At an MCHS picnic last summer, Dan Cayer spoke about an international pigeon show at a desert compound in Kuwait; also last summer, John Kovac spoke with me about the MCHS class of 1971 reunion

The event committee for the MCHS Sixties Reunion met on July 28, 2015 at Dan and Gina Cayer’s farm in St. Williams, Ontario. Left to right, Gina Davis Cayer, Peter Mearns, and Lynn Legge. That’s Lynn’s Mustang in the foreground. Jaan Pill photo

I first met Gina (Davis) Cayer and her husband Dan during the two years when we were planning the Malcolm Campbell High School Sixties reunion.

The reunion took took place at the Old Mill in Toronto on Oct. 17, 2015.

Gina and Dan live in St. Williams, Ontario, which is located on Lake Erie. They have travelled widely – in North America and around the world.

Gina (Davis) Cayer attended MCHS in the 1960s.

When we were planning the 2015 reunion, I was interested to learn about their involvement with horse training and pigeon shows. An Instagram profile notes that Dan is a retired horse trainer and life-long breeder of English Long Face Tumblers.

At our Nov. 26, 2014 MCHS 2015 reunion organizing committee meeting in Kitchener over a decade ago, Gina, who attended MCHS in the 1960s, joined us for the first time.

Along with Lynn (Hennebury) Legge, Gina was among the key players in the organizing of the Sixties reunion in Toronto which attracted over 60 people.

Gina and Lynn are now actively involved in the organizing of our MCHS picnics in Southwestern Ontario. Our next picnic is tentatively planned for May 2025 in London.

Everyone connected with MCHS (whether they graduated or not) and family and friends are welcome to join us. I share details below on how you can join our MCHS picnics email list.

Dan Cayer (St Pius X, Montreal, 1965)

Dan awarded for judging at international pigeon show, Kuwait, March 2024. Dan Cayer photo

Malcolm Campbell High School picnics

Before the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were meeting indoors at Mandarin restaurants in Kitchener and Toronto. A lunch at such a restaurant is a “walking lunch” because people are always walking back and forth to the buffet tables.

For some time during the pandemic, we stopped meeting for lunches at restaurants. After the pandemic had settled down a bit, we switched to organizing bring-your-own picnics in our backyards (or porches) or at a park in Woodstock.

Dan Cayer, who’s won top honours at international pigeon shows over many years, is in demand as a judge at such events. At our June 2022 picnic in London, Ontario, he said he was getting calls to judge pigeon shows when the Covid pandemic was at its height, but at that time he was staying put in Canada.

MCHS Sixties Reunion, Toronto, Oct. 17, 2015. Walter Psotka photo

During the height of the pandemic, it would have been easy enough to travel to some other country to judge a pigeon show, but the question was: Are you going to be able to get back to Canada, in light of the pandemic, or do you get stuck in the country that you travelled to? Now that Covid is less of a pressing concern, Dan and Gina have resumed their travels to attend pigeon shows, most recently in Kuwait.

Click here for BBC profile about Kuwait >

International pigeon show in Kuwait

Air-conditioned pigeon-show tent in Kuwaiti desert, about 100 feet by 300 feet. Dan Cayer photo

At the pigeon show in Kuwait in February 2024, there were nine judges, Dan among them, from Canada, Germany, and Romania. Dan and Gina stayed at a Hilton hotel next to which was located an 800-store mall, all under glass. “Just unbelievable,” said Dan. “Food is incredible. Of course, no pork and no liquor.”

Gina Cayer in show hall, Kuwait, March 2024. Dan Cayer photo

The day after the pigeon show, a party attended by about 150 people was held in honour of the judges. Gina was the only woman in attendance. “Gina’s always the only woman [at such pigeon shows] – but she’s very, very well received.”

The judging took place in the desert in an air-conditioned, spotlessly clean, about 100 feet by 300 feet, with ceramic floors. Inside was a large pigeon loft. The tent had walls eight or ten feet high with electronic gates at the entrance.

Dan judging in Kuwait. Dan Cayer photo

Dan spoke about the expense of the air-conditioning in summertime with temperatures of about 52°C to 55°C. “They have these incredible industrial air-conditioners,” said Dan, “to bring the temperatures down to about 30°C, to make it reasonable, to breed birds.”

A handler showed Dan and Gina the local sights over four days; in his day job their tour guide was a Kuwaiti tank commander. Among the places they visited were the Kuwait Towers. Most people involved with the show, Dan noted, had two or three people from Bangladesh or India working for them.

MCHS picnic in London, June 15, 2022: Left to right, Lynn Legge, Mike Legge, Peter Reich, Dan Cayer, Gina Cayer, and Zen Levitzky. Jaan Pill photo

July 2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview: What makes an award winning pigeon?

An online audio recording of a July 12, 2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) broadcast about an international pigeon show in Australia features an interview with Dan Cayer, who was one of the judges at the show. My transcript of the segment reads:

CAROLINE WINTER: And the prestige of winning is what’s brought the 120 exhibitors from across Australia to Adelaide.

Canadian judge Dan Cayer has flown in for the event. He says the process can be very intense.

DAN CAYER: You’re looking at the bird in the pen, the way he handles, and then you handle the bird. You check for lice or mites, or condition: if the bird’s very light, it’s ill. And then you start assessing the head, in the hand, assessing the length of the bird, the width of the bird, the colour of the bird. And then you compare him, in the hand, and then you compare it – you put him back in the pen, you compare him to the other birds.

We also met in Toronto on Sept. 10, 2024 and in Woodstock on Sept. 26, 2024

We had an enjoyable MCHS get-together in Stratford on Aug. 6, 2024 at which we talked about many other things in addition to what I’ve highlighted. In attendance were Gina and Dan Cayer, Scott Munro, May Jolliffe, and Jaan Pill.

For our next picnic, we met on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Carswell’s home in Toronto and we also met in Woodstock on Sept. 26, 2024.

Please let me know at jpill@preservedstories.com if you would like to be on our MCHS picnics email list. We organize the picnics with input from as many people as possible.

Anyone connected with MCHS (from whatever year) – students (whether they graduated or not), teachers, family, and friends – all are welcome.

Grads and family and friends from elsewhere travelling through Ontario are always welcome to attend.

At our Aug. 6th picnic, I learned many new things of interest – including about the international pigeon show in Kuwait and about how crowded the beach, as Gina Cayer has mentioned, can get at Long Point Provincial Park. So crowded, in fact, that people are setting up tables on sandbars. We had an enjoyable picnic at Long Point in July 2021. It was interesting to visit the shoreline of Lake Erie on that occasion.

We often talk at picnics about books. Scott Munro mentioned at our Stratford meeting that he’s been reading Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart – Again (2024) by Robert Kagan. A recent book I’ve been reading is The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism (2023) by Tim Alberta. As well, I’m pleased to mention two websites I’ve learned about recently – handy for my online reading of essays: The London Review of Books, and Engelsberg Ideas.

I spoke with John Kovac on Aug. 10, 2024, during his visit to Stratford

John Kovac. Source: MCHS 1970-1971 Yearbook

I also met in Stratford on Aug. 10, 2024, a few days after the picnic, with MCHS grad John Kovac of Montreal. I was interested to speak with John to learn about how the MCHS class of 1971 went about organizing its class reunion.

I draw very much inspiration from knowing about the ongoing activities of the class of 1971. I’m always interested in learning about how MCHS alumni of all ages – and, as well, people with all kinds of other shared experiences – go about organizing ongoing events.

We learn about organizing things by going ahead and organizing; we also learn by comparing notes with other people with similar interests.

It’s really a treat to know of a November 2024 class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver which I recently learned about from John.

Barb Shuster and John Kovac, who comments, “We still have our rings.” Photo source: John Kovac

John and his wife Elissa Cohen were in Stratford in August 2024 to see Something Rotten! at the Festival Theatre. John was keen to see the Stratford Festival version of this play. I was interested to learn that John is active in community theatre in Montreal. He had, in fact, performed – in the role of the soothsayer, Thomas Nostradamus – in the same play when it was staged by the Côte Saint-Luc Dramatic Society in Montreal, in 2023.

November 2024 class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver. Photo source: John Kovac

The Côte Saint-Luc Dramatic Society was founded in 2011. John spoke of the central role that Artistic Director Anisa Cameron, who grew up in a theatrical family, has played in the startup and growth of this Montreal community theatre.

November 2024 class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver. Photo source: John Kovac

November 2024 class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver

I’m pleased to close off with some details and photos from John Kovac regarding the class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver in November 2024. I was really pleased to learn about this event. John writes:

November 2024 class of 1971 mini reunion in Vancouver. Photo source: John Kovac

As a result of the class of 71 reunion, many have remained in touch and continue to meet at various venues. In fact, my wife Elissa and I had the great pleasure of attending a mini reunion in Vancouver this past November. Elissa and I made it known that we would be spending the day in Vancouver while in transit to the far east. That news sparked a group of alumni, headed by Miriam Linderman and Don Roth to organize a wonderful lunch for about 13 alumni and spouses. Miriam also arranged for a 70th birthday cake for all of us. Here are a couple of pics.