THE BONDS OF BROTHERHOOD

Written by Ali Amad Photography by Nathan Legiehn

CLASS OF 1979:

Dean Constand and Cam Smith don’t remember exactly how they met at Crescent, but they vividly recall their first impressions of Dave Boehm. “He was the cool dude with the long hair and all the girlfriends,” laughs Constand. As the newcomer who’d enrolled in Grade 10, Boehm befriended Smith, Constand and many more students in the class of 1979 while playing squash and tennis. “Sports helped solidify many of the bonds in our year,” says Boehm. “Being on the same teams working towards a singular goal developed a powerful sense of belonging and camaraderie.”

From that foundation, Boehm, Constand, Smith and others supported each other through many of the same awkward and overwhelming teenage experiences: first girlfriends, first break-ups, first cars, first part-time jobs, and more. Constand and Smith didn’t stray too far after graduation: both attended the University of Toronto and later became Chartered Professional Accountants, helping many Crescent grads with their taxes. As for Boehm, he has remained best friends with Smith and many other classmates. Several of them have worked together and done business at various periods in their lives.

The strong relationships they built at Crescent helped the group cope with the hardest moments in their lives in the subsequent decades. “When Arden, my wife of 20 years, passed away, my Crescent friends were there for me,” says Boehm. “Their companionship got me through that terrible time.” For Smith, supporting Boehm was the least he could do for the man who’d been a constant positive force in both his personal and professional life. “Dave introduced me to my partner Tracy, and he also helped my practice expand by sending work my way,” he says.

The friends have also shared happy occasions, like weddings (Smith attended Constand’s wedding and his daughter’s), and life’s simple pleasures, like fishing trips or concerts. They’ve also regularly reunited to play the sports that first bonded them at Crescent. “We can be crazy competitive and yet we can laugh and fool around, whatever sport we play,” says Constand. On Constand and Smith’s bucket list: a round of golf at the famed St. Andrews Links in Scotland.

While snagging much-coveted tee time at St. Andrews might be a lofty dream, Smith believes what the trio and the rest of the class of 1979 already possess is much more valuable: a network of friends who can turn to each other for help and advice when it comes to their health, retirement and so much more. Boehm agrees: “The greatest thing about our Crescent brotherhood is that no matter what happens, there is never any judgement. There’s just the knowledge that you can count on one another.” →

Soon after Rob Watt and Randy Lewis met in Grade 7, they discovered they were also neighbours of sorts. “Our families had cottages only two kilometres apart on Lake Muskoka, and we promptly made plans to go fishing and water skiing the next time we were both up at the cottage,” says Lewis.

The pair took up different sports at Crescent — Lewis played soccer and then squash and Watt played rugby and basketball — but were best friends in all other areas of life, hanging out during field trips and at school functions. “High school is a difficult time in a person’s development and there’s a lot of social pressures,” says Watt. “Together, Randy and I navigated all our ups and downs. We have fond memories of the teachers as well, many of whom helped support a really solid group of guys in our year. Many of us stayed in touch and have gone on to successful careers, and that has a lot to do with our experiences at Crescent.”

After university, the duo launched careers as entrepreneurs in different fields. Watt now works in property management, while Lewis runs a food ingredient trading company and a brewery. In the 1990s, Lewis moved south of the border to New York and then later relocated to the Catskills, where he still lives today. Through it all, the pair stayed close friends and were even best men at each other’s weddings. “This was before instant messaging, so it took more effort to maintain a long-distance friendship back in those days,” says Watt.

Whenever possible, Lewis and Watt book time off to go fly fishing or hang out with their families at Watt’s cottage. Away from life’s distractions, the pair enjoy the outdoors and catching up with one another sharing life’s experiences. The conversations have evolved as they’ve grown older and started having kids (Lewis has two daughters and Watt has a daughter and a son, Jack, a graduate of Crescent’s class of 2014). “Rob’s an avid duck hunter, and it’s become another tradition for our two families to have duck for a holiday dinner whenever I come back to Toronto around Christmas,” says Lewis, who also hosts Watt and his family at his Catskills property. The pandemic forced the pair to postpone their fishing trips three summers in a row, but they’re now optimistically looking forward to a salmon fishing trip in New Brunswick in summer of 2023. “Fishing continues to be the stitching that has kept the fabric of friendship together all of these decades,” says Lewis. →

CLASS OF 1992:

When Myles Slocombe started at Crescent in Grade 9, he instantly noticed a powerful cohesiveness and solidarity among his classmates, many of whom had already been at the school together for six years. “I knew I’d found something special here, and it was remarkable how quickly they all took me in,” says Slocombe. “We spent time at each other’s homes and cottages, getting to know all our parents and siblings. We were truly immersed in each other’s lives, and you don’t really have many of those kinds of friendships later in life.”

The class of 1992 had a spirited sense of fun and what Slocombe describes as lighthearted “cheekiness.” Their favourite prank: “Tim Webster was beloved by everyone, and in his honour, we’d often hoist his backpack up the flagpole,” laughs Slocombe. Their selfchosen mantra their senior year: “Class of ’92: We Will Rock You,” inspired by the title of a Queen song that would also play at the start of the school assemblies they led.

An industrious bunch, the class painted and furbished their own grad room and started up Portfolio, a fundraising fashion show that involved models from their class as well as from several Toronto girls’ schools. Later on, the class donated a Crescent crest by the school’s front entrance, a gift Crescent recognized with a plaque dedicated to the class of 1992’s renowned spirit, enthusiasm and generosity.

The class’s bond continued later in life, celebrating milestones and supporting one another through challenges. “We share a collective history, so although we may not all see each as much anymore, we’re always there for each other,” says Slocombe.

Reunions are always a well-attended and festive affair for the class of 1992. “Something about seeing each other again brings out inner youthfulness in each and every one of us and all the old inside jokes resurface,” says Slocombe. One inside joke is a nickname he’s never been able to shake. “Because I sort of look Scandinavian, Mark Crane — who had a talent for creating nicknames that stuck — started calling me Norge, which is Norwegian for Norway,” he says. “To this day, the nickname still comes up whenever I see one of the old Crescent grads, who’ve taken to using it as a general noun or verb. For example, instead of going up north, people go up Norge.”

Slocombe treasures the fact that the foundational friendships he built 30 years ago are now extending to a new generation. He and fellow Crescent grad Martin Ritchie have remained particularly close over the years, and their eldest daughters are now also great friends. “The meshing of our friendship is so strong that a lot of our own kids are becoming friends because of it, which is wonderful to witness.” →

“Because I sort of look Scandinavian, Mark Crane – who had a talent for creating nicknames that stuck –started calling me Norge, which is Norwegian for Norway. To this day, the nickname still comes up whenever I see one of the old Crescent grads, who’ve taken to using it as a general noun or verb. For example, instead of going up north, people go up Norge.”

—Myles Slocombe

CLASS OF 2005:

Gabe Diamond, a Crescent student since Grade 3, had an established friend group before two new arrivals became some of his closest lifelong companions. When Chris Penner moved from the U.S. to Toronto at the start of Grade 7, he was, in his words, “the new guy with a cast on his arm and a very unfashionable bowl cut.” Eager to fit in with Diamond’s existing group of friends, Penner joined a Crescent pick-up basketball game. “Needless to say, I was picked last,” he recalls. He managed to shock everyone by slickly sinking a shot with his good arm. “Once people started calling me ‘One-Arm’, I knew I was in!”

Ryan Nelson enrolled in Crescent two years later. Looking for a place to sit during lunch, he found an empty spot at a table that included Penner and Diamond. “I immediately launched into a long-winded joke that dragged on and on for an eternity,” says Nelson. “It was the worst joke I ever heard,” says Penner. “None of us can even remember what the punchline was. All we know is it had something to do with a horse race.”

Nelson and Penner were embraced by Diamond’s friends, and despite the large size of the group, the bonds were uniquely tight. They spent almost every day after school together, usually at Penner’s place, where they played football or made up countless new games. One of their favourite sports at Crescent was softball: half of their friend group was on the school team. “Chris and Gabe were amazing players. I wasn’t good enough to be on the team,” says Nelson. “But I somehow talked my way into being an assistant manager of sorts. I don’t remember having any actual responsibilities, but that got me on the bus for trips to the different schools we played against. Those trips were some of the best times we had at Crescent.”

The highlight for Diamond, Penner and Nelson was a memorable no-expense-spared beach-themed school dance Diamond took charge of organizing in Grade 12. “We called it ‘The Beach Ball’,” says Penner. “Crescent grads still come up to me at reunions and tell me they had their first kiss at that dance.”

The friend group remained tight-knit in university, mostly studying commerce at Queen’s or attending Western University’s Ivey Business School, and would take turns visiting each other’s residences throughout the year. As they splintered off after graduation to start their careers, they decided to reunite for summer canoe trips in Algonquin or Killarney Provincial Park. “We’ve organized those trips 16 years in a row,” says Nelson. “It hasn’t always been easy to carve out time as we’ve gotten married and started having kids, but those trips have been important ways to ensure what we have doesn’t erode.”

That being said, Penner, Diamond and Nelson agree that the most special part of their bond is how they’re able to go several months without talking and reconnect without missing a beat. “Because I’ve known my Crescent brothers for so long, the real deep conversations are always saved for them,” says Penner. “Looking back, being able to have that depth of friendship with so many of the Crescent guys is priceless,” adds Nelson. →

In many ways, Matt Eaves, Drew Hollenberg and Nick Wellner make for an unlikely trio of best friends. “We all joined Crescent at different years and we didn’t have much of an overlap in our interests or classes but still became great friends,” says Eaves.

Hollenberg was always focused on the sciences, while Wellner and Eaves preferred business and the liberal arts respectively. Although they got closer as they worked on projects together in the classes they did take with each other, their bond was forged outside the classroom. All three have great memories of annual BEAR Week camping trips and hikes. “Being out in nature gave us a break from studying so we could have fun and get to know each other on a personal level,” says Eaves.

In particular, Eaves and Wellner treasure the experience of visiting Europe with Crescent’s hockey team during Grade 10. “I was invited to join the trip despite not being part of the team, which was an incredible privilege since I’d never travelled to Europe before,” says Eaves. “We toured beautiful countries like the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, and I did it with a big group of classmates I’m still friends with to this day. Not many high school students are lucky enough to do that.”

After graduating from Crescent, the trio moved to London, where Eaves pursued a degree in political science and government at Huron University College, while Wellner took economics and Hollenberg studied medical sciences at Western University. Eventually, they started living together in a house close to their campuses. “We were away from our parents for the first time and we taught each other how to fend for ourselves,” laughs Eaves. “Thankfully, Drew was actually a decent cook so none of us starved!”

At the end of a long day of lectures, the roommates often congregated in the living room to play videogames and watch movies — horror flicks were their favourites. Other times, they’d have deep chats discussing their programs and post-graduation plans. “We’ve always been rocks supporting each other in that way,” says Eaves. “Going through school and university together, we shared some of the most stressful and formative life events a person can experience, and it’s been incredible to have friends who’ve been there by your side the whole way.” That bond endured after they began establishing careers in Toronto in spring of 2020, the early months of the pandemic. During lockdown, they stayed in touch with Zoom calls and group chats. When restrictions were eased, they reunited for occasional day trips to nearby towns like Elora and Georgetown.

Nowadays, Wellner and Eaves share an apartment in downtown Toronto. Wellner is an analyst at CPP Investments and Eaves is a client manager at Forsman & Bodenfors, an advertising agency. As for Hollenberg, he works as a strategy analyst with Manulife and has his own place a five-minute walk down the street from Wellner and Eaves. The group still hangs out regularly, watching Leafs games and discussing potential trips to Europe. “Although we’ve all taken different paths in life, we never end up being too far from each other,” says Eaves.

You never know how valuable the friendships you make at Crescent can be. “In some ways, I regret not befriending more of my classmates because the kids who attend Crescent grow up to become such phenomenal people,” says Ryan Nelson ’05. “Later in life, those people can become business partners, mentors and so much more. You don’t necessarily have to become best friends with everyone, but we’re all better people thanks to the different friendships we started at Crescent.”