The 2½-storey brick house at 323 William Street had been around for eight decades when Stacy Kelly first crossed its threshold in the fall of 1994.
Since 1977, the house had been among a roster of properties owned and operated by Science ’44 Co-operative Incorporated (now ) and had been taking in students and other roomers for at least 20 years before that.
Suffice it to say, a lot of people have called 323 William Street home, however temporarily.
But for Mr. Kelly, the house was more than a home. It was the haven he needed in a difficult time.
Although Mr. Kelly is Artsci’93, he didn’t graduate with his class.
“After a very disastrous third year, I voluntarily withdrew to take care of myself,” he says. “I hoped to only be gone for a year, but I ended up being gone for two years. When I was finally able [to come back] my entire community was gone.”
He felt more adrift entering the Queen’s community at the age of 21 than he had coming out of Quebec’s CEGEP (Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel) system as a teenager, he says. “I was both excited and, shockingly, deeply terrified … I never felt so alone, and I was really scared.”
Mr. Kelly’s entire Queen’s career to that point had been spent in residence; he had joined the Residence Society student government in first year and just stayed. That made the prospect of fending for himself in a big house with a bunch of strangers all the more daunting.
“I didn’t think I could go back and thrive and survive at Queen’s without some sort of community. So, that’s how I discovered
Science ’44 Co-op.
“What I liked about it was that you had … the central dining hall where everyone would eat together all during the week, your groceries were delivered to you through the co-op, you shared things,” Mr. Kelly says.
“I knew I would want that kind of structure and support and so I applied and was assigned 323 William. I arrived not knowing anyone … and the very first person I met was Dana.”
Dana Kearns, Artsci’95, had been living at 323 William since the beginning of her second year.
The co-op lifestyle made things easy, she says, and the community was great. There was one minor quibble, though. She and the two other female housemates at 323 William were craving more gender parity in the 10-bedroom house. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have four girls in the house this year,’ a bit of [female] community,” Ms. Kearns says.
So, when the list of new housemates was posted and the women saw the name Stacy Kelly, they were pleased, says Ms. Kearns. “Awesome! Another girl. Terrific.”
When Mr. Kelly showed up during Frosh Week ’94, Ms. Kearns didn’t lament his gender for long. They were soon jabbering away “like a couple of magpies,” she says and, after dinner the next night at the Copper Penny, were friends for life. “She was the emcee at my wedding,” says Mr. Kelly.
Over that year together at 323 William, Mr. Kelly and Ms. Kearns would serve on the co-op board together, party together with their housemates, and share moments that would cement their friendship.
But for Mr. Kelly, it was that first day at 323 William Street that banished his dread of returning to Queen’s. “It was a lifesaver because I really didn’t know what was going to happen and, all of a sudden, I had a friend.”
Tell us about the University District house you lived in and the memories you made.
