Former classmates pitch in to pay airfare for Canadian schoolfriend to attend school reunion

A GROUP of former classmates has pitched in to pay for the airfare to reunite with a school friend who was whisked away by his mother in 1975 to Canada and never returned.

Back: Debbie Roberts, Jeff Agius, Rod Baxter. Front: Corrine Gray, Loraine Clair and Sandra Huby with a picture of Lance Ganske.

• Leader in school zone infringements
• Farewell to family home

LORAINE Clair and a small group of friends from Fairfield Heights Public School will soon be reunited with a friend they haven’t seen since their school days.

They’re bringing their friend, Lance Ganske, over from Canada to be part of their 44th anniversary reunion on Saturday, March 25.

“One Friday afternoon Lance was whisked away by his mother under the impression he was going back to Canada to visit his grandmother — only to find out on the way that he wasn’t returning,” she said.

Fairfield Heights Public School — class 6A 1973 — is having a 44-year reunion and classmates are paying for a former student to return from Canada to attend.

“He was 14 years old and he was devastated not being able to say goodbye to his friends.”

Ms Clair said about three years ago she decided she would try to track Mr Ganske down.

“I did through his son on Facebook and that’s where I learnt of his story,” she said.

Lance lives in Alberta with his family and has not returned to Australia since he left in 1975.

“He has only been in full contact with everybody for about the past seven months,” Ms Clair said.

Former Fairfield Heights Public School student, Lance Ganske.

After she tracked down Mr Ganske, Ms Clair then set about organising a reunion with a small group of classmates.

They, in turn, worked together to track others former classmates down through Facebook.

But their greatest achievement has been in ensuring Mr Ganske had the opportunity to reconnect with the Aussies who welcomed him into their hearts all of those years ago.

“We all pitched in to get Lance a return airfare to Australia from Canada and he is bringing his daughter Brooklynn with him,” she said.

Lance will spend three weeks in Australia, visiting the Great Barrier Reef and also staying with different friends.

“We are all very excited about this reunion and seeing Lance again; there will be many happy tears and stories to be told,” Ms Clair said.

No doubt they also will share a toast to another Fairfield Heights alumni, Greg Williams, who died in a bus accident during a school excursion to the Snowy Mountains in 1973.