By Sylvia Williams – Summerland, B.C.
The Second World War began in 1939 and that same year, I left home in northeastern Alberta to attend Alberta College in Edmonton. I was just 14 years old.
My mother was 46 when I was born. She had two older children and was determined I stay a “little girl” —her baby, so I arrived at college dressed like a 10-year-old with short skirt, bobby socks, and a Dutch boy haircut.
There were three buildings at the college. One had the office and secretarial classrooms, another nearby was the boys’ dormitory. Across the yard and next to the tennis court, a large newer building housed two upper floors of rooms for out-of-town students, with classrooms on the main floor.
My mother left me in the care of the matron, who took me to a room for two girls. The furnishings were sparse but adequate. My roommate wasn’t very friendly.
I wasn’t used to waking up in the morning to bells ringing and I would sleep in and miss breakfast. I’d then be in a rush to get to classes. I asked my roommate to wake me, but she refused. The dean moved me to a single room and the bell was right over my door, but I still slept right through it.
I finally asked the assistant dean who slept across the hall to wake me. After that, I didn’t miss a breakfast!
Teacher wanted proof
When spring came I’d wake up early and walk a long distance to the swimming pool, then play tennis until classes began.
I can’t forget the look on my first homeroom teacher’s face when I walked in and sat down. He asked me what grade I was in. I replied “Grade 10”. He wanted proof, so I had to go upstairs and get my Grade 9 certificate for him.
The lady who did the house cleaning, Rosalee Dake, had a room on the top floor. We became good friends and kept in touch for many years, even after she left the college to get married.
I’d run up the stairs to her room and visit her during our evening two-hour study times. If I heard the dean coming to check on us, I’d hide under Rosalee’s bed. She told me she never had to dust under her bed!
At times, I found the weekends lonely. All the girls, who were older than me, were dating or having parties in the common room.
At the end of that Grade 10 year, I missed all the final exams because I was sick with measles. One day, the college principal came up to see me and said he could hear me “singing”. I guess I was delirious. Soon after, three doctors stood around my bed, monitoring my health.
The measles affected my eyes and I have worn glasses ever since. Years later, I learned I’d started an epidemic of measles that went on at that college for several years.
