During its March 1986 visit to the inner Solar System, Halley’s Comet became the first comet to be observed in detail by a spacecraft. It was an exciting time for sky watchers and for the students at Stittsville Public School. It was on May 1, 1986, that the students of the school gathered memories from that year and buried them in four time capsules at the front entrance to the school in recognition of the year Halley’s Comet could be seen with the naked eye. The plan was to uncover the time capsules in 2061, the next year in which Halley’s Comet would be seen.
During the summer of 2024, resurfacing of the parking lot and other construction was taking place at the school. As Chris Rickard passed the school each day, he was worried about the time capsules. Former students quickly gathered to form a group to look into recovering the capsules so they wouldn’t get destroyed or buried forever. With that, Chris Rickard, Scott Duncan, Lisa Jackson and Mike Ferrante, took it upon themselves to receive permission from the school board to have the four capsules unearthed.
When the capsules were brought to the surface, one had been damaged with water and had to be opened to attempt to salvage the contents. The contents could be found in the special boxes at the Time Capsule Reveal event.
It was decided that a event was required to reveal the remaining three time capsules. The group began planning for the Halley’s Comet Time Capsule Preservation and Reunion Evening held on November 22, 2024 – 37 years before the capsules were expected to be opened. It was an evening of memories, school mates seeing each other and reminiscing, as well as suspense in the air to rediscover the contents of the time capsules. The biggest hit was an ode to The Children’s Shoppe, a children’s candy and clothing store owned by Mrs. McEvoy and family. The shop had been just across from Stittsville Public School since the early 1970’s and was every child’s dream getting the little brown paper bag filled with candy.
After welcoming speeches by Lisa Jackson and Scott Duncan who were excited to see so many former students and teachers in attendance, Mrs. Jones, a former teacher, spoke about her time at Stittsville Public and everyone chucked when she said, “I didn’t think I would be here to see these revealed.” It was then time to open the capsules.
Capsule 2 was the first to be opened in front of the attendees as they hovered by each table. It was an exciting, but intense moment. Sarah Holla, Registrar of Collections at the Goulbourn Museum was on hand to lead and assist in the preservation of the documents and materials after the capsules were opened. As time was of the essence, the items found in all remaining three capsules had to be dealt with quickly so no further disintegration took place. They were preserved in special boxes with numerous silica gel packs added to each box to absorb moisture and condensation from the documents.
Capsule 2 did experience some water damage in its underground home that was discovered as it was carefully opened. Documents were water damage and black mould also appeared on them. From what could be seen, there was a class picture; a class list of pupils; a list of kindergarten students and they had attached strands of their hair to their name; and a 1986 School Board Budget Highlights document. Other documents that were undecipherable unfortunately.
Capsule 3 was next and seemed to hold more promise. Letters were discovered from Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada; Lyle MacLennan, Director of Education for the Carleton Board of Education and William M. Tupper, the Member of Parliament for Nepean-Carleton. A list of special guests was revealed for the time capsule ceremony in 1986. A list of all the 1986 staff with their date of birth and the grades they taught or positions held.
Mrs. Jones could not believe all of the information that had been preserved in Capsule 3 and took several minutes just taking it all in. She was beside herself with amazement and happiness.
Capsule 4 was then opened and again, it was partially water damaged with documents being unrecognizable. But there was a surprise, an envelope from Mrs. Zogalo’s Grade 6 class was relatively safe. In the envelope there were a newspaper clippings from the Stittsville News; a list of Noon-Hour Procedures which made everyone laugh when reading it; student Heather Curtis had provided a list of Community Notes that indicated the population of Stittsville at that time was 4,900.
Mrs. Zogalo was extremely surprised to see that the envelope had survived. She made comments for every document that had been that envelope and the reason they were included.
It was certainly an evening to remember and one that won’t be forgotten soon. The contents of the time capsules are being preserved and students and teachers can look forward to another reveal when Halley’s Comet passes again in 2061.