Historic Sites of Manitoba: Victoria Beach School No. 1811 (RM of Victoria Beach)

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

The Victoria Beach School District was organized in December 1915. A school building operated in the Municipality of Victoria Beach. Heated by a woodstove and with an outhouse in the backyard. In 1920, a $3,000 debenture was issued to acquire a school site and both build and furnish a new schoolhouse. The community had grown enough for a second classroom by 1939, so an addition was added along with hiring a second teacher. It expanded again in the 1950s with a third room, along with indoor plumbing and a furnace.

In 1967, its area became part of the Lord Selkirk School Division. Grades 1 to 11 were taught up until 1960 when collegiate grades were transferred out to Walter Whyte Collegiate. The school operated with elementary grades until closing in the summer of 1969. The former school building is no longer present at the site.

Principals

Period

Principal

1939-1941

Viola Mabel Carefoot

1941-1943

Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (1910-1990)

1944

Walter Gard Jose (1878-1948)

1944-1946

Lily May Nevin (1892-1984)

1946

Ernest Harold Ranson

1946

Vernon Lorraine Trainor

1947

Enid Louise Jonsson

1947-1949

Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (1905-1988)

1949-1950

Margaret Alice Morton

1950-1951

Melvin Stuart Bell

1951-1952

Michael John Shewchuk (1930-2018)

1952-1953

Peter Neufeld

1953-1954

Paul Emile Carriere

1954

John C. Campeau

1955

Jean Campeau

1955-1957

Denis Merven Babcock

1957-1958

Gerla [Gilda?] M. Peterson

1958-1960

James Christoffer Balness

1960-1961

Maria Merkatz

1961-1962

Harry Onufry Hryhorkiw [Onuphrius Hryhorka] (1914-1988)

1962-1964

Roberta Freda Phair

1964

Brian Norman Orvis (1931-2010)

1964-1966

John Jacob Harrison

1966-1967

Gladys Rose Sigurdson

1967-1969

Nicholas “Nick” Andrusko (1900-1983)

Teachers

The early teachers of Victoria Beach School were Allan T. Burton (1916), Elizabeth Ehman (1916-1917), Vincent P. Murphy (1917), Louise Amelia Neilson (1918), Christine Johnson (1918-1919), C. M. Brandon (1919), E. N. Very (1920), Daisy Lorraine Walker (1921), Thomas E. Black (1921-1923), Geraldine Kavanagh (1923-1926), Winnifred Gertrude Shield (1926-1928, wife of Walter George Thomas), Gladys Lyle Simpson (1928-1931), Irene Merle Riddell (1931-1935), Helen Hendrie Terry (1935-1938), and Mary Beatrice Jamieson (1938-1939).

Period

Teachers

1939-1940

Viola Mabel Carefoot (grades 6-10), Margaret Jean Gallagher (grades 1-5)

1940-1941

Viola Mabel Carefoot (grades 6-10), Margaret Jean Gallagher (grades 1-5)

1941-1942

Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray (grades 7-11), Dorothy Maria Slaughter (grades 1-6)

1942-1943

Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (grades 6-11), Ethel Wilhelmina Bailey (grades 1-5)

1943-1944

Frances Elizabeth Willard Gray Ateah (grades 6-11, September-December), Walter Gard Jose (grades 6-11, January-June), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-5)

1944-1945

Lily May Nevin (grades 5-9), Vernon Lorraine Trainor (grades 1-4)

1945-1946

Lily May Nevin (grades 5-9), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-4)

1946-1947

Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Enid Louise Jonsson (grades 5-10, January-June), Ernest Harold Ranson (grades 5-10, September-December), Vernon Lorraine Trainor (grades 5-10 substitute, Fall; grades 1-4 substitute, Spring)

1947-1948

Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (grades 5-10)

1948-1949

Grace Anderson (grades 1-4), Soren Bernhard Jorgensen (grades 5-10)

1949-1950

Anne Ellen [Eleen?] (grades 1-4), Margaret Alice Morton (grades 5-9)

1950-1951

Melvin Stuart Bell (grades 5-9), Violet Phyllis Bell (grades 1-4)

1951-1952

Lena Shewchuk (grades 1-4), Michael John Shewchuk (grades 5-10)

1952-1953

Elaine Marie Neufeld (grades 1-4), Peter Neufeld (grades 5-10)

1953-1954

Evelyn Carriere (grades 1-4, September-December; grades 1-4 substitute, Spring), Paul Emile Carriere (grades 9-10), Irene E. Fisher (grades 1-4, January-June), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1954-1955

Anita Rita Campeau (grades 1-4), Jean Campeau (grades 9-12, January-June), John C. Campeau (grades 9-12, September-December), Irene E. Fisher (grades 1-4 substitute, Fall), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4 substitute, Spring), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1955-1956

Denis Merven Babcock (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1956-1957

Denis Merven Babcock (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1957-1958

Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Gerla [Gilda?] M. Peterson (grades 9-11), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1958-1959

James Christoffer Balness (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1959-1960

James Christoffer Balness (grades 9-11), Marina Lela Lester (grades 1-4), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 5-8)

1960-1961

Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-4), Maria Merkatz (grades 4-8)

1961-1962

Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-4), Harry Hryhorka (grades 4-8)

1962-1963

Marina Lela Lester Chapel (grades 1-3), Vernon Lee (grades 3-4 & 6), Roberta Freda Phair (grades 5 & 7-8)

1963-1964

John Jacob Harrison (grades 3-5), Valerie Esther Harrison (grades 1-3), Brian Norman Orvis (grades 6-8, April-June), Roberta Freda Phair (grades 6-8; September-March)

1964-1965

John Jacob Harrison (grades 6-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Sharon Lila Whyte (grades 1-3)

1965-1966

John Jacob Harrison (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)

1966-1967

Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Gladys Rose Sigurdson (grades 7-8), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)

1967-1968

Nicholas Andrusko (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 4-6), Winnifred Gertrude Shield Thomas (grades 1-3)

1968-1969

Nicholas Andrusko (grades 7-8), Hallfridur Thora Oliver (grades 5-6), Jean Brown Segall (grades 1-2), Malcolm A. Watson (grades 3-4)

Another teacher at Victoria Beach School was Margaret Lesperance (1966?).

Photos & Coordinates

The original Victoria Beach School building

The original Victoria Beach School building (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 40.

The former Victoria Beach School building

The former Victoria Beach School building (1968)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey, Victoria Beach 5.

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.70276, W96.54274
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Marriage registration [Winnifred Gertrude Shield & Walter George Thomas], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

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.

East Side of the Red, 1884-1984 by St. Clements Historical Committee, 1984.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #31 School District of Victoria Beach, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-in-Council No. 26868, GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.

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

“History Hunt 100: Clues to 100 Years of History throughout Victoria Beach,” Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach, 2019.

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer, Sheila Grover, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 February 2023

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