The year was 1968 and when Roy Sakata peered out of his Manoah Steves elementary classroom window in Richmond, he had an uninterrupted view of Steveston Highway to the south; cabbage patches to the east, the dyke to the west and more fields to the north.
As the school celebrated its 50th birthday last Friday, Sakata recalled fondly the memories of the school on Springford and Fourth avenues, just southwest of No. 1 and Williams roads.
“I was here for two years in ’68 and then moved to Ferris (elementary) in ’70,” said Sakata, moments after entertaining the crowd of several hundred students, teachers and alumni inside Manoah Steves’ gym hall with his tales of the past.
“I came back as principal here in ‘87 and managed to last until ’94, until they sent me to Homma (elementary).
“Back in the beginning here, this was an annex of Dixon (elementary), with five classrooms of about 150 kids, I think.”
Named after Manoah Steves — the grandfather of veteran city councillor Harold Steves and founder of Steveston, who moved to the southwest corner of Richmond in 1877 after buying 400 acres of land — the school officially opened on Nov. 18, 1965.
Bob Story was the school’s first head teacher, however, as the school was actually an annex of Dixon elementary, the principal, G.A. Eyjolfson, was shared between the two.
A fire raged through the school in 1975, nearly destroying the building. It was rebuilt and opened back up the following year.
One of the many former students at last Friday’s celebration, Jody Natsuhara (alumni ‘80-‘88), attended the same school as her daughter, Samantha Langan, 8, Grade 2, does today.
“My parents still live in the neighbourhood, I still live here; I’ve lived in the same neighbourhood my entire life,” smiled Natsuhara.
“I remember having an army tent as a playground at the school; it also had a kitchen in it.
“The school looks exactly the same today, though, as it did then, very little has changed.
“Although I remember we only had 10 Apple 2E computers, that we all had to share.”
Present day students, for the last few weeks, have been looking at changes over the last 50 years.
And the librarian has been working hard pulling together an exhibition of old photos and displays for each decade of the school’s life.
As well as the special assembly, welcoming back former teachers and alumni with songs from the ‘60s sung by current students, present day staff dressed in a ‘60s theme.
Coun. Steves and his wife, Kathy, also marked the occasion during the day by touring the school’s classrooms to inspect the students’ displays.
