Former students get final look at Whitehorse school

Whitehorse's F.H. Collins high school will soon be demolished to make way for a new school that bears the same name.

Some former students had their last chance to look at the old building during a class reunion Friday.

For high school sweethearts Mandy and Paul Latreille, F.H. Collins is still steeped in memories.

"We were in Grade 10. We met when I was 15, we dated for that year, then he moved away, and I went after him," says Mandy. "Like the RCMP, I went out and got my man. We've been married 42 years now."

Some grew nostalgic of their years as teenagers and the many changes since then.

For Jeanie Smith, seeing her old grad photo on the wall brings back a rush of memories. "Here I am in 1965. I am just stunned when I see it." 

Friday was a day for stories about classes, rallies, sports — the formative years and all the emotions of high school.

"I have great memories of being in that gym. I was on the Warriors for a couple of years," says Jerry Goodwin.

For Lynn Spring, the reunion created a mix of emotions. "It was a lot of good times and less complicated life than things are today," Spring says. "[It] brings back a lot of memories, especially some of the people that are deceased and not able to be here."

The building, which opened in 1963, is showing signs of age. Some parts are already boarded up ahead of the demolition.

But with a new school being built right next door, the name F.H. Collins will live on, as will the memories.