Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
Meleb was named after local farmer Stefan Melnyk and storekeeper Abraham Lebman, who donated land for the Canadian Pacific Railway station and siding at the site around 1910.
Meleb School, formed on 20 February 1913 by By-Law 229 of the Rural Municipality of Gimli, was originally named King George School. In 1914, the predominantly Ukrainian and Polish pioneers of the area contracted Michael Gottfried (builder of the nearby St. Michael’s Archangels Church) to construct a school. A one-room frame building was erected on this site, at SW23-20-2 east of the Principal Meridian operating within the Rural Municipality of Kruezburg, now part of the Rural Municipality of Armstrong.
A second room was designed by architect Gilbert C. Parfitt and build in 1925, funded via a $3,000 debenture, after enrolment peaked at 83 students in 1923-24. Grades 9 and 10 were taken by correspondence from 1942 to 1954. The Evergreen School Division took over secondary education in 1959 and Meleb School closed in 1967 following rural school district consolidation. The school building was sold and converted into a private residence.
This cairn was dedicated on 7 July 1990 in front of the former school building. A model of the original school building sits in nearby Meleb-Park-Cumming Schools Reunion Park.
Period
Principal
1925-1927
Evangeline M. “Eva” Turner
1927-1928
Sarah Hershfield
1928
Violet M. Thorsteinson Olson
1928
Mrs. Marie Wall
1929
Marguerite Tod
1929
Marjorie B. Hunter
1929
D. V. Smelton
1929-1932
Ethel Emily Melita Groves Carson (1901-1989)
1932-1935
Margaret Frances Jackson Hobbs (1909-1997)
1935-1937
Adam Wasyl [William] Muzychuk (1911-2002)
1937-1942
William Chimchak (1902-1981)
1942-1954
No Principal
1954-1955
James Somerville McKessock (1911-1983)
1955-1956
Oles Bejzyk [Bejyk]
1956-1960
James Somerville McKessock (1911-1983)
Among the early teachers of Meleb School were B. March (Fall 1913), Stephen B. Wolanczyk (Spring 1914 - Spring 1915), S. P. Basarabowicz (September-November 1915), George Dragan (November-Deccember 1915, Spring 1916, September 1916, & September-November 1917), Nicholas N. Bilinsky (September 1916 - June 1917), Johanna Dyma (November-Deccember 1917), H. T. Dorosh (Spring 1918), Julian George Golembioski (Fall 1918 - Spring 1919), J. M. Hawryluk (September-October 1919), P. P. Schreyer (November-Deccember 1919), Joseph Petro Hawryluk (January-June 1920 and Fall 1920 - Spring 1921), Hnat Onofreyo (Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), and Nicholas Boychuk (Fall 1922 - Spring 1924). William Jerowsky may have worked in a substitute capacity (c1951).
Period
Teachers
1924-1925
Nicholas Boychuk (grades 1-9)
1925-1926
Lucille Kemp (grades 1-3), Evangeline M. “Eva” Turner (grades 4-8)
1926-1927
Lucille Kemp (grades 1-4), Evangeline M. “Eva” Turner (grades 5-9)
1927-1928
Janet Duncan (grades 1-4), Sarah Hershfield (grades 5-9)
1928-1929
Beryl Dack (grades 1-3, September-June), Janet Duncan (grades 1-3, September), Marjorie B. Hunter (grades 4-6, January-March), Violet May Thorsteinson Olson (grades 4-7, September-November), Marguerite Tod (grades 4-6, April-June), Mrs. Marie Wall (grades 4-6, December)
1929-1930
Beryl Dack (grades 1-3), Ethel Emily Melita Groves (grades 4-8, September-June), D. V. Smelton (grades 4-8, September)
1930-1931
Ethel Emily Melita Groves (grades 4-8), Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 1-3)
1931-1932
Ethel Emily Melita Groves (grades 4-8), Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 1-3)
1932-1933
Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Mary Asenath Kelly (grades 1-3, August-December), Mabel Irene McKay (grades 1-3, January-June)
1933-1934
Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Mabel Irene McKay (grades 1-3)
1934-1935
Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Emily Ann Priest (grades 1-3)
1935-1936
Adam William Muzychuk (grades 4-9), Emily Ann Priest (grades 1-3)
1936-1937
Michael Richard Firman (grades 1-3), Adam William Muzychuk (grades 4-10)
1937-1938
Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-3), William Chimchak (grades 4-10)
1938-1939
Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1939-1940
Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1940-1941
Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1941-1942
Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1942-1943
William Chimchak (grades 1-10)
1943-1944
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1944-1945
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1945-1946
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1946-1947
Colin M. Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1947-1948
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1948-1949
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1949-1950
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1950-1951
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1951-1952
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-8)
1952-1953
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1953-1954
Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1954-1955
Margaret Clossick (grades 1-8, September-December), James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), G. Laurine Smith (grades 1-8, January-June)
1955-1956
Oles Bejzyk [Bejyk] (grades 9-11), Jean Yalowica (grades 1-8)
1956-1957
James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Jean Yalowica (grades 1-8)
1957-1958
James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), William Krihinicki (grades 1-8)
1958-1959
James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1959-1960
James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1960-1961
Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1961-1962
Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1962-1963
Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1963-1964
Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1964-1965
Virginia Zubyk (grades 1-8)
1965-1966
Ivan Mike Packulak (grades 1-8)
1966-1967
Ivan Mike Packulak (grades 1-8)
Meleb School (no date) by H. D. Cumming
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 13.
Former Meleb School building (circa 1990)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 81.
Meleb School commemorative monument with the former school building in the background (August 2010)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.72881, W97.21853
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Meleb-Park-Cumming Schools Reunion Park (Meleb, RM of Armstrong)
Marriage registrations [Violet May Thorsteinson to Arnljotur Wilberg Olson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Meleb School District No. 1665, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Plans and shop drawings (GS 0100), Meleb School District No. 1665, GR3125, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Meleb School District No. 1665 Daily Registers, GR6124, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #57 School District of Meleb, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
A History of Education in the Evergreen School Division by John C. Gottfried, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1965.
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 December 2023
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