Historic Sites of Manitoba: Victoria Beach School No. 1811 (RM of Victoria Beach)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Victoria Beach School District was organized in December 1915. A school building operated in the Municipality of Victoria Beach. Heated by a woodstove and with an outhouse in the backyard. In 1920, a $3,000 debenture was issued to acquire a school site and both build and furnish a new schoolhouse. The community had grown enough for a second classroom by 1939, so an addition was added along with hiring a second teacher. It expanded again in the 1950s with a third room, along with indoor plumbing and a furnace.

In 1967, its area became part of the Lord Selkirk School Division. Grades 1 to 11 were taught up until 1960 when collegiate grades were transferred out to Walter Whyte Collegiate. The school operated with elementary grades until closing in the summer of 1969. The former school building is no longer present at the site.

Principals

Period	Principal
1939-1941	Viola Mabel Carefoot
1941-1943	Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (1910-1990)
1944	Walter Gard Jose (1878-1948)
1944-1946	Lily May Nevin (1892-1984)
1946	Ernest Harold Ranson
1946	Vernon Lorraine Trainor
1947	Enid Louise Jonsson
1947-1949	Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (1905-1988)
1949-1950	Margaret Alice Morton
1950-1951	Melvin Stuart Bell
1951-1952	Michael John Shewchuk (1930-2018)
1952-1953	Peter Neufeld
1953-1954	Paul Emile Carriere
1954	John C. Campeau
1955	Jean Campeau
1955-1957	Denis Merven Babcock
1957-1958	Gerla [Gilda?] M. Peterson
1958-1960	James Christoffer Balness
1960-1961	Maria Merkatz
1961-1962	Harry Onufry Hryhorkiw [Onuphrius Hryhorka] (1914-1988)
1962-1964	Roberta Freda Phair
1964	Brian Norman Orvis (1931-2010)
1964-1966	John Jacob Harrison
1966-1967	Gladys Rose Sigurdson
1967-1969	Nicholas “Nick” Andrusko (1900-1983)

Teachers

The early teachers of Victoria Beach School were Allan T. Burton (1916), Elizabeth Ehman (1916-1917), Vincent P. Murphy (1917), Louise Amelia Neilson (1918), Christine Johnson (1918-1919), C. M. Brandon (1919), E. N. Very (1920), Daisy Lorraine Walker (1921), Thomas E. Black (1921-1923), Geraldine Kavanagh (1923-1926), Winnifred Gertrude Shield (1926-1928, wife of Walter George Thomas), Gladys Lyle Simpson (1928-1931), Irene Merle Riddell (1931-1935), Helen Hendrie Terry (1935-1938), and Mary Beatrice Jamieson (1938-1939).

Period	Teachers
1939-1940	Viola Mabel Carefoot (grades 6-10), Margaret Jean Gallagher (grades 1-5)
1940-1941	Viola Mabel Carefoot (grades 6-10), Margaret Jean Gallagher (grades 1-5)
1941-1942	Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray (grades 7-11), Dorothy Maria Slaughter (grades 1-6)
1942-1943	Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (grades 6-11), Ethel Wilhelmina Bailey (grades 1-5)
1943-1944	Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (grades 6-11, September-December), Walter Gard Jose (grades 6-11, January-June), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-5)
1944-1945	Lily May Nevin (grades 5-9), Vernon Lorraine Trainor (grades 1-4)
1945-1946	Lily May Nevin (grades 5-9), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-4)
1946-1947	Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Enid Louise Jonsson (grades 5-10, January-June), Ernest Harold Ranson (grades 5-10, September-December), Vernon Lorraine Trainor (grades 5-10 substitute, Fall; grades 1-4 substitute, Spring)
1947-1948	Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (grades 5-10)
1948-1949	Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (grades 5-10)
1949-1950	Anne Ellen [Eleen?] (grades 1-4), Margaret Alice Morton (grades 5-9)
1950-1951	Melvin Stuart Bell (grades 5-9), Violet Phyllis Bell (grades 1-4)
1951-1952	Lena Shewchuk (grades 1-4), Michael John Shewchuk (grades 5-10)
1952-1953	Elaine Marie Neufeld (grades 1-4), Peter Neufeld (grades 5-10)
1953-1954	Evelyn Carriere (grades 1-4, September-December; grades 1-4 substitute, Spring), Paul Emile Carriere (grades 9-10), Irene E. Fisher (grades 1-4, January-June), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1954-1955	Anita Rita Campeau (grades 1-4), Jean Campeau (grades 9-12, January-June), John C. Campeau (grades 9-12, September-December), Irene E. Fisher (grades 1-4 substitute, Fall), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4 substitute, Spring), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1955-1956	Denis Merven Babcock (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1956-1957	Denis Merven Babcock (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1957-1958	Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Gerla [Gilda?] M. Peterson (grades 9-11), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1958-1959	James Christoffer Balness (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1959-1960	James Christoffer Balness (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)
1960-1961	Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-4), Maria Merkatz (grades 4-8)
1961-1962	Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-4), Harry Hryhorka (grades 4-8)
1962-1963	Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-3), Vernon Lee (grades 3-4 & 6), Roberta Freda Phair (grades 5 & 7-8)
1963-1964	John Jacob Harrison (grades 3-5), Valerie Esther Harrison (grades 1-3), Brian Norman Orvis (grades 6-8, April-June), Roberta Freda Phair (grades 6-8; September-March)
1964-1965	John Jacob Harrison (grades 6-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Sharon Lila Whyte (grades 1-3)
1965-1966	John Jacob Harrison (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)
1966-1967	Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Gladys Rose Sigurdson (grades 7-8), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)
1967-1968	Nicholas Andrusko (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)
1968-1969	Nicholas Andrusko (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 5-6), Jean Brown Segall (grades 1-2), Malcolm A. Watson (grades 3-4)

Another teacher at Victoria Beach School was Margaret Lesperance (1966?).

Photos & Coordinates

The original Victoria Beach School building (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 40. The former Victoria Beach School building (1968) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey, Victoria Beach 5. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.70276, W96.54274 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Marriage registration [Winnifred Gertrude Shield & Walter George Thomas], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

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.

East Side of the Red, 1884-1984 by St. Clements Historical Committee, 1984.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #31 School District of Victoria Beach, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-in-Council No. 26868, GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

“History Hunt 100: Clues to 100 Years of History throughout Victoria Beach,” Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach, 2019.

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer, Sheila Grover, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 February 2023

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