Educator, historian.
Born on a farm in the RM of Lorne on 23 March 1900, eldest of four children of Susanna May Hughes (1875-1952) and elevator agent Robert George “Bob” Swain (1875-1966), she attended the Central Normal School then taught at Deerwood School (1917), Lorne School (1917), and at Bridgeford, Saskatchewan (1920-1931) where she was known as an excellent teacher for new immigrants learning English.
She taught for over 20 years at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, for a total of 47 years having taught over 1,400 students, before retiring to Altamont. There, she became active in documenting local history, contributing to the book Memories of Lorne: 1880-1980 (1981). In 1970, she received a Manitoba Centennial Medal from the Manitoba Historical Society in recognition of “her work in bringing local records up-to-date and arranging for their preservation”.
She died unmarried on 19 March 1995 and was buried in the New Haven Cemetery.
Marriage registration [Susanna May Hughes, Robert George Swain], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [Beula Swain], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Memories of Lorne: 1880-1980 by Yette Brandt, 1981, pages 119-124, 626.
Beula May Swain, FindAGrave.
Robert George Swain, FindAGrave.
This page was prepared by Ed Krahn and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 16 September 2025
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