (RCI) had its final graduation ceremony in 1975.
The collegiate was closed and eventually turned into Riverside Community School, with high school students moving to the newly built Carlton Comprehensive High School. Over the weekend, the school’s final graduating class got together to celebrate all things Riverside for their 50th anniversary.
Cheryl Stevenson, who still resides in Prince Albert, is the heart of the reunions. She organized them for many years, but had to step aside due to health issues and was replaced by Marilyn Cook.
"I have been sort of what you would call the instigator,” Stevenson said on Saturday afternoon.
Stevenson had organized the previous four reunions in 1985, 1995, 2000 and 2015. There was no reunion in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those reunions were hosted at Parkland Hall in 1985, Hazeldell in 1995 and 2000 and 2015 at Midtown Hall.
Stevenson said that she used to be a cheerleader and took on organizing because she loved to do it.
“I've never had children and just worked as a psych nurse for a long time, so I have time to organize these things,” Stevenson said. “I tried to escape PA a few times and managed to for a year or two here and there. Then I thought, you know what, let's just have a party on the 10th (anniversary), which we did.”
Prince Albert artist Kathie Bird is another member of the Class of 1975. She said the reunions keep happening because the class had spirit.
"Even after all these years, when we get together, I really feel the spirit of our high school,” she said. “I don't know if it's like that everywhere because we have people like Cheryl organizing.”
The event was hosted at My Place Bistro, which is owned by Class of 1975 valedictorian Randy Whitter. Whitter catered the affair and recreated his address from 1975 on both Friday evening and Saturday.
"Some of my classmates I went to since kindergarten with,” Stevenson said. “I just thought we were kind of a different sort of class than the class before us.”
Stevenson had a photo from the Daily Herald of that kindergarten class on display. She is also the keeper of mementoes of the class.
Approximately 50 graduates were in attendance over the two days. The class remains close and whenever a graduate is in town, they get together at My Place to visit.
"Then every 5 or 10 or 15 years, we have a reunion,” Stevenson said. “The reason is because I just happened to be with a great group of kids all through school. I just wanted to keep that connection and it seems like a lot of other people do.”
Stevenson recalls that the four high schools in the city at that time were very competitive with each other. Football games were huge events, but the schools also collaborated on things like Snake Dances.
"We just gelled in the fact that we were the Riverside Rams,” Stevenson said. “Like Kathy said, we had kind of a spirit about us that just kept us going. I just get excited when I think about it. Like, I really get excited. It's a good crew of people.”
People in attendance who stayed with Stevenson included a graduate who received a hockey scholarship from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and one who came from Vancouver.
“We got to drive around and see the old haunts,” Stevenson said.
She explained that Little Red River Park was once home to party spots for the different high schools.
“In the old days (it was) at Little Red after the football game every Saturday until the snow flew,” she remembered. “There would be football games and then you'd go out to your place of your high school to party, which was the 440, The Plains. There were four different places.”
Stevenson said that sometimes you would go to the other spots and there was a sense of camaraderie.
“It wasn't like anybody rumbled or anything. We weren't that kind of competition. It was just good, healthy competition. Weekends were a blast because of football season. I mean, they don't just have that same spirit anymore, unfortunately.”
Stevenson was one of two Riverside students selected from each high school to help the planning of Carlton. Stevenson does not agree with the current setup of 2,000 students at Carlton.
“When you just have 400 kids, everybody belongs to Riverside or whatever school it was,” she said.
Graduate Bob Montgomery ran a PowerPoint that included videos of previous reunions on Friday and Saturday. Montgomery also had a Texas Mickey of Canadian Club he purchased 30 years ago that was manufactured in 1974 and still sealed and in the original box.
"He got a hold of the company that owns Canadian Club and they said, ‘Do you mind taking a video of this? Would you mind that part of your reunion would be part of a promotion for our company,’ So how cool is that?” Stevenson said.
The bottle was opened on Friday and used again on Saturday at the banquet to toast the Class of 1975.
The reunion has been in June and July in previous iterations. Stevenson also created autobiographies of graduates in the past and the registrations were done by hand.
The reunion also invited former teachers who were still around, with several in attendance, including former football coach Tony Linner.
"I have the list of the teachers we contacted for the first one and we're down to six. I think five of them showed up and the other one we couldn't track down,” she said.
Stevenson said another thing about the class is they do not feel their ages and love to get together and catch up.
"We were blessed to be from a class that really cared about each other and really gelled,” she said. “We didn't care what strata you came from. We were all East Enders. We might not have been privileged, as some people in the city, but that's what made us all the same.”
In the past, the reunion has done tours of Riverside School after it became an elementary school, but not this year.
"The principals have been really on board, even this year, (saying) ‘would you like to see the school’ because we have retired teachers from PA that are in our class, of course,” Stevenson
said. “It's always, ‘oh, do you guys want to do a tour?’ But you know, after you've done a couple of tours, it's kind of all the same. You've seen everything. It was the hardest thing after 10 years to go back.”
The feeling of reconnecting with former classmates again gives Stevenson goosebumps when she thinks about just how close this group has been for so long.
“How many chances do you get in Prince Albert to have a kind of weekend party? It’s like a big family reunion, is how I would describe it. We are that tight. The people that keep coming back, it almost feels like meeting your brothers and sisters, and you can sit down, it doesn’t matter if it’s been 10 or 15 years, and just pick up again.”
Stevenson said that with the 55th and 60th anniversaries on the horizon, she would like to see the reunions continue.
“I just couldn't be prouder of the people who come together and help to make this the absolute most fun weekend that you could ever imagine. I just wait for this. I get excited like it's Christmas when I was a kid. That's how fortunate I've been to have some of my best friends upstairs (at My Place). I'm so sorry for the people who can't come. I understand why, and I just hope they can come to the next one,” Stevenson said.
