Lorne Akins would probably be embarrassed if he knew there was a school named after him, says his daughter-in-law.
"He was a man who didn't want to be famous," said Shirley Akins, Akins' daughter-in-law.
"He was humble. He would just like to make you happy."
Shirley was one of the many current and former teachers at the St. Albert Public Schools district office Thursday for the opening of a new exhibit on the history of Lorne Akins Junior High School.
The exhibit is the sixth in an ongoing series of profiles on the public district's schools, says Joan Trettler, chair of the Historical Foundation for School District 6 (the district's old name).
"Lorne Akins was a very integral part of St. Albert," she told the crowd of about 60 guests. A long-time farmer, town councillor and school trustee, Akins owned and farmed some 240 acres in town that stretched from the Sturgeon River to the current site of Lorne Akins school for about 50 years.
Shirley recalls Akins as a man who loved people and life. A founding member of the St. Albert Lions Club, curling club, Royal Canadian Legion, community league and United Church, Akins was a very sociable man with a knack for reciting poetry from memory.
"He was more like a grandfather to me than a father-in-law."
He was also athletic, known for his skills at hockey and wrestling, reports his grandson and Leo Nickerson teacher Chris Akins – Akins was, at one point, the western Canadian amateur wrestling champ.
Shirley says her fondest memory of Akins comes from the years when he would drive her to work at Paul Kane (which was later named renamed to Lorne Akins). He had a strange habit of closing his eyes at every stoplight while driving, she recalls with amusement.
"He'd just knew instinctively when it would turn green, so he had a little rest at every red light!"
Akins died in 1972 at 81.
The Gator rises
Lorne Akins the school, was originally known as Paul Kane, Trettler says. Built in 1961, it was the first high school in the district. When the new Paul Kane opened across the field in early 1973, the school was renamed as Lorne Akins.
The board at the time wanted to keep its junior high students at the overcrowded Sir Alexander Mackenzie until fall 1973 in order to save money, says Barry Findlater, first principal of Lorne Akins. School staff would have none of that, so they had the students haul their desks across Sir Winston Churchill Ave. themselves.
The St. Albert Gazette and CTV News both covered the move, panels at the exhibit say. Findlater says he still gets greetings from old students who remember him as that principal that made them haul their own desks.
Findlater says he and fellow naming committee member Leo Nickerson had to fight hard to convince the board to name this school after a local person instead of a historic figure.
"We wanted to have a kind of person with a family we could emulate and use as a model for the kids," he says. Akins was a perfect fit.
Lorne Akins Junior High officially opened on Oct. 4, 1973, with 405 students. Marilyn Bosvik, granddaughter of Akins, unveiled a painting of him at the opening ceremony that still hangs in the school today.
Lorne Akins had been built using the latest educational theories of the time, which included sliding walls, nigh-windowless classrooms, and a central skylight. Students denounced it as prison-like and struggled with noise from adjacent rooms.
"The school was an open-area fiasco," says long-time Lorne Akins vice-principal Roger Scott, with a shanty-like staff room and a mice-infested workroom. The hard work of staff and many renovations turned it into the school it is today.
Scott spoke at length about the school's commitment to students and its family-like atmosphere, exemplified by its motto, "Once a gator, always a gator."
But the gator didn't become the school's mascot until the early 1980s, he noted – before then, they toyed with possibilities such as the "LAphants" or the "LAardvarks." Teachers Ken Yaremkevich and Cindy Andrews came up with "LAgators," which students picked as the winner in a poll.
The next school in the profile series is Ronald Harvey Elementary, Trettler says.
