The anticipation was thick as four former classmates from the Alberni District Secondary School’s class of 1992 gathered at the Alberni Valley Museum on Friday, Aug. 5.
Meg Unger, Sondra Austin, Dennis Bill and Dana Walter gathered with their children to open a time capsule that Unger had left at the museum for safe keeping, to be opened for the class’s 25-year reunion.
The steel box lay forgotten on the shelves at the museum until a few years ago, when curator Kirsten Smith uncovered it, and began the search for the student who left it at the museum.
Unger learned of the time capsule’s discovery through an article in the Alberni Valley News.
She said at the time that she didn’t remember what was in the plastic box encased in steel.
Friday, she discovered it was full of more memories than she recalled. A BC Summer Games flag, city pins, a grad T-shirt and keychain, a script from Anne of Green Gables (the senior play that year), the first Daily News school paper, a yearbook full of signatures and messages, including those from classmates they have lost since graduation.
“It’s hard to put into words,” she said while looking through the artifacts. “Twenty-five years passed by really quickly.”
“It’s cool,” Austin said. “It’s nostalgic. It’s kind of cool for my kids to see it too.”
“It’s great to see how timeless some people have been and just to reminisce,” Walter said. “It’s pretty neat to do it with our kids around us.”
The capsule will be on display at the museum starting Aug. 9, then will move to ADSS, where Bill—a teacher at his alma mater—will find a place to keep it on display.
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