The Commerce Class of 65 Celebrates 50th Anniversary

On May 30, 2015, 19 of the 28 members of the Bachelor of Commerce Class of 1965 returned to the Carleton campus to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of their graduation.

One of the reunion’s organizers, Peter Nash, BCom/65, wrote an essay that captures his memories of his days at Carleton University in the 1960s.

Those Were the Days

On the last weekend of May 2015, the Carleton Commerce Class of 1965 will celebrate their 50^th anniversary.

The journey to this event began in September 1962, when a bunch of newly minted Ottawa high school graduates (plus a few from other locales) arrived at Carleton to enroll in the Commerce program. Friendships were formed that have lasted all these years. The three years at Carleton were a great experience and left many memories.

In no particular order of importance, here are a few of them.

• On the first day of Economics 100 in the Egg, Professor Scott Gordon told us to look to your left, look to your right and, then hesitated, that two out of three would not be here next year. That was quite a confidence builder.
• One professor (whose name escapes us) used to bring his dog to class. One day, as he kept telling us “Life is a vicious circle”, we were watching the dog. The dog had problems with his bodily fluids. He was laying there on the floor and an ever increasing pool of uring could be seen. The prof never noticed.
• Our two favourite profs were Bill Scott and Gilles Paquet. During Bill’s first day of teaching, he told us a groaner of a joke about accounting entries. We laughed nervously. Gilles’ classes were always interesting and stimulating, but we always checked to see if he was wearing his Hush Puppies (a popular shoe at the time). Gilles also famously threw Eric Sprott not once, but twice, out of Economics 325. He did, however, still pass him, but with a D+ mark.
• Listening to the Beatles and Stones being played in the tunnels and mentally thanking the architect for devising these walkways when winter came.
• One of the advantages of going to school in Ottawa is that Hull was just across the river. The drinking ag was 21 in Ontario, while in Quebec it was 18. The Rendez-Vous and the Ottawa house quickly became our haunts, and draft beer was only 25 cents. If we felt really adventuresome, we would go to the Preston House on Preston St, but we always worried we would be caught.
• On graduation day, one classmate had just received his degree when a bird dropped a perfect shot on his new graduation day haircut. The bird still talks about it.

Thanks Carleton. We still miss you.