Fran and her late husband, Ken, moved into their brand new home in Centennial on January 28, 1956, with great excitement about this “new” area. Fran’s stories are rich with detail about their time in the community.
Straight from Fran Keeler
There was absolutely nothing from here. Port Union was nothing but a dirt road, and Lawson Road, there was nothing.
And Watson had the farm up there. He was good. And the only other people that lived here was a nice coloured family. The Braithwaites lived up at the corner there near the store.That store wasn’t the store either at the time.
I used to walk that two miles every night and every morning to go to work. I’d go up, catch the Grey Coach bus, take me down to Church and Bloor, work all day and then get out.
And then at nighttime when I came home, well, my husband was on the fire department then. But when he was at work, I used to have to walk. When he wasn’t at work, he would come and pick me up at the corner because he worked at the fire hall. There used to be a fire hall in Highland Creek there on Morrish.
Ken and I used to, they finally convinced us to go CCRA canvassing. And somewhere here I’ve got a list because we canvassed from #2 Highway down to the lake getting all these people that paid money towards the CCRA. But I do have the names of all the original people that I got the money from.
And we gave it to Bill Dempsey, and Bill was good to us. When he had any problems, he’d take Ken and I when we were off, we’d go up to city hall and he’d be complaining and we were his backup. He was really a nice man. Bill was our spokesperson. He did all this speaking for us.
I walked two miles to school in the morning, two miles at lunchtime to home, two miles back, and two miles back home. The kids today, as they say, the parents, you look out there. I was there yesterday looking and there’s a lineup of cars. You couldn’t see the school for cars. They were just park, park, park, park, park, park, right one behind the other waiting for their kids to come out of school. And I’m thinking, can’t they walk? They got two legs like everybody else. But no, that’s my opinion. But then what do I know?
We used to have good times once they built the upstairs in the old Legion and they used to have dances. We had more fun than, well we did. We had a lot of fun.
We all knew each other. We’re all like one great big happy family.
Interview participants share their thoughts on Centennial
Deidre Vallejo
I think what’s very important is to feel like you’re a part of something, and when you feel like you’re a part of a community, you feel like you belong, and it’s just an amazing feeling. What makes our Centennial community unique and different from other communities is that we’re very close. I think a lot of community members know each other and we’re almost like a family here.
Julie McCraney
Through Guides, I hope to continue to foster this idea of getting out of the house, getting out from behind the computer, and engaging with each other in small, meaningful ways. Not just “hey” on a text, but there’s no phones in a Guide meeting. We get outside…We take the kids out camping…We also go for hikes because, my goodness, what a beautiful community we live in to do that.
Charlane Braithwaite
My mother (Rella) started out writing Black History in the newspaper Contrast and Share newspaper. Because initially my brother came home, and he was in Grade 6 or something, and he said, “I don’t know much about Black settlers and Black history.” And she said, “I’m going to do some research so that you will know about the settlers and different things.” That’s how she started becoming a Black historian.
Christine and Casey Sefton Family
My parents moved into this community when I was 2 years old, and I’ve had nothing but fond memories. It feels like you’re in a small town but in a big city, which is such a wonderful feeling. We have so many community events going on that we’ve always been involved with. We love this community. So when I grew up… it was really important to me to come back here.
Gay Cowburne
The developers were trying to tell us, no, the asbestos isn’t there…But we had written statements from people who’d worked there and had actually dug those holes and buried that poison… Our main aim was first to make sure that the remediation took place in accordance with the Ministry of Environment guidelines. And second, to ensure that people moving into this neighbourhood would have a safe place to live.
Eva Nichols
The message that I would give to younger people who are wondering about whether there is a role for them or whether it is appropriate for them to be involved in the community association …is to say to them that absolutely this is a community that welcomes people from 10 to 100, and provides an opportunity for people to feel that they can really participate and their participation is appreciated and valued.
Brenda Librecz
I want to be where the opportunities are. I want to be where the housing is lovely for my family. I want to be where the good schools are. I want to be where I can have a job or my kids can get a part-time job. So all of those aspects come together to create a perfect place. And those are important and our local businesses are key to that, along with quality housing and good city services.
Kathy Rowe
You want to advocate, you want to work with the political parties, all levels of government when it comes to something really serious that’s going on in the community that we do need to address. But other than that, we’re very fortunate in that this community is very liveable, very likeable. People love being here, and we just communicate well. And what I want the CCRA to continue to do is communicate well.
Jeff Forsyth
They had to wash the trucks when they left the site. It was a big deal. And we employed environmental lawyers on Bay Street. They didn’t realize what they were dealing with, I don’t think, because the Centennial Community Association was very strong. And let’s face it, they knew this community better than anybody at City Hall or any of those developers knew it.
Kiara
One of the biggest things that drives me to want to be more involved is seeing how the kids progress and kind of growing with it. So some of these kids that we have now, I’ve been coaching since like 2021, and to see them every year getting older, getting better, progressing with it, falling in love with the sport and everything, it’s really rewarding to see that as a coach.
Rayna
There’s a lot of opportunities in soccer to get frustrated, to get a lot of strong feelings. And I think something that the kids can take away from playing here is learning how to channel that through sport or through whatever other means they might have in other parts of their lives. This is their community so it makes them feel more connected to their neighbourhood.
Jennifer McKelvie
Scarborough–Rouge Park is really where nature meets the city, and where else can you live and you can have a deer walk down your street. I think what’s very important is to feel like you’re a part of something, and when you feel like you’re a part of a community, you feel like you belong, and it’s just like an amazing feeling to have.
To the view the video go to youtube.com/@ccranews and select CCRA Community Memories.
ENLARGE (PDF)