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Roy Rideout - Class 1960
My very Best Friend It had taken me a long time to write this and now I think it is the time to do so. Not very often , when I think on my past reflections of childhood or write of them , do I not think of my best friend Roy Rideout. Roy and I lived in close proximity on the Army side and were the same age. Well, his birthday was April 14 and mine was March 15. I was the elder by 30 days. We started school together in Grade 1 and became best friends. Roy excelled in sports while I struggled to maintain his standard, yet although he was picked early in the team selection during our primitive selective process, Roy was always there saying “pick Jack, pick Jack”. Throughout our childhood there was that rare occasion when we didn’t play on the same team together. Maybe it was felt that we would be ineffective playing against each other. We only sat next to each other on the first day of every school year. Normally at the back of the classroom. We were always there early, on the first morning of the school year, to beat the others for the choice back seats. That usually lasted till noon, when one of us would be moved to the front of the class to be under the close scrutiny of the teacher. I don’t know why but it seemed as if I was always the one sitting up front. Even the teachers liked Roy. We both maintained the same class grade standard and continued through high school. Did just about everything thing that was frowned upon by our parents and teachers but we manage to graduate intact. Roy was a very personable individual, had a great personality, and was a friend to everyone. I sort of felt important just by being his best friend. After we finished high school, we both worked in Gander. Roy worked at the weather office as a weather observer and I worked with ATC as an assistant. Both being in our late teens we had a lot in common. Had new cars. We had girlfriends in the General Hospital nursing school, in the same class, and we both planned on going to Ottawa together to attend the ATC school as soon as we became of age. Back in those days, being 21 was a requirement. Many a midnight shift, while on coffee break, we would get together and plan our strategy for the upcoming ATC course. Then the most tragic event of my young life occurred when Roy lost his life in a car accident just before his 21st birthday in Bishop’s Falls. It was my first lesson, as an adult, in mortality and it was a painful one. I know I am not the only person who lost a close friend at such a young age and Roy had many other school friends that also shared in this loss. I’m sure I write on behalf of the class of 1960 and other associated classes, of the affection we had for Roy and to his memory. Jack Pinsent
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