Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sunnyside School No. 40 “A” / Oakbank School No. 40 “A” (Oakbank, RM of Springfield)

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

Originally known as the Sunnyside School District when it was established in September 1876, a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW27-11-5E in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. A second school site was added in the fall of 1915, and after a few years of casual reference to this original school as either the “south school” or “village school”, it was given the unofficial “A” letter designation to help distinguish it from the “B” school almost two miles to the north. The school was renamed the Oakbank School District in January 1954. The district was dissolved in 1964 and its area became part of the Oakbank Consolidated School District No. 2426. After the school closed, the former schoolhouse was purchased by Robert A. Jacques and converted into a private residence.

District Principals

Period	Principal
1915-1938	See Sunnyside School “B”

Principals

Period	Principal
1938-1942	John Edward Harriott
1942-1944	Mabel Gertrude Williams
1944-1945	David Langton MacDonald (1911-1957)
1945-1946	George Boyer Poole (1880-1958)
1946-1947	Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (1901-1955)
1947-1948	Henry Joseph Grenon (1881-1981)
1948-1949	Nastia Kolodzinski “Nettie” Stadnyk (?-2017)
1949-1954	Dennis Nazeravich (1916-2010)
1954-1955	Morris Miroslaw Hryhor (1923-1987)
1955-1956	Wilfred Brian Deering (1907-2009)
1956-1957	Dorothy Ellen Swinburne Levine (c1905-1971)
1957-1959	Lawrence Paul Huska (1936-2022)
1959-1964	Michael Dyrda (1929-2004)
1964 onwards	See Oakbank Consolidated School

Teachers

Among the early teachers of Oakbank School were Mr. Newmarch (1881-1883), George W. McRae (1883-1884), Elizabeth Beckett Scott (Spring 1885), Alexander Scott Rose (Fall 1885 - Spring 1887), J. N. Guthrie (Fall 1887 - Fall 1888), Elizabeth Abbott (Spring 1889), Mary Hislop (Fall 1889), Alfred Hans? (Spring-Fall 1890), A. McVicar (Spring-Fall 1891), W. H. Beard? [Bond?] (Spring-Fall 1892, pt Spring 1893), Samuel Moore (pt Spring 1893 and Fall 1893), Mr. W. J. Bond (Spring-Fall 1894), W. W. Coleman (Spring - pt Fall 1895), Isabel Robertson (pt Fall 1895 - pt Fall 1896), W. H. Greeley (pt Fall 1896), J. McCormack (Spring-Fall 1897), S. S. Gammon? (Spring 1898 - Fall 1899), Louisa J. Irving (Spring 1900 - Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Verla Glavin? [Glenn?] (pt Spring 1905), Margaret O. Scoular (pt Spring 1905 - Spring 1909), Morrison? L. Dysart (Fall 1909), Eva L. O’Neil (Spring-Fall 1910), Annie Wright (Spring-Fall 1911), Norman E? Brett (Spring 1912), Miss Gnalden? (pt Fall 1912), Leo A. Grogan (pt Fall 1912 - Spring 1915), Charles Millard Hoar (Fall 1915 - Spring 1916), Blanche Isobel Jacklin (Fall 1916), Donald McLeod (Spring 1917 - Spring 1918), Brenda MacLean (Fall 1918 - Spring 1919), Carol Coubrough (Fall 1919 - Spring 1920), Rose Law (Fall 1920 - Spring 1921), Josephine Griffin (Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), Lala Boyd (Fall 1922 - Spring 1924), Maude Boyd (Fall 1924 - Spring 1925), Edith Olive Windsor (Fall 1925 - Spring 1926), Mary O. Blackford (Fall 1926 - Spring 1927), Mildred Mary Hammond (Fall 1927 - Spring 1929), Jane Campbell (1929-1935), Lily Annie Gillespie (1935-1936), and Laurie Elizabeth Bush (1936-1938).

School Year	Teachers
1938-1939	Laurie Elizabeth Bush (grades 1-6, 1938), John Edward Harriott (grades 7-10), Marjorie Frances Somerville (grades 1-6, 1939)
1939-1940	John Edward Harriott (grades 7-11), Janet Stroyan Stewart (grades 1-6)
1940-1941	John Edward Harriott (grades 7-11), Janet Stroyan Stewart (grades 1-6)
1941-1942	Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), John Edward Harriott (grades 7-12)
1942-1943	Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), Mabel Gertrude Williams (grades 7-12)
1943-1944	Mina Christina Dicks (grades 1-6), Mabel Gertrude Williams (grades 7-11)
1944-1945	Alice Edna Diehl (grades 1-6), David Langton MacDonald (grades 7-11)
1945-1946	Catherine M. Bryne (grades 1-6), George Boyer Poole (grades 7-11), Myrtle Rusenel (grades 1-6, 1946)
1946-1947	Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (grades 9-11), Emily Kirner (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1947-1948	Henry Joseph Grenon (grades 9-11), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1948-1949	Nettie Kolodzinski (grades 9-11), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Mary Nettie Neufeld (grades 5-8)
1949-1950	Sophie Violet Darushka (grades 5-8), Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11)
1950-1951	Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Nicholas George Odaisky (grades 5-8)
1951-1952	Annie Marie Mihalchuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Nicholas George Odaisky (grades 5-8, 1951), Mabel Belle Smithers (grades 5-8, 1952)
1952-1953	Lena Leochko (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11), Mabel Belle Smithers (grades 5-8)
1953-1954	Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Edith Myrtle Hokanson (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 9-11)
1954-1955	Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Mary C. Grapentine (grades 1-4, 1955), Edith Myrtle Hokanson (grades 1-4), Morris Miroslaw Hryhor (grades 9-11)
1955-1956	Wilfred Brian Deering (grades 9-11), Michael Dyrda (grades 5-8), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-4)
1956-1957	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Dorothy Ellen Swinburne Levine (grades 10-11), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-3), Susan Zacharias (grades 4-6)
1957-1958	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Lawrence Paul Huska (grades 10-11), Gwendalene Doris “Gwen” Tod (grades 1-3), Susan Zacharias (grades 4-6)
1958-1959	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Lawrence Paul Huska (grades 10-11), Richard Ottenbreit (grade 12), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6), Katherine Wiens (grades 1-3)
1959-1960	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-9), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6), Katherine Wiens (grades 1-3)
1960-1961	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Jean Mary Fryza (grades 1-3), Patricia Sargent (grades 4-6)
1961-1962	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Jean Mary Fryza (grades 1-3), ? (grades 4-6)
1962-1963	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Susan Lillian Lentowicz (grades 1-3), Rose Marie Pash (grades 4-6)
1963-1964	Michael Dyrda (grades 7-8), Susan Lillian Lentowicz (grades 1-2), Diane L. McFarlane (grades 3-4), Rose Marie Pash Pratt (grades 5-6)
1964 onwards	See Oakbank Consolidated School

Photos & Coordinates

Sunnyside School “A” (no date) by R. Goulet Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 3. Oakbank School (1968) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Oakbank 4. The former Oakbank School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1277. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.94681, W96.84182 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sunnyside School No. 40 “B” / Oakbank School No. 40 “B” (RM of Springfield)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Oakbank Consolidated School District No. 2426 / Oakbank Elementary School (826 Cedar Avenue, RM of Springfield)

Memorable Manitobans: Robert Aurel “Bob” Jacques (1914-2004)

Sources:

“Sunnyside,” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 22 February 1883, page 2.

“Oak Bank,” Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 15 August 1894, page 1.

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.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Sunnyside School District No. 40 - Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Oakbank School District No. 40 - Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

Dugald topographic map, 62H/15, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].

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.

We thank Robert Jacques and George Stewart for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 15 July 2023

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