Terry Fox Public School In Cobourg Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Pete Fisher
5 years ago
• Categories: Community, Local

The Terry Fox Public School celebrated it’s 25 Anniversary on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 in Cobourg.

The ceremony was held in front of the school the entire school body along with a number of the alumni present.

Principal, Jennifer Fitzgerald started the program off followed by alumni (former teacher) Jay Kilburn who spoke about the history of Terry Fox School and introduced the alumni, board representatives, trustees and school council head.

Kilburn called it a “very special celebration and ceremony” during his speech.

Terry Fox Public School officially opened in 1994 there were two special guests from The Terry Fox Foundation. Betty Fox who was the mother of Terry and one of Terry’s brothers, Daryl.

Below is the speech presented by Jay Kilburn.

“I guess one of my jobs here right now is to explain a little bit about why we are actually all gathered here and a little bit about the history of this school that we are all gathered in front of.

Obviously I don’t know everything about why they had to build a new school or started thinking about it over 25 years ago, but they did. And boy oh boy did they ever do a good job.

Perhaps one of the most important things we need to start with is the name of the school. Terry Fox Public School.

Terry Fox.

In my mind and eyes, and I think in the eyes of many Canadians, this school is named after perhaps one of the greatest Canadians ever.

While I am pretty sure most of you know who he is, I want to take a second or two to refresh or remind you.

Terry Fox was a young man who was diagnosed with cancer and they had to amputate (or cut off) his right leg to save his life.

He didn’t much like that and got so angry at this thing called cancer that he decided he would like to raise money to help cure this disease.

And so on one leg, with a prosthetic (a fake or artificial leg for those younger people in the audience), he decided to attempt to run across Canada and ask people for money that he would give to other people so that they could maybe cure cancer.

He ran 143 days averaging 42 km A DAY. So…that’s like running EVERY DAY for 5 months…to Port Hope back to Cobourg back to Port Hope and back to Cobourg…EVERY Day…On one leg.

He wasn’t an Avenger…but sounds like a super Hero To me. That is who this amazing School is named after!

The students that would be attending this new School called Terry Fox, would come from The Burnham School (which would no longer have Grades 7 &8), Thomas Gillbard School (which had to be closed), (much like Grant Sine School whose students also now attend here), Camborne school and many others that had moved to the area.

Before they could open this brand new school, They (The Board of Education) had to hire people to help run this school…A Principal & a Vice Principal and… teachers but not JUST teachers…although they are a little important!…But Educational Assistants, Custodians, Secretaries and many specialists.

This was a HUGE job!

But obviously they did it…The Big Boss at the time, Mr. Malowney and some of his helpers, hired a man named Mr. Fair to be the first principal and a lady named Mrs. Vandemeer to be the first Vice Principal. ( AND GUESS what…this school is so special all 3 of them are here today!!).

37 other people were also hired AND… OVER 20 OF THEM ARE ALSO here today….2 of those ARE STILL your teachers!! Terry Fox has had 8 Principals over 25 years…and 5 of them are here! How cool is that!

25 years is a long time. And it is hard to tell everything about something or someone in a brief time ( and I am not supposed to talk a long time…something I am not so good at!!)

A couple of little things I do have to mention though. Terry Fox was an extra special school because, besides great students and staff it had very new or innovative programs…Learning and Life Skills programs ( which still exist), Design & Technology (which had computers, kitchen stuff and all kinds of things like power tools), a really cool Music Room and instruments that most other schools did not have…a beautiful Library…a day care facility, a cushioned floored gym…and well…lots of cool stuff!

I do also want to say that while we are kind of celebrating 25 years ago, WHAT has KEPT Terry Fox School so AMAZING FOR 25 years is the MANY MANY MANY students, teachers, Educational Assistants, Specialists, Custodians and secretaries who have contributed so very much!

That’s about all I am going to say at this time, except I want to introduce some of those old folks I mentioned earlier…I think that we have some students that are going to present them with a little something.”
Here are the Terry Fox P.S. Original Alumni in Attendance.
Mr. Fair
Mrs. Vandemeer
Mrs. Berry
Mr. Broekstra
Mrs Broekstra
Mr. Connor
Mrs. Crain
Mrs. Fortier
Mrs. Hayden
Mrs. Kerr
Mr. Kilburn
Mrs. Malowney
Mrs. Redner
Mrs. Stapleton
Mrs. Stevens
Mr. Taylor
Mr. Trennum
Mrs. Young
PRINCIPALS
Mr. McCurdy
Mr. McKelvey
Mrs. Oxland
Mrs. Fitzgerald
and Mr. Malowney…Dir. Of Ed. 1994