Growing up in Pierrefonds and attending Greendale Elementary School made for a pretty great childhood. Despite attending the same school from kindergarden through grade eleven, Kell and I only made it into the same class once: grade three with the most wonderful woman in the world, Mrs. Jean Heaton. Both of us adored Mrs. Heaton, and both of us were devestated when she became ill with cancer midway though the year. Tragically, Mrs. Heaton died a few short years after she was our grade three teacher. But she kept in touch with both of us, and we never forgot how wonderful she was. She even came to my birthday party one year! Greendale was a wonderful school filled with teachers who genuinely cared about their students well-being. In recent years, both Kell and I would on occasion still pop over to the school and say hi to the teachers who were still there including Mr. C, Mrs. Branston, Mrs. Dzirmaga, and others.
After Kell died, Greendale planted a tree in her memory at the front of the school. This was a truly lovely gesture, and I know Kell would have approved.
