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Originally known as the Sunnyside School District when it was established in September 1876, a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW27-11-5E in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. A second school site was added in the fall of 1915, and after a few years of casual reference to this original school as either the “south school” or “village school”, it was given the unofficial “A” letter designation to help distinguish it from the “B” school almost two miles to the north. The school was renamed the Oakbank School District in January 1954. The district was dissolved in 1964 and its area became part of the Oakbank Consolidated School District No. 2426. After the school closed, the former schoolhouse was purchased by Robert A. Jacques and converted into a private residence.
Period
Principal
1915-1938
Period
Principal
1938-1942
John Edward Harriott
1942-1944
Mabel Gertrude Williams
1944-1945
David Langton MacDonald (1911-1957)
1945-1946
George Boyer Poole (1880-1958)
1946-1947
Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (1901-1955)
1947-1948
Henry Joseph Grenon (1881-1981)
1948-1949
Nastia Kolodzinski “Nettie” Stadnyk (?-2017)
1949-1954
Dennis Nazeravich (1916-2010)
1954-1955
Morris Miroslaw Hryhor (1923-1987)
1955-1956
Wilfred Brian Deering (1907-2009)
1956-1957
Dorothy Ellen Swinburne Levine (c1905-1971)
1957-1959
Lawrence Paul Huska (1936-2022)
1959-1964
Michael Dyrda (1929-2004)
1964 onwards
Among the early teachers of Oakbank School were Mr. Newmarch (1881-1883), George W. McRae (1883-1884), Elizabeth Beckett Scott (Spring 1885), Alexander Scott Rose (Fall 1885 - Spring 1887), J. N. Guthrie (Fall 1887 - Fall 1888), Elizabeth Abbott (Spring 1889), Mary Hislop (Fall 1889), Alfred Hans? (Spring-Fall 1890), A. McVicar (Spring-Fall 1891), W. H. Beard? [Bond?] (Spring-Fall 1892, pt Spring 1893), Samuel Moore (pt Spring 1893 and Fall 1893), Mr. W. J. Bond (Spring-Fall 1894), W. W. Coleman (Spring - pt Fall 1895), Isabel Robertson (pt Fall 1895 - pt Fall 1896), W. H. Greeley (pt Fall 1896), J. McCormack (Spring-Fall 1897), S. S. Gammon? (Spring 1898 - Fall 1899), Louisa J. Irving (Spring 1900 - Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Verla Glavin? [Glenn?] (pt Spring 1905), Margaret O. Scoular (pt Spring 1905 - Spring 1909), Morrison? L. Dysart (Fall 1909), Eva L. O’Neil (Spring-Fall 1910), Annie Wright (Spring-Fall 1911), Norman E? Brett (Spring 1912), Miss Gnalden? (pt Fall 1912), Leo A. Grogan (pt Fall 1912 - Spring 1915), Charles Millard Hoar (Fall 1915 - Spring 1916), Blanche Isobel Jacklin (Fall 1916), Donald McLeod (Spring 1917 - Spring 1918), Brenda MacLean (Fall 1918 - Spring 1919), Carol Coubrough (Fall 1919 - Spring 1920), Rose Law (Fall 1920 - Spring 1921), Josephine Griffin (Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), Lala Boyd (Fall 1922 - Spring 1924), Maude Boyd (Fall 1924 - Spring 1925), Edith Olive Windsor (Fall 1925 - Spring 1926), Mary O. Blackford (Fall 1926 - Spring 1927), Mildred Mary Hammond (Fall 1927 - Spring 1929), Jane Campbell (1929-1935), Lily Annie Gillespie (1935-1936), and Laurie Elizabeth Bush (1936-1938).
School Year
Teachers
1938-1939
Laurie Elizabeth Bush (grades 1-6, 1938), John Edward Harriott (grades 7-10), Marjorie Frances Somerville (grades 1-6, 1939)
1939-1940
John Edward Harriott (grades 7-11), Janet Stroyan Stewart (grades 1-6)
1940-1941
John Edward Harriott (grades 7-11), Janet Stroyan Stewart (grades 1-6)
1941-1942
Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), John Edward Harriott (grades 7-12)
1942-1943
Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), Mabel Gertrude Williams (grades 7-12)
1943-1944
Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), Mabel Gertrude Williams (grades 7-11)
1944-1945
Alice Edna Diehl (grades 1-6), David Langton MacDonald (grades 7-11)
1945-1946
Catherine M. Bryne (grades 1-6), George Boyer Poole (grades 7-11), Myrtle Rusenel (grades 1-6, 1946)
1946-1947
Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (grades 9-11), Emily Kirner (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1947-1948
Henry Joseph Grenon (grades 9-11), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1948-1949
Nettie Kolodzinski (grades 9-11), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1949-1950
Sophie Violet Darushka (grades 5-8), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11)
1950-1951
Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Nicholas George Odaisky (grades 5-8)
1951-1952
Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Nicholas George Odaisky (grades 5-8, 1951), Mabel Belle Smithers (grades 5-8, 1952)
1952-1953
Lena Leochko (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Mabel Belle Smithers (grades 5-8)
1953-1954
Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Edith Myrtle Hokanson (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11)
1954-1955
Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Mary C. Grapentine (grades 1-4, 1955), Edith Myrtle Hokanson (grades 1-4), Morris Miroslaw Hryhor (grades 9-11)
1955-1956
Wilfred Brian Deering (grades 9-11), Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-4)
1956-1957
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Dorothy Ellen Swinburne Levine (grades 10-11), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-3), Susan Zacharias (grades 4-6)
1957-1958
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Lawrence Paul Huska (grades 10-11), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-3), Susan Zacharias (grades 4-6)
1958-1959
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Lawrence Paul Huska (grades 10-11), Richard Ottenbreit (grade 12), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6), Katherine Wiens (grades 1-3)
1959-1960
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6), Katherine Wiens (grades 1-3)
1960-1961
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Jean Mary Fryza (grades 1-3), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6)
1961-1962
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Jean Mary Fryza (grades 1-3), ? (grades 4-6)
1962-1963
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Susan Lillian Lentowicz (grades 1-3), Rose Marie Pash (grades 4-6)
1963-1964
Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Susan Lillian Lentowicz (grades 1-2), Diane L. McFarlane (grades 3-4), Rose Marie Pash Pratt (grades 5-6)
1964 onwards
Sunnyside School “A” (no date) by R. Goulet
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 3.
Oakbank School (1968)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Oakbank 4.
The former Oakbank School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1277.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.94681, W96.84182
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sunnyside School No. 40 “B” / Oakbank School No. 40 “B” (RM of Springfield)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Oakbank Consolidated School District No. 2426 / Oakbank Elementary School (826 Cedar Avenue, RM of Springfield)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Springfield Collegiate Institute (841 Cedar Avenue, Oakbank, RM of Springfield)
Memorable Manitobans: Robert Aurel “Bob” Jacques (1914-2004)
“Sunnyside,” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 22 February 1883, page 2.
“Oak Bank,” Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 15 August 1894, page 1.
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Board of Education meeting minutes and office files (A 0052), GR1622, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Sunnyside School District No. 40 - Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Oakbank School District No. 40 - Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.
Dugald topographic map, 62H/15, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].
One Hundred Years in the History of the Rural Schools of Manitoba: Their Formation, Reorganization and Dissolution (1871-1971) by Mary B. Perfect, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, April 1978.
We thank Robert Jacques and George Stewart for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 January 2025
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