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THORNTON HALL PRIVATE SCHOOL
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1949-1997
No non-Thorntoner ever believes us when we tell them of Thornton Hall and the inimitable Miss Greig, Mr. Mackey, Igor the Skeleton et. al. Here's proof it was all true!
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e at Toronto's
Thornton Hall Private School didn't have team sports, yearbooks or a prom.
Instead, we had fencing, surreal productions of "Murder in the Cathedral,"
shaded B-eggs and the occasional tango lesson with the consistently cravatted
Mr. Mackey. Your average alma mater boasts adorably anthropomorphized animals
as mascots; ours was Igor the Skeleton. And while other schools' students
were left to their own devices regarding note-taking methodology, Thorntoners
were expected -- nay, impelled -- to equip themselves with mylar-reinforced
paper, rulers for vertical single- and double-lining and, of course, a rainbow
of Pentel pens for Miss Greig's inscrutably intricate color-coding system.
So certain was Miss Greig that these components were inexorably vital to
success that, upon noticing me scribbling notes the first week of school
with a lowly Bic, she stopped the class to demand if that was indeed the
brand of stylus with which I was daring to write. Off my look of incredulity,
she thundered, "I'll tell you, Jill, you'll have those Pentel pens tomorrow
or it's curtains for you!". Only Miss Greig could say "It's curtains for
you" and incite stomach-churning malaise rather than jeering titters. More
than a little stunned, I nevertheless somehow managed to maneuver myself
to Grand and Toy that very evening to acquire my Pentels, though I admit
that at the time I still didn't perceive the grand scheme of how black, blue,
red and green asterisks and tildes were going to transform me into a pillar
of society.
t proved true that
divinity is in the details. (Of course, the saying also goes "the devil is
in the details," but I'll conveniently ignore that.) Miss Greig's demanding
and exacting teaching technique (which, of course, went far beyond designer
school supplies) wrenched astounding artistic and intellectual capabilities
from the reluctant clutches of stagnant teen psyches more inclined toward
watching "Toronto Rocks" than analyzing Jungian archetypes. I don't know
if I'd currently be able to recreate Michaelangelo's masterworks or recite
"The Canterbury Tales" in its original dialect upon demand, but if I imagine
Miss Greig arching her eyebrow purposefully in my direction, I can only believe
my personal muses wouldn't dare disobey.
his is not to say that I have completely rose-tinted my
recollections of Thornton Hall. In fact, my reproduction of an ancient map
of the New World bears a rather nasty epithet written into the coastline
expressing my sentiments concerning an infuriating incident that I believe
involved Miss Greig catching me chewing gum. (Subsequently realizing that
it was not at all improbable she would take a loupe and actually read each
of the hundreds of miniscule town names, I took the precaution of adding
a long, Latin-sounding suffix to throw her off.)
ut in hindsight, Thornton, like the Peace Corps, Army
or a World War, built a caliber of character in its students it would take
a lifetime or more to come by independently.
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Recent Updates:
School Ties: Thornton Alumni List (UPDATED 7/27/07)
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Site Highlights:
Candid Camera: Snapshots of Thornton's Model Students
Dramatic Recreation of a Thornton Art History Exam
Greigorian Chats: Memorable Accounts of Angela
Lord of the Rings: Thornton Ring Available Through Birks
One Brief Shining Moment: The End of an Era
School Ties: Thornton Alumni List
Take Note: The Method to Our Madness
Yearbook: Photos and Memorabilia
This page was created in May 2000.