How I spent the last 35 years of my life
By Marsha Abramson
Name : Marsha Abramson
Address: 775 Euclid Avenue, Toronto M6G 2V3
Marital: Currently married for 22 years to David Calderisi
Children: None - but I am stepmother to two men from my husband's marriage; like to think I had a hand in what splendid human beings they are
Pets: Two retired racing greyhounds; as interested in their well being as Rosemary, but lack the time to do the good she is doing (we just spread the word)
Occupation: Owner/operator/general dogsbody of M.A.M.A. (Marsha Abramson Management Associates - bookkeeping service)
See you all soon!!!
Marsha’s Memorable Memories
he was from North Africa. For me, he was an amazing teacher - very
serious, but I was pretty serious about my French.
And Miss Stief! She was a gym teacher at Fisherville. She taught us how to
put on pantyhose wearing gloves so that we wouldn't snag them! She also
used to sniff our underwear while we were in the shower after gym class -
she said it was to make sure we were putting clean underwear on everyday,
but now I think it's just too weird that she did that.
The English lit teacher who looked like Louise Lasser was Maggie Felbrigg.
She went on to teach at the first alternative school in the city (AISP).
She was a wonderful teacher (turned me on for life to CanLit), and a great
person. She lives in my neighbourhood - near Bloor & Spadina - and has two
kids. Her daughter looks so much like her that I approached her in a
subway station to ask if Maggie is her mother!
And how come no one has fond memories of my ex - Raymond Aaron? Phil
Lapidus has some. Raymond managed to turn those of us who had no interest
in math on to some aspects of it. He also interested a group of us in
recycling and reusing - which has certainly stayed with me for life. Along
with Phil, Linda Myles, Marty Lea, Sue Cornelius, we formed the city's
very first (and possibly the country's) recycling depot. We collected
newspapers and bottles one Sunday a month. Morry Patt let us gather
everything betAween the doors coming in from the parking lot. We spent
hours pulling the staples out of the TV Guide and Starweek Magazine. And
we loaded my dad's trunk with bottles that we dragged out to Consolidated
Bottle for recycling. We made enough money from the bottles to pay for the
paper recyclers to pick up!
I had the "unique" position of getting to know some of the teachers on a
far more casual basis, since I was "seeing" Raymond through grade 12, and
married him soon after the end of that year. Richard Allingham (math)
became a very good friend (also lives in my neighbourhood); Mark Meslin
(math) was an old camp friend of Raymond's and was a delightful person
with a wealth of life experience and a superb sense of humour (sadly, he
died from an allergic reaction to a bee sting); Susie Singer was an old
classmAate of Raymond's. And Morry Patt (who was about the only person in
the school who didn't know about us) was actually Raymond's teacher at
Bathurst Heights.
Does anyone have any news of Art Spence (English)? He also became a great
friend. We spent a grand summer camping on "Spence Lake", which is
actually AY Jackson Lake in Killarney Provincial Park. It was (still is) a
wilderness park where you could set up camp for the summer (now you need
reservations), and Art would erect an elaborate kitchen facility and park
there for the summer. We would encounter young rangers at the park
entrance who would ask us to keep our eyes open for a group of nudists who
were hAanging out somewhere in the park. They never checked out Spence
Lake ...
I remember Mr. Thrower (gym and guidance) - who was very cute! He was the
person I credit with ending my smoking career. I had just come in from the
outside sidewalk in front of the school where we all hung out to smoke,
and he walked by and said to me "You stink". I was so embarrassed that I
never smoked again (well, not cigarettes).
I remember trying to get the school to put in a smoking lounge for
students because we thought it was unhealthy to have to stand out in the
cold for our cigarette break!!
We were also friendly with Graham Northcott (geography) and Caroline
Dowdell (math) who ended up marrying each other after their respective
divorces came through, and spent many hours discussing the merits of
living in Canada with them.
Long ago - and seems very far away!! I guess these are some of my
memorable moments.
