The St. Michael’s community is mourning the loss of a very special member of the alumni family, Victoria “Vicky” Houghton (Class of 1949). Houghton was a dynamic figure during her time on the St. Michael’s campus. While playing “every sport she could access,” she was named St. Michael’s first-ever “Female Athlete of the Year,” an honour that may have been created specifically in response to her achievements. Below is a story from the Spring 2019 issue of St. Michael’s Magazine about how Houghton came back to St. Michael’s in 2018 to return a very special piece of the College’s history.
A Piece of History Comes Back to St. Mike’s
When St. Michael’s alumna Vicky (Baechler) Charron Houghton (Class of 1949) went through her closet on a fall Sunday in 2018, her hand fell across a keepsake from her undergraduate days: a U of T blazer festooned with athletic patches. Feeling mischievous, she sent a photo of the jacket to her family and told them she intended to auction it off to one of them, with bids starting at $30. Her children accepted the challenge, and her daughter Mary opened bidding. When her son John countered with a $40 bid, the game was afoot. The playful competition offered a fitting tribute to the achievements that earned Charron Houghton the jacket in the first place.
Her student days were far from ordinary. She was a standout athlete committed to trying every sport she could: volleyball, basketball, softball. She played hockey for one year as well, but was forced to use figure skates because that’s all she had at the time. “That’s why I only played for one year,” she says, laughing. She was the only player on the ice to play with that disadvantage.
Hockey misadventures notwithstanding, Charron Houghton’s athletic prowess brought her to the attention of the SMC Athletic Society, which in 1949 named her the first-ever Female Athlete of the Year at St. Michael’s College. The Society prepared an unusual token in honour of the award: a sterling silver spoon. “Maybe they just decided to do it at the last minute,” Charron Houghton muses. The spoon is engraved on the handle and the basin with her name, the school year of the award and the SMC crest—the midcentury design of which is reflected in the school’s current logo. The unique award is a hit with Charron Houghton’s family. “I’ve shown the spoon to my grandchildren more than I have the blazer,” she says.
Charron Houghton studied liberal arts at St. Michael’s during the 1940s, a very interesting period in the school’s history. She took numerous English and Latin courses, and after her graduation kept in touch for many years with her Latin professor, Sr. Blandina Hitchen, CSJ (who was also Dean of St. Joseph’s College, 1948-1953).
She recalls the Sisters of St. Joseph teaching most of her English courses, and she took at least one class with SMC celebrity Marshall McLuhan. She did not find the media theorist’s teaching very impressive, but suggests McLuhan may simply not have been interested in psychology, the subject of the course.
Charron Houghton’s husband, Doug Charron, also attended St. Michael’s during the same period, and he lived in House 2 under the donship of Fr. John Kelly. Charron Houghton remembers hearing stories of Fr. Kelly practising his sermons and singing in the house. Though he was an effective speaker with a pleasant-sounding voice, he also had the gift of powerful volume, which sometimes surprised the boys who happened to be in the building during his rehearsals.
After a few rounds of bidding among her children and some back-and-forth conversation about where the garment should go, Charron Houghton’s daughter Anne finally won the auction, and she promptly approached USMC Alumni Affairs to see about making it a donation to the College archive. The response from the school was immediate and enthusiastic, and not long after, Charron Houghton came to St. Michael’s with the jacket in hand. Over the course of an afternoon, she met with St. Michael’s President David Sylvester, University Archivist Jessica Barr, then–Alumni Affairs Director Leslie Belzak and Dean of Students Duane Rendle to share stories of her time at the school, all while the group looked at related memorabilia from the period.
The blazer was on display with some of those other items for this year’s Spring Reunion (May 30–June 2), during which the College also celebrated a remarkable milestone: the 70th anniversary of Charron Houghton’s graduation from St. Michael’s.
Online condolences can be made at www. turnerporter.ca.