Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wawanesa School No. 672 (Wawanesa, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)

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

The Wawanesa School District was established formally in March 1891 and a school building was erected in Wawanesa, in what is now the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa. It was replaced by a two-storey brick structure in 1925. In January 1961, it became Wawanesa Consolidated School No. 2393, consolidating with several rural schools from the surrounding area: Sourisburg School No. 136, Northfield School No. 264, Hilton School No. 395, Tenterfield School No. 653, and Treesbank School No. 1004. The building is no longer on the site but a monument commemorates it.

A plaque commemorating students of the school who served and were killed during military service in the Second World War, presented by the Wawanesa Chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, is displayed at the New Horizons Community Hall for Seniors in Wawanesa.

Principals

Period	Principal
1898-1901	George A. Scott
1901-1903	Hugh William Watson (1872-?)
1903-1904	W. G. Sandercock
1904-1907	Henry Gledhill “Harry” Heasman (1870-1955)
1907-1911	Frederick W. “Fred” Harrison (1880-?)
1911-1913	Joseph Cooper Iliffe (1866-1937)
1913-1917	William Dakin (c1873-?)
1917-1918	John H. Snyder (c1874-?)
1918-1919	Margaret Ker
1919-1920	Evelyn Storey
1920-1921	Walter Gard Jose (1878-1948)
1921-1922	Solomon Abraham (1872-1942)
1922-1923	J. E. Cooper
1923-1925	Andrew A. Merritt (1872-1977)
1925-1926	Harvey Richard Brown (1895-1962)
1926-1927	George Hindle
1927-1928	Lillian Margaret Vanstone “Lillie” Marshall (1905-1953)
1928-1929	Hazel A. Vandecar
1929-1930	George William Holmes
1930-1932	Marguerite L. Godfrey
1932-1936	Bethel Harold Stinson (1903-1960)
1936-1940	Alexander Noble (1913-1971)
1940-1941	Allin John Pybus (1913-1991)
1941-1942	John Sinclair “Clare” Nelin (1911-1953)
1942-1948	Duncan Hector Stewart (1912-1999)
1948-1949	?
1949-1954	Garnet Milton Morrison (1915-1992)
1954-1955	D. S. Lockhart
1955-1958	Henry Lambert Williams (1890-1976)
1958-1959	J. D. Simpson
1959-1964	Robert James “Bob” Harris (1934-2019)
1964-1965	R. Dale
1965-1973	Henry R. Schellenberg (?-?)

Teachers

Period	Teachers
1907-1908	Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), ?
1908-1909	Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin
1909-1910	Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin
1910-1911	Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin
1911-1912	George R. Bourney?, Joseph Cooper Iliffe (senior grades), Isma Lyon, Alma Rutledge
1912-1913	Joseph Cooper Iliffe (senior grades), Humphrey Michell, Eva M. Morrow, Mary G. Rusnell, O. Alma Rutledge
1913-1914	William Dakin (senior grades), L. Kennedy, Marjorie Lawson (Spring), Edith A. Leadman, Mary G. Rusnell, Alma Rutledge (Fall)
1914-1915	William Dakin (senior grades), L. Kennedy, Marjorie Lawson, Edith A. Leadman, Mary G. Rusnell

Among the other teachers of Wawanesa School were Del Howell, Joseph W. Gordon (1897), and Keith A. Cosens.

Photos & Coordinates

Wawanesa School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 106. Wawanesa School commemorative monument (June 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Wawanesa School war service commemorative plaque (February 2020) Source: Beth Smale Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.59193, W99.67993 denoted by symbol on the map above

Second World War Casualties

Name	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Percy John Ellis [Wawanesa, Wawanesa]	Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps	Private	28 February 1917	26 August 1942
James Bentley Ferris [Wawanesa, Wawanesa]	400 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force	Flying Officer	10 October 1916	20 January 1943
Charles Gordon Gorrie [Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]	422 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force	Flying Officer	22 January 1924	20 November 1943
Robert Talbot Hemmons [Wawanesa, Wawanesa]	Royal Canadian Air Force	Pilot Officer	3 September 1917	24 August 1942
George Edward Stevenson [Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]	431 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force	Warrant Officer Class II	16 August 1918	26 February 1944
Wilbert Crothers Wallace [Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]	HMCS Avalon, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve	Ordinary Seaman	18 November 1920	12 December 1942

Sources:

“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.

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.

Obituary [Robert James Harris], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 2019.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

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

We thank Nathan Kramer, Darryl Toews, and Beth Smale for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 17 November 2022

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