When Timmins father Stephane Gaudette sat down to breakfast Monday morning with his two kids, he had no idea he would be serving up a sad souvenir of London’s industrial history.

“It’s kind of ironic it falls into the hands of a high school history teacher,” Gaudette said over the phone from northern Ontario about a special box of cereal made here in the Forest City.

Gaudette, who teaches history at Ecole secondaire catholique Theriault, opened the box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and found the inner plastic bag had a message noting it was the “very last bag of Canadian cereal for the Canadian market from the Kellogg’s London Ontario plant.”

The message, dated Dec. 5, 2014, was signed by Kellogg workers Mike Cascadden, Ray Gonsalvez and Frasier McAuley, all with more than 20 years experience at the plant.

Cascadden said he came up with the idea because the plant was “in his DNA.” Four generations of his family worked for Kellogg.

Gaudette said the bag is a “great history lesson.” He said he sent an email to The Free Press after his discovery because he thought it was his civic duty to share the story.

Gaudette already used the bag in his history class Monday, and although he plans to hold on to it for now, it has become an item of keen interest

Museum London’s regional history curator, Amber Lloydlangston, confirmed to The Free Press she has reached out to Gaudette about bringing the box home to display it here. She said her facility has a limited number of items from Kellogg.

“I couldn’t think of anything that’s more illustrative of regional history than that,” she said. Whatever happens, Gaudette said he won’t be selling the cereal. The idea of putting it up for sale on an online-auction site such as eBay strikes him as crass. “I’d be Public Enemy No. 1 in London,” he said with a laugh.

Cascadden and his extended family had invested a total of 184 years in the factory.

That includes 30 years from his grandfather, 38 years from his father, 32 years from his aunt, 20 years from his son and 24 years himself.

“That day I made the last box of cereal and got my friends on the line with me to sign it was filled with emotions. I knew the impact this last box of Frosties would have on the over 600 families that worked at Kellogg,” Cascadden said.

The message on the bag was not meant as a dig against Kellogg, he said, because the company was a good employer over the years. But Cascadden compared it to a message in a bottle — a piece of history that would be found by a curious child. Ironically it was found by a history teacher.

“How perfect a lesson is that?” Cascadden said.

To ensure someone found the message, he wrote “please read bag” inside the top of the box with a Sharpie.

The Kellogg plant closed Dec. 21 after 107 years in the city, putting more than 500 people out of work. Kellogg has another plant in Belleville but production from the London plant was shifted to the United States.

The Kellogg plant made about 27 cereals, including Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Special K and Rice Krispies.

But this is one box of cereal that won’t be consumed like the rest. “I was certainly not going to eat it,” Gaudette said. “I probably would have had the biggest guilt trip of my life.”

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