In 1975 Rita Farrell graduated with two other adult students: Delta Storie and Mary McKenzie. Rita is on the right.
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EIGHT members of the Farrell family attended AHSS. The family had moved to Trout Creek in 1969, one month after school had started for the year. Thus began the family’s long relationship with AHSS, a relationship that would see all seven children attend and graduate over a period of eighteen years!
While many AHSS families are multigenerational, what was unusual about the Farrell family was that Rita, Class of '75, attended alongside her children as one of Almaguin's first adult students. |
Rita Farrell was born on October 12, 1934 in Sudbury and was adopted as a baby by Katie and Telesphore Legassie. She spent her early school years at St. Joseph College in North Bay and loved summer vacations at her grandparents' farm in Chisholm Township. It was in her first high school, at a school dance, that she met Fred Farrell. “He danced all night with a paper bag on his head, refusing to tell anyone who he was," as Rita told it. A great dancer and charmer, Fred swept her off her feet. She quit school at the age of sixteen for a lucrative job as a Bell telephone operator and, not long after, married Fred who worked as an account manager at White Rose Petroleum.
Rita and Fred had eight children - one boy and seven girls (Tracy died as a baby). They lived in North Bay and Sudbury before buying a roadside diner and gas station in Trout Creek. Fred died in April 1972 at the age of 38. Rita, at 37, was on her own to raise the kids, and run the restaurant and gas station. The kids all pumped gas, short-order cooked and waited on tables which developed their work ethic at a very early age. They also became very adept at taking a burger patty out of the freezer and flipping it across the kitchen to land squarely on the grill. Rita was world famous up and down Hwy 11 for her baking – her specialties included pies, butter tarts and preserves all of which were sold in the restaurant. Some of the kids’ friends from Almaguin occasionally worked shifts at the restaurant, mostly for the fun and to help out, definitely not for the high wages.
Later that year, Rita sold the business and moved the family up the highway to Powassan. After renting the historic Robertson house for a number of months, she bought a small house with barely enough room for her and her children on Mill St. The furniture was moved into the new house by the kids. After dark. In a snowstorm. On toboggans. Seriously, that is not made up! Resources were tight and Deb, who graduated from Almaguin in 1973 , used her student grant to buy a (then) very trendy harvest gold fridge and stove for the new home. Her sacrifice, no doubt, was the result of a mother who set many good examples. Rita had set the standard for hard work.
In Powassan, with all the children attending school (Shannon just starting grade one), Rita decided to go back to high school and get her diploma so that she could go to college and get a good job to provide for the family. It was a new start for them all.
Rita was determined – she went to school during the day and worked evenings at Joseph’s Restaurant in Callander. On most mornings, she and her high school age kids would take the car on down the highway to Almaguin – on occasion, Lori and Jim would have a dust-up over who got to drive. On other days, Rita, books in hand, would line up at the corner with her two kids (and other neighbourhood kids) to wait for the school bus. She worked hard in class, excelled at school, and graduated with honours in 1975.
Rita and Fred had eight children - one boy and seven girls (Tracy died as a baby). They lived in North Bay and Sudbury before buying a roadside diner and gas station in Trout Creek. Fred died in April 1972 at the age of 38. Rita, at 37, was on her own to raise the kids, and run the restaurant and gas station. The kids all pumped gas, short-order cooked and waited on tables which developed their work ethic at a very early age. They also became very adept at taking a burger patty out of the freezer and flipping it across the kitchen to land squarely on the grill. Rita was world famous up and down Hwy 11 for her baking – her specialties included pies, butter tarts and preserves all of which were sold in the restaurant. Some of the kids’ friends from Almaguin occasionally worked shifts at the restaurant, mostly for the fun and to help out, definitely not for the high wages.
Later that year, Rita sold the business and moved the family up the highway to Powassan. After renting the historic Robertson house for a number of months, she bought a small house with barely enough room for her and her children on Mill St. The furniture was moved into the new house by the kids. After dark. In a snowstorm. On toboggans. Seriously, that is not made up! Resources were tight and Deb, who graduated from Almaguin in 1973 , used her student grant to buy a (then) very trendy harvest gold fridge and stove for the new home. Her sacrifice, no doubt, was the result of a mother who set many good examples. Rita had set the standard for hard work.
In Powassan, with all the children attending school (Shannon just starting grade one), Rita decided to go back to high school and get her diploma so that she could go to college and get a good job to provide for the family. It was a new start for them all.
Rita was determined – she went to school during the day and worked evenings at Joseph’s Restaurant in Callander. On most mornings, she and her high school age kids would take the car on down the highway to Almaguin – on occasion, Lori and Jim would have a dust-up over who got to drive. On other days, Rita, books in hand, would line up at the corner with her two kids (and other neighbourhood kids) to wait for the school bus. She worked hard in class, excelled at school, and graduated with honours in 1975.
Her children were very proud of her. It was at Almaguin that she began writing. Her journal started off as an exercise, writing about 'given topics' by Mrs. Elliott, but then she would do extra, just for herself. This journal would later give her children a peek into what life for her was like, this woman, a widow, and raising her seven children in small town Ontario, going to high school alongside them. One couldn’t watch what she did and not admire her. She and Jim began their 1974-75 year in Mr. Miller’s biology class together… imagine being in biology class with your mother!
Upon graduating with her grade 12 diploma, Rita was accepted into the Registered Nursing Assistant program at Canadore College. She went to work at St. Joseph’s Hospital nursery, in the neo-natal unit, until she retired. She loved the newborns. No one could swaddle a baby like Rita, something every one of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were to experience.
During her high school years at AHSS she struggled to make ends meet but was dedicated to her kids and she was determined to be a good provider. Back in those days, before the invention of the cell phone, the family fridge was the ‘message board’ - hi mom, I passed my exam; hi mom, can you pick up some milk; hi mom, I failed my test, etc. Other notes were written on the bananas that were in the fruit basket on the kitchen table (no kidding, ball-point pens write very well on bananas). Food became a little scarce before each month end…meaning all the good stuff was ate up…a common theme in small town and rural Ontario. But the kids never felt poor. The best times were around the dinner table, Rita always made sure meals were made, whether she had to be at work or not. Her sense of humour always endured; for example, she might slip a piece of foil wrap or tissue paper into Jim’s sandwich for lunch. Jim quickly learned to check what was between the slices of bread, everyday!
The house in Powassan was a warm and welcoming place, and Rita would often arrive home Friday evenings to find the older kids and their friends home from work or university playing games, drinking coffee (sometimes beer, in a cigarette haze… it was the 70’s after all!) and telling stories. All of the kids’ friends made the Mill Street house their second home. The door was never locked. Sometimes, in the early mornings, Rita would have to quietly step over those same friends curled up in sleeping bags on the living room floor. Rita felt that if her home was open to her children’s friends she would always know where her kids were. She was and is still treasured by many AHSS friends and many still stay in touch with the family.
During her high school years at AHSS she struggled to make ends meet but was dedicated to her kids and she was determined to be a good provider. Back in those days, before the invention of the cell phone, the family fridge was the ‘message board’ - hi mom, I passed my exam; hi mom, can you pick up some milk; hi mom, I failed my test, etc. Other notes were written on the bananas that were in the fruit basket on the kitchen table (no kidding, ball-point pens write very well on bananas). Food became a little scarce before each month end…meaning all the good stuff was ate up…a common theme in small town and rural Ontario. But the kids never felt poor. The best times were around the dinner table, Rita always made sure meals were made, whether she had to be at work or not. Her sense of humour always endured; for example, she might slip a piece of foil wrap or tissue paper into Jim’s sandwich for lunch. Jim quickly learned to check what was between the slices of bread, everyday!
The house in Powassan was a warm and welcoming place, and Rita would often arrive home Friday evenings to find the older kids and their friends home from work or university playing games, drinking coffee (sometimes beer, in a cigarette haze… it was the 70’s after all!) and telling stories. All of the kids’ friends made the Mill Street house their second home. The door was never locked. Sometimes, in the early mornings, Rita would have to quietly step over those same friends curled up in sleeping bags on the living room floor. Rita felt that if her home was open to her children’s friends she would always know where her kids were. She was and is still treasured by many AHSS friends and many still stay in touch with the family.
Rita always loved to dance and would put on records to teach the kids how to jive, hence Jim’s skills on the dance floor! As a family, they would go to the local arena dances on Saturday nights, or to the Justus gigs in the area hotels. Afterwards, they would all arrive back home, Jim exhausted, because none of the other fellas knew how to jive! Whoever wasn’t 18 yet was the de facto designated driver.
Jim got to know Don Dorst through his role as Student Council president and they developed a close friendship. This was after Rita had graduated and was working at the hospital. The story goes that Jim invited Don up to Powassan for dinner one evening to meet the family. It wasn’t long before “Mr. Dorst” would occasionally show up driving a school bus to take Rita on a date. For Christine's wedding, he drove the wedding party and guests in a school bus to Magnetawan for the pre-wedding lunch. He also would take the family to the Ponderosa in North Bay for dinner, cementing the Farrell/Dorst relationship. Rita and Don were married in Burk's Falls on July 11, 1987.
Jim got to know Don Dorst through his role as Student Council president and they developed a close friendship. This was after Rita had graduated and was working at the hospital. The story goes that Jim invited Don up to Powassan for dinner one evening to meet the family. It wasn’t long before “Mr. Dorst” would occasionally show up driving a school bus to take Rita on a date. For Christine's wedding, he drove the wedding party and guests in a school bus to Magnetawan for the pre-wedding lunch. He also would take the family to the Ponderosa in North Bay for dinner, cementing the Farrell/Dorst relationship. Rita and Don were married in Burk's Falls on July 11, 1987.
Rita and all seven of her children graduated from Almaguin between 1973 and 1987. They all have fond memories of their time at Almaguin and participated in many activities at the school – cheerleading, basketball, volleyball, student’s council, smoking between the doors…. Many of the teachers were instrumental in their future success – too many to name but the family is ever grateful to them all.
The Farrell kids would like to believe they had a positive impact on Almaguin and its staff, and hope they are fondly remembered. They say it’s hard to articulate how they navigated as a family with a mother who also became a peer, a friend and a provider. It's like Rita was given a second chance to grow up under circumstances that were by her own design and determination…
Rita had the right “stuff”! She couldn’t have done it without her kids! Her kids couldn’t have done it without her!
A favourite Rita quip…she often responded to unreasonable purchase requests with “My name’s Farrell, not Rockefarrell!
Rita always had that effervescent smile and love for life, Don, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The world is a better place for the example she set for everyone.
Rita died peacefully at her home in Orillia surrounded by her loving family on October 24, 2020.
Thank you Rita for gracing the halls of AHSS!
The Farrell kids would like to believe they had a positive impact on Almaguin and its staff, and hope they are fondly remembered. They say it’s hard to articulate how they navigated as a family with a mother who also became a peer, a friend and a provider. It's like Rita was given a second chance to grow up under circumstances that were by her own design and determination…
Rita had the right “stuff”! She couldn’t have done it without her kids! Her kids couldn’t have done it without her!
A favourite Rita quip…she often responded to unreasonable purchase requests with “My name’s Farrell, not Rockefarrell!
Rita always had that effervescent smile and love for life, Don, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The world is a better place for the example she set for everyone.
Rita died peacefully at her home in Orillia surrounded by her loving family on October 24, 2020.
Thank you Rita for gracing the halls of AHSS!
The Farrell family at the trailer park - Rita, Kate, Jim, Christine, Lori, Shannon, Debra, Holly
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AHSS gave the Farrell Family a solid foundation and a sense of community so they might better navigate what the future held for them…and what does that Almaguin family look like -
Rita Farrell, Class of '75 - nurse and proud mother of seven Almaguin graduates Don Dorst, former AHSS Vice Principal who was glad to be adopted into the family and misses their Mum, Orillia, ON Deb, Class of '73 - consultant, Atlanta, GA Dr. Kate, Class of '74 – oncology research scientist, Sonoma, CA Jim, Class of '78 - project manager, distance runner, paddle sport coach, Toronto, ON Lorie, Class of '78 - registered nurse, Orillia, ON Holly, Class of '79 - artist, https://www.hollyfarrell.com/ Toronto, ON Christine, Class of '82 – drug development specialist, San Diego, CA Shannon, Class of ’87 - technology sales executive, Toronto, ON |
Around the table we go – Jim, Don, Lori, Kate, Holly, Rob (Shannon’s husband), Shannon, Christine, Joanne (Jim’s partner), Debra, Rita
If you would like to recognize a student (or group of students) who attended
AHSS in its early years, please let us know.
AHSS in its early years, please let us know.