Fonds 479 Canuck School Reunion fonds

fonds-479

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1927-2010. — 5 cm of textual records. — 38 photographs.


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Agency History

Canuck School District 3873 was established September 22, 1919 but classes had been held in a log building on Walter McGervins’ homestead as early as 1918. In 1921 a 26′ x 38′ white frame school was built on SE 1/4 of 9-73-7-W6. The first teacher was Leo Patterson, and like many succeeding teachers, he boarded at the home of Louis Alexandre. Later a teacherage was added to the site. Teachers included Miss Nugent, Peggy Stanford, Mrs. Clendenan, Dora Coburg, May Robinson, Mr. Strawn, Myrtle Dixon, Alice Sutherland, Myrtle Tolley, Marjorie Clifford, Florence Cunningham, Patsy Meraw, Mrs. R. Bennett, Betty Rigby, Alice Samuelson, Norah Webb, Roy Grimsrud, Barbara Bailey, Eleanor Wafler, Velma Podulsky, Pat Van Schaick, Florence Nail and Mrs. (Myrtle) Jack Brown. In the fall of 1955 the school was closed and the children were bussed to Sexsmith.

The first Canuck School Reunion was held in July of 2000, at which point the school still stood on its original site. The Bear Lake Canuck Historical Society was formed following this reunion. The school was the property of Gary Dixon, who donated the school to the Bear Lake Canuck Historical Society so that restoration of the school could begin. The school was moved by Grande Prairie Stobbe’s House Moving Company to Bear Lake County Park, approximately three miles southeast from its original location, in 2002. By the next school reunion in 2009, the school had been completely refurbished. In 2011, the third Canuck School Reunion was held in the refurbished school.

Custodial History

Material collected from various donors for use at the Canuck School reunion. Material was deposited at the Archives in 2011 by Desmond Brown and Sharon (Brown) Annis.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of research files created for Canuck School Reunions in 2000, 2009 and 2011; and the paper artifacts and photographs donated at those events. The collection includes student and teacher reports; a poster of Spring Bird Sightings created by teacher Alice Sutherland ca. 1930; photographs of teachers and students from 1927-1955; and photographs of community landmarks such as the Stone House on the shore of Bear Lake, the building of Bear Lake Hall, and a Presbyterian picnic at Pitman’s Point.

Notes

Related Records: Grande Prairie School Division fonds, Canuck School District 3843 series.
South Peace Regional Archives General Photograph Collection, Canuck School, and Canuck Classic (see SPRA Reference Library).

Table of Contents

Series 479.01 Research Files
Series 479.02 Paper Artifacts
Series 479.03 Canuck School Photographs
Series 479.04 Community Landmarks

 


Series 479.01 Research Files. — 1930-2009. — 2 cm of textual records. — 4 photographs.The series consists of photocopies of the minutes of the Canuck School District from 1932-1938; copies of Daily Registers from 1930-1955; and a research file containing copies of legal documents, maps, correspondence, and newsclippings, as well as notes and newspaper articles from the 2000 and 2009 school reunions. There is also a poem called “The Christmas Orange” written by Joan (Lozeron) Wispinski in 2001.
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Series 479.02 Paper Artifacts. — 1927-1942. — 1 cm of textual records.The series contains report cards for Ruth Balisky from 1927-1942; a “Spring Bird Sightings” poster created by Alice Sutherland ca. 1930; and some teaching records and correspondence for Myrtle (Tolley) Brown from 1933-1935 for both East Kleskun School and Canuck School.
SubSeries 479.02.01 General Paper Artifacts. — 1929-1935. — 1 p.The sub-series contains a “Spring Bird Sightings” poster created by Alice Sutherland ca. 1930; and some teaching records and correspondence for Myrtle (Tolley) Brown from 1933-1935.
 
Spring Bird Sightings, 1929-2010
Poster
Creator: Poster
Hand-drawn poster on brown paper listing the different species of birds in the Bear Lake area, and which of the students had seen which bird.
Location: 0479.02.01.01
SubSeries 479.02.02 Ruth Balisky collection. — 1927-1942. — 1 cm of textual records.The sub-series contains report cards for Ruth Balisky from 1927-1942.
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Series 479.03 Canuck School Photographs. — 1927-2007. — 27 photographs.The series consists of photographs of Canuck School students, teachers and buildings from about 1927 to the restoration of the building in 2007.
SubSeries 479.03.01 General School Photographs. — 6 photographs.The sub-series consists of photographs donated for the Canuck School reunion.
 
Canuck School Students, 1927-1928
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Canuck School students on the steps of Canuck School with their teacher in 1927-1928. Photograph from Lorraine Bode Nagel.
Location: 0479.03.01.01
Canuck School Students, [1930]
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Canuck School students on the steps of Canuck School with teahcer Alice Sutherland. Photograph donated by Lorraine Bode Nagel.
Location: 0479.03.01.02
Canuck School Students, [1940]
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
Students at Canuck School on the east side of the school and its bank of windows.
Location: 0479.03.01.03
Boys from Currie School, [1940]
1 photograph; b & w; 5 x 7 in.
These boys from Currie School, perhaps visiting Canuck for a baseball game, are (left to right) Fred Balmer, Bill Balmer, Maurice Halwa, Roy Knechtel, and Tom Mostovich.
Location: 0479.03.01.04
The Balisky Boys, [1940]
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 4 in.
The Balisky boys with their stripped-down car at Canuck School are Bob and Paul in the front, and Terry and Dan at the back. Dan is driving. Photograph donated by Eleanor Waefler Haddow.
Location: 0479.03.01.05
Valentine’s Day Party, 1951
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
Miss Eleanor Waefler’s Class for a Valentine’s Day Party at Canuck School in 1951. They are front row: Jim Lozeron, Joan Lozeron, Terry Balisky, Don Lozeron, Bev jackson, Sharon Brown, Gary Brown; second row: Frances Lozeron, Bob Balisky, Andre Lozeron, Denny Brown, Larry Balderston; back row: Mae Robinson, Julie Duda, Robert Jackson, Don Jackson, Dan Balisky, Paul Balisky, Harold Gorrie. Missing were Anne Hudz and Art Duda, and the two small boys, Gary Brown and Jimmy Lozeron, were there as “guests”.
Location: 0479.03.01.06
SubSeries 479.03.02 Alice Sutherland collection. — 10 photographs.The sub-series consists of photographs donated by teacher Alice Sutherland for a Canuck School Reunion.
 
Off to Canuck School, [1928]
2 photographs; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Teacher Alice Sutherland off to Canuck School by horse and caboose with the Alexander girls (Claire and Eva) and Arthur Dubord. The horse’s name was Susie.
Location: 0479.03.02.01-02
Canuck School Students, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Canuck School students in the school yard in 1929 are identified as Sadie Brown, Jeanie Duncan, Lizzie Duncan, Louise Sawatzky, Martha Husack, Sarah Mays, Nellie Duncan, Claire Alexander, Inga Duncan, Peggy Duncan, Eva Alexander and Esther Sawatzky. The photograph was taken by teacher Alice Sutherland.
Location: 0479.03.02.03
Canuck School Students, [1930]
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Canuck School students beside the school ca. 1930.
Location: 0479.03.02.04
Canuck School Students, 1931-1932
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Students at Canuck School ca. 1931-1932.
Location: 0479.03.02.05
Girls at Canuck School, 1936-1937
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Girls at Canuck School for the 1936-1937 school year. This is probably taken at the end of the school year, in June 1937.
Location: 0479.03.02.06
Boys at Canuck School, 1937
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
These boys at Canuck School in 1937 are identified as Bill Gorrie, Joe Husack, Bob Slowe, Jack Gorrie, Stanley Slowe, Ralph Balisky, Buster Leggatt, Paul Lozeron and Raymond Heppner.
Location: 0479.03.02.07
Canuck School Girls, [1940]
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Girls from Division Three at Canuck School.
Location: 0479.03.02.08
Canuck School Students, 1941-1942
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Students at Canuck School for the 1941-1942 School year on the large front steps.
Location: 0479.03.02.09
Miss Powell and Students, 1950
1 photograph; b & w; 2 x 3 in.
Teacher Barbara Powell with some of the students on the front steps at Canuck School in 1950.
Location: 0479.03.02.10
SubSeries 479.03.03 Myrtle Tolley Brown collection. — 8 photographs.Myrtle (Tolley) Brown was born in Mountain View, Alberta, on July 22, 1912. She took her schooling in the Mountain View, Cardston area, and graduated from Calgary Normal School with a diploma in Teaching. She came north to accept her position at East Kleskun School in 1933-1934. her sister Delva (Tolley) Murchie was already here teaching at Wellington. Myrtle’s brothers drove her north to start her teaching career. She taught in Peavine (High Prairie area) from 1934-1935, then at Canuck from 1935-1938. She lived at Alexander’s place and rode horseback to school to teach the children. A certain young man, Alfred John “Jack” Brown was bringing wood to the school, and a courtship began. Jack was born in Belfast, Ireland September 17, 1907. He immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1926. Jack and Myrtle were married in 1940. They have three children: Desmond John, Sharon Jane and Gary Alfred. Myrtle Brown was also the last teacher at Canuck in 1955. When the school closed and the children were bussed to Sexsmith, Mrs. Brown moved with the children and taught at Sexsmith Elementary School from 1955 to .

The sub-series consists of photographs donated by the family of teacher Myrtle (Tolley) Brown.

 
Teacher Miss Dixon, [1928]
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Teacher Hazel Dixon ca. 1928. Miss Hazel Dixon taught at Canuck School in 1928-1929.
Location: 0479.03.03.01
Miss Myrtle Tolley, [1935]
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
Teacher Miss Myrtle Tolley on the steps of Canuck School ca. 1935.
Location: 0479.03.03.02
Canuck School Students, 1938
2 photographs; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Students at Canuck School in the 1937-1938 School year. The occasion is obviously a school picnic or sports day as one boy is holding an armful of trophies and several children are enjoying bowls of ice cream.
Location: 0479.03.03.03-04
Mr. & Mrs. Sam and Jack Brown, [1940]
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Mr.Sam Brown, with Miss Marjorie Clifford “Midge”, age 25, who taught at Canuck 1938 -1939. Miss Myrtle Tolley ,who taught at Canuck 1935-1938. Miss Tolley would later marry
Mr. Jack Brown in 1940. Mr. Alfred Brown can be seen in the garden between the two couples.
Sharon’s First Day, [1950]
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Sharon Brown’s first day of school at Canuck.
Location: 0479.03.03.06
First Day of School, 1950
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Desmond Brown’s first day of school for the 1950-1951 school year. He was in grade 3.
Location: 0479.03.03.07
Going to School by Cutter, 1954
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Desmond, Sharon and Gary Brown off to Canuck School by horse and cutter.
Location: 0479.03.03.08
SubSeries 479.03.04 Reunion Photographs. — 3 photographs.The sub-series consists of photographs taken at the 2007 School Reunion.
 
1983 Reunion, 2007
1 photograph; colour; 4 x 6 in.
Group of former Canuck School students beside the old school at the 1983 reunion.
Location: 0479.03.04.01
Restored Canuck School, 2007
2 photographs; colour; 4 x 6 in.
A restored Canuck School in Bear Lake Park in 2007.
Location: 0479.03.04.02-03
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Series 479.04 Community Landmarks. — 6 pp. — 11 photographs.The sub-series consists of photographs of the Stone House built by Mr. Flemming on the shore of Bear Lake, the Bear Lake Hall as it was being built in 1948, and of a Presbyterian Church picnic at Pitman’s Point.
SubSeries 479.04.01 The Stone House. — 1929. — 6 pp. — 7 photographs.In 1911, John Thomas Flemming, a stone mason, filed for a homestead on the north side of Bear Lake, on the east half of Section 34, Township 72, Range 7, West of the 6th Meridian. In 1913, he built a small stone house on the north shore of the lake, with a full cellar underneath. The house had two rooms downstairs–a kitchen and a front room with a wood range in one and a coal heater in the other–and two bedrooms upstairs as well as a storage room. The cellar had a dirt floor and contained a cement furnace which never did function properly. The land and house was later sold to T. Fitzgerald and J. Roche, but a Mr. Hoggett also lived there for a while. In 1917, Lawrence Bode purchased the home from Fitzgerald and Roche. Lawrence Bode [1896-1969] married May Brown [1911-1983] on January 1, 1929. May was the daughter of Alfred Brown, who settled in the Bear Lake area in 1926. While living in the old stone house, the couple had two daughters: June born 1931, and Lorraine born 1936. Both attended Canuck School and high school in Grande Prairie. Early in the house’s history, the southwest corner cracked and shifted. The addition of cement repair never lasted. Insulation was non-existent so it was very cold in the winter. The Bode family lived in the old stone house until 1944, when a new house was built half a mile north. Lawrence and May continued to live here and farm the land until 1968. The farm was then sold to Henry and Ron Nagel. June received her RN at University Hospital in Edmonton in 1955. She married Jac DeJong, from Holland, and they had two sons and four grandchildren. She passed away iin Bryon, Texas in 1996. Lorraine also became an RN, graduating from the Royal Alexandria Hospital in 1958. She married Ron Nagel and had two children and two grandchildren. They left Grande Prairie in 1974 to farm Joffre, Alberta. The stone house deteriorated over the years and disappeared from the landscape in the late seventies.

The sub-series consists of 6 pages of textual records and 7 photographs. The papers include a history of the Lawrence Bode family, a history of the old stone house, floor plans for the house, a map of where it was located, and a poem by Lorraine (Bode) Nagel about the outhouses at Canuck School, called “Gotta Go.”

 
The Old Stone House, [1929]
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The old stone house on the north shore of Bear Lake.
Location: 0479.04.01.01
May (Brown) Bode, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
May (Brown) Bode in front of “the old stone house” on the north shore of Bear Lake.
Location: 0479.04.01.02
Lawrence Bode, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Lawrence Bode bringing in a load of logs for the winter wood supply with a two horse team. In the backbround is “the old stone house” on the north shore of Bear Lake.
Location: 0479.04.01.03
The Alfred Brown Family, 1930
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The Alfred Brown family at the side of “the old stone house” in 1930. From left to right: Alfred, Sadie, May, Sam, and Jack.
Location: 0479.04.01.04
Lawrence and May Bode, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
Lawrence and May Bode beside “the old stone house” in the summer of 1929. They were married January 1, 1929 and the stone house on the north shore of Bear Lake was their first home.
Location: 0479.04.01.05
The Bode Girls, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 3 x 5 in.
The five daughters from the Lawrence and Norman Bode families with doll buggys made by their fathers from apple boxes. This is ca. Christmas 1939, and they are, left to right: Alva, June, Rheta, Eloise and Lorraine. Behind them is “the old stone house” on the north shore of Bear Lake.
Location: 0479.04.01.06
Ice on Bear Lake, 1929
1 photograph; b & w; 5 x 7 in.
Ice piled up on the north shore of Bear Lake close to Pitman’s Point.
Location: 0479.04.01.07
SubSeries 479.04.02 Building Bear Lake Hall. — 1948. — 2 photographs.The men from the Bear Lake area building the Bear Lake Hall in 1948 are (left to right) Norm Bode, Lawrence Bode, and John Waefler.
 
Building Bear Lake Hall, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The men from the Bear Lake area building the Bear Lake Hall in 1948 are (left to right) Bert Leggatt, Lawrence Bode, Buster Leggatt, and John Waefler.
Location: 0479.04.02.01
Building Bear Lake Hall, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The men from the Bear Lake area building the Bear Lake Hall in 1948 are (left to right) Norm Bode, Lawrence Bode, and John Waefler.
Location: 0479.04.02.02
SubSeries 479.04.02 Bear Lake Hall. — 1948. — 2 photographs.The sub-series consists of two photographs of the building of Bear Lake Hall.
 
Building Bear Lake Hall, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The men from the Bear Lake area building the Bear Lake Hall in 1948 are (left to right) Bert Leggatt, Lawrence Bode, Buster Leggatt, and John Waefler.
Location: 0479.04.02.01
Building Bear Lake Hall, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
The men from the Bear Lake area building the Bear Lake Hall in 1948 are (left to right) Norm Bode, Lawrence Bode, and John Waefler.
Location: 0479.04.02.02
SubSeries 479.04.03 Bear Lake Presbyterian Church. — 1948. — 2 photographs.The sub-series consists of two photographs of a Presbyterian Church picnic at Pitman’s Point. For a number of years Rev. Davidson, from the Forbes Presbyterian Church, held church services in the Bear Lake area. After he left, most of the families drove into Grande Prairie to attend church.
 
Bear Lake Presbyterian Church Picnic, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
Bear Lake Church picnic at Pitman’s Point in 1948 with the Rev. Ronald Davidson’s Presbyterian congregation. Left to right: Homer Lozeron, Des (Denny) Brown, Rev. Ronald Davidson, Dora Lozeron, Lawrence Bode, May (Brown) Bode, Bert Leggatt and his daughter Ella (Leggatt) Miles, Gladys Leggatt, Myrtle (Tolley) Brown, Pete Lozeron, Rev. Wright’s back (he was visiting). In the background are Lawrence Bode’s Jeep and Bert Leggatt’s 1947 Plymouth.
Location: 0479.04.03.01
Bear Lake Presbyterian Church Picnic, 1948
1 photograph; b & w; 4 x 6 in.
Presbyterian Church picnic in 1948. Reverend Ronald Davidson standing, with little Des (Denny) Brown sitting beside him. Homer and Andre Lozerson can be identified facing the camera.
Location: 0479.04.03.02
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