Timothy Allan Johnston
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The ATA Magazine - Editor’s Notebook

Volume 73, Jan/Feb 1993

 
                                                                   75 Years

            As The Alberta Teachers’ Association sails on through its 75th year, I have wondered what effect this anniversary year will have on teacher members who have students to teach and lives to live. I have wondered who has taken time out to celebrate, even in a passing way, the sturdy record of an organization founded for, and by, teachers. Who has paused to think about the almost unbelievable differences in teaching between now and just 75 years ago when the ATA began? How has our organization weathered the years and is there yet life in the old thing?

            There is reason for my wondering. Like our members, I am taken up by the demands of my occupation and of my life. But this year, these demands include focusing on celebrating 75 years of history as experienced by our Association. I have been assigned one task related to the anniversary and picked up another one in the normal course of events. The assigned job was to produce a film celebrating our past and present. Editing the Magazine and producing this feature edition on our 75 years constitutes my regular assignment. Both have brought me in contact with people I have not known before, sometimes in rather amusing ways.

            The illustration on the cover is part of the regular assignment. What to put on the cover is always of concern to the editor but doubly so for the celebration of such an auspicious event. I wanted the cover to say something about the performance of The Alberta Teachers’ Association, about its rock-solid foundations, about being “carved in stone” so to speak. So why not carve the 75th anniversary logo in stone? Besides making a unique cover illustration, the carving would provide the Association with a lasting memento.

            The trick was finding a stonecutter. The fine arts department of the University of Alberta didn’t know of anyone who could produce such an item. I thought about calling a maker of granite memorials but found that idea just put me off. It seemed a bit morbid to link our proud heritage to tombstones.

            It turned out that a memorial maker was my only hope. I called a local company and a gentleman named Marshall invited me to bring the logo to his shop. When I arrived, he seemed quite pleased with my visit. Maybe it was because I was in his shop on an errand of celebration rather than because someone had died.

            Marshall walked me around and explained the origins and qualities of all the stones he had on display. Then he took me into the heart of the shop where I met Rick, the man who does the engraving. Rick explained how the rubber stencil allowed the rock to be engraved and proudly showed me samples of his craft. “This is one of my favorites,” he said, pointing out a shiny black stone engraved with a portrait of the deceased as well as with the emblem of his motorcycle club.

            The other assignment has been the production of our 75th anniversary film—75 years of history condensed into 25 minutes!

            Part of the film was made at John Barnett Elementary School in Edmonton where we filmed an interview with Irene Gaunce and Ethel Cutts, two of Barnett’s daughters. They had last visited the school with their mother, Charlotte Barnett, when the school was opened in 1976. Principal Mary Romanko and her staff and students took very good care of Irene and Ethel as well as the film crew during our visit. Mary had starred as a classroom teacher in the first television commercial I made for the Association a few years back.

            Filming took us to other schools in Bon Accord, St Albert and Namao. In each school, the staff and students cooperated so that we could film our scenes with the least amount of disruption. At Lillian Schick School in Bon Accord, the library where we filmed filled quietly with students who watched the movie making process up close. At Namao Elementary School, Principal Ken Schneider held the last bell of the day as well as a long string of yellow school buses so we could finish filming Association President Fran Savage’s message.

            I hope you enjoy this anniversary issue of The ATA Magazine and, when you see it, the anniversary film. Many people had a hand in creating both of these items. More important, many people helped our Association reach this vintage age. People like you. Take a moment right now to congratulate yourself, your Association and the people with whom you teach.

            Happy anniversary ATA, and may you sail on and on.

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