Anne-Marie Kee OCT BA (Hon.), M.Ed. ׀ Head of School/Foundation
Lakefield College School
Finally, as I think about stories and firsts, your year was also marked by a concert by one of Canada’s greatest rock stars, Neil Young, who toured our school in September, after his wife Daryl Hannah spent a day at Northcote with the grade tens. Neil Young performed a benefit concert in May at our farm to raise money to restore a historic farmhouse and two cabins on the Northcote property. Neil Young is a lover of old cars, and he performed a song about one of his cars, a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse he nicknamed “Mort,” that blew a transmission in Blind River, Ontario. While the song is about a car, the car is really a powerful symbol of old friendships, an enduring spirit, and simpler times. It is a lovely ode to the people, places, and things we value deeply and think about as we move forward into this world and life.
And so Class of 2025, as we prepare to engage in this ceremony to mark the end of this year of firsts, I want to say thank you. Please stay in touch, and congratulations.
This has been a great year and I can’t help but think of the words of Neil Young to close – We’ve been through some things together with trunks of memories still to come… long may you run.