Historic Sites of Manitoba: Willowdale School No. 309 (Purves, Municipality of Louise)

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

The Willowdale School District was established formally in 1884, and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW15-2-10W in Purves, in what is now the Municipality of Louise. The school closed in 1966 and its catchment area became part of the Snowflake Consolidated School District No. 1111. A commemorative monument is situated at its former site.

Principals

Period	Principal
1936-1937	Edith Arvilla May Elson Lightly (1914-2006)
1937-1940	Olive Lillian McFadden
1940-1941	Norine Isla Smith Kellet (1918-2004)

Teachers

Among the early teachers of Willowdale School were Florence L. Potter (January 1908), Maud E. McLaren (February-December 1908), Ida Thomson (January-June 1909), Percy J. Driscon (July-December 1909), Theresa T. Switzer (January-August 1910), Nellie A. Couner? (September-October 1910), Cora M. Rennie (November 1910 - December 1911), Alvin Campbell (January-February 1912), F. Edna Goulden (March-December 1912), Elsie B. Fisher (January-December 1913), Florence A. Maddocks (January-October 1914), Helen P. Robertson (November-December 1914, August 1915 - December 1916), Olive R. Davis (January-June 1915), Harriett W. Manning (January-December 1917), K. Oddson (January-June 1918), Miss F. MacCharles (September 1918), Emily Esther Phipps (October-November? 1918), Leila Stephenson (December 1918 - March 1919), Marie Rankin (April-December 1919), Clarence Morrow (January 1920 - March 1921), Percival Beresford Bennett (April-June 1921), Thomas H. Greenway (August-September 1921), Edith O. Windsor (October-November 1921), May R. Privat (November 1921 - June 1922), Susan A. Hammond (August-December 1922), Emma C. Hammond (January-June 1923), Irene Mitchell (August 1923 - June 1924), Mabel K. McKinnon (August 1924 - June 1929), Jessie Montgomery (August 1929 - December 1931), Electra Catherine graham (January-June 1932), and Cora Margaret Smith (August 1932 - June 1935).

Period	Teachers
1935-1936	Alexander McNeill (grades 1-9)
1936-1937	Edith Arvilla May Elson (grades 5-10), Agnes Jean Simpson (grades 1-4)
1937-1938	Olive Lillian McFadden (grades 5-10), Agnes Jean Simpson (grades 1-4)
1938-1939	Olive Lillian McFadden (grades 7-11), Agnes Jean Simpson (grades 1-6)
1939-1940	Olive Lillian McFadden (grades 7-11), Agnes Jean Simpson (grades 1-6)
1940-1941	Irene May Sellers (grades 1-6), Norine Isla Smith (grades 7-11)
1941-1942	Irene May Sellers (grades 1-8)

Among the other teachers at Willowdale School were Anna May Pollock (Fall 1942 - Spring 1944), Margaret Isobel Chambers Grain (Fall 1944 - Fall 1945), Hilda Marie McLean (Spring 1946), Anne Melba Lindsay (August 1946 - April 1947), Ramona Cooper (substitute, Fall 1946 - Spring 1947), Lyra Leona McQuarrie (May-June 1947), Thomas Tesarski (Fall 1947 - Spring 1950), Kenneth Otto Mutcher (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951), Helen Giesbrecht (Fall 1951 - Spring 1952), Lydia Loutchan (Fall 1952 - Spring 1953), ? (Fall 1953 - Spring 1962), Jacob “Jack” Isaak (?-?), and Morris John Stefaniuk (Fall 1962 - Spring 1963).

Photos & Coordinates

Willowdale School (no date) by W. J. Parr Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 20. Willowdale School (1964) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey, Purves. Willowdale School commemorative monument (May 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.12559, W98.72378 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Willowdale School District No. 309 - Daily Registers, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Willowdale School District No. 309 - Annual Reports, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Willowdale School District No. 309 - Minute Books, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.

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.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer, Ed Grassick, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 May 2023

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