Alumni

Warm greetings from your Lasalle Alumni Association!

My name is Karla (Shepherd) Allen, a proud graduate of Lasalle Secondary School, and serving as our Lasalle Alumni Association’s president.

In 2018, Len Thompson, our Alumni Association’s founder and ‘Head Honcho’, as he liked to joke, passed away at the age of 87. As a dedicated educator and coach at Lasalle for decades, Len touched countless lives and it comes as no surprise that he continued to do so for the remainder of his life, actively fundraising and promoting our amazing school. Len’s legacy – his love for Lasalle – lives on in all that the Alumni Association continues to do, all in support of our Lasalle students.

Over the years, our Alumni Association has raised substantial funds via reunions, golf tournaments, porketta bingos and pool tournaments. We are very proud to say that all monies raised have gone directly back into supporting our students in the form of annual bursaries, new school equipment, team uniforms, and a wide variety of co curricular endeavours, all to enhance and enrich our kids’ experience at Lasalle.

We welcome the participation of all Alumni and friends of Lasalle, and are always looking for new ideas and initiative in our fundraising endeavours.

Thank you for your interest,

Sincerely, Karla Allen

Alumni Profile

Hi My name is Heather Gauthier and I am an Alumni of Lasalle Secondary School. I found my place in high school, ‘after’ school really when I joined the x-country running and track and field team. Though I enjoyed my studies, it was the afternoon workout and run that made my day. It became my routine and with the support and guidance of Peter Hocking, Lizette Bernier and my peers I thrived, flew, and occasionally won gold. I think if I hadn’t the consistency of my coaches during that time of my life I may not have been able to as easily stick to my goals, then or later in life. They were the ones to teach me what goals were, how to reach for them and then to reach higher still. These were the people that deserved gold!!

After Lasalle,  I attended Laurentian University and earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. I remember looking at a map after I had graduated and thought where will I go? I simply NEED to live by either water or mountains or both! So, I moved to the desert. New Mexico and Arizona became my home for the following 10 years after consulting a map of North America. As I grew as a nurse, I continued my learning and signed up for the MBA program with the University of Phoenix. I spent many nights studying things I never thought I could possibly ever learn. On my days off I scrambled up and down canyons, fly fished the rivers, explored Anasazi ruins, soaked in mountain hot springs and shimmied caves on my stomach. There was so much to see!

During the 10 years I was in the USA, I worked in the Emergency Room, Nephrology, and Dialysis. After I completed my MBA I slid into management and became the Facility Administrator of a Dialysis unit on the Arizona Native American reservation and a larger one in New Mexico. It was a busy time and I learned a great deal. Sometimes I would look out the window of my office and think “John Wayne probably did a film nearby” and I was still there when the twin towers fell. I thought it a fine place to be if the world went to hell.

Eventually I missed the “green” of Canada and returned home to Sudbury. I landed a job on the Dialysis floor at Health Sciences North and stayed for 5 years. Somewhere in all of this, was a divorce and a Breast Cancer Diagnosis but I am grateful to say that I have survived both. I told myself that if I could run again after chemotherapy and radiation that “I must be well”. I started slowly but surprised myself by nearly qualifying for the Boston Marathon as I crossed the finish line of the Massey Marathon. Then I upped the ante and walked an 800 km Pilgrimage, which I found harder, but both gave me blisters.

Currently, I work at Health Sciences North in the ICU as a Float RN between the Medical/ Surgical ICU and the Cardio/Vascular/Thoracic ICU. I still love the outdoors and have added gardening to my list of things that I love. I also started a bit of writing that led to becoming a published author twice in 2018. I don’t have any strong recollection of excellence in english class at Lasalle but I could always tell a story from the heart. After a 2 year hiatus, I have started writing my third book “A Cabinet of Curiosities” which I am pretty excited about. This book seems more elusive for some reason; like trying to cross stitch with oven mitts on….in the dark. Alas, it is being written the same way every book gets written, which is one word at a time.

My books are sold at: Chapter’s, The Lighthouse, Stitch and Stone, Sudbury Paint and Framing,  The Tree of Life, Amazon and www.authorheathergauthier.com.

I have been fortunate to have been able to see and do so many things in life, but I have to say that the pillars of my heart were built on the memories I made at Lasalle.