Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wawanesa School No. 672 (Wawanesa, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)

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

The Wawanesa School District was established formally in March 1891 and a school building was erected in Wawanesa, in what is now the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa. It was replaced by a two-storey brick structure in 1925. In January 1961, it became Wawanesa Consolidated School No. 2393, consolidating with several rural schools from the surrounding area: Sourisburg School No. 136, Northfield School No. 264, Hilton School No. 395, Tenterfield School No. 653, and Treesbank School No. 1004. The building is no longer on the site but a monument commemorates it.

A plaque commemorating students of the school who served and were killed during military service in the Second World War, presented by the Wawanesa Chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, is displayed at the New Horizons Community Hall for Seniors in Wawanesa.

Principals

Period

Principal

1898-1901

George A. Scott

1901-1903

Hugh William Watson (1872-?)

1903-1904

W. G. Sandercock

1904-1907

Henry Gledhill “Harry” Heasman (1870-1955)

1907-1911

Frederick W. “Fred” Harrison (1880-?)

1911-1913

Joseph Cooper Iliffe (1866-1937)

1913-1917

William Dakin (c1873-?)

1917-1918

John H. Snyder (c1874-?)

1918-1919

Margaret Ker

1919-1920

Evelyn Storey

1920-1921

Walter Gard Jose (1878-1948)

1921-1922

Solomon Abraham (1872-1942)

1922-1923

J. E. Cooper

1923-1925

Andrew A. Merritt (1872-1977)

1925-1926

Harvey Richard Brown (1895-1962)

1926-1927

George Hindle

1927-1928

Lillian Margaret Vanstone “Lillie” Marshall (1905-1953)

1928-1929

Hazel Arretta Vandecar Foster (1897-1990)

1929-1930

George William Holmes

1930-1932

Marguerite L. Godfrey

1932-1936

Bethel Harold Stinson (1903-1960)

1936-1940

Alexander Noble (1913-1971)

1940-1941

Allin John Pybus (1913-1991)

1941-1942

John Sinclair “Clair” Nelin (1911-1953)

1942-1948

Duncan Hector Stewart (1912-1999)

1948-1949

?

1949-1954

Garnet Milton Morrison (1915-1992)

1954-1955

D. S. Lockhart

1955-1958

Henry Lambert Williams (1890-1976)

1958-1959

J. D. Simpson

1959-1964

Robert James “Bob” Harris (1934-2019)

1964-1965

R. Dale

1965-1973

Henry R. Schellenberg (?-?)

Teachers

Period

Teachers

1907-1908

Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), ?

1908-1909

Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin

1909-1910

Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin

1910-1911

Frederick W. Harrison (senior grades), Rena Parker, Leonora A. Pilling, Jessie J. Rankin

1911-1912

George R. Bourney?, Joseph Cooper Iliffe (senior grades), Isma Lyon, Alma Rutledge

1912-1913

Joseph Cooper Iliffe (senior grades), Humphrey Michell, Eva M. Morrow, Mary G. Rusnell, O. Alma Rutledge

1913-1914

William Dakin (senior grades), L. Kennedy, Marjorie Lawson (Spring), Edith A. Leadman, Mary G. Rusnell, Alma Rutledge (Fall)

1914-1915

William Dakin (senior grades), L. Kennedy, Marjorie Lawson, Edith A. Leadman, Mary G. Rusnell

Among the other teachers of Wawanesa School were Del Howell, Joseph W. Gordon (1897), and Keith A. Cosens.

Photos & Coordinates

Wawanesa School

Wawanesa School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 106.

Wawanesa School commemorative monument

Wawanesa School commemorative monument (June 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Wawanesa School war service commemorative plaque

Wawanesa School war service commemorative plaque (February 2020)
Source: Beth Smale

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.59193, W99.67993
denoted by symbol on the map above

Second World War Casualties

Name

Service

Rank

Birth Date

Death Date

Percy John Ellis
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa]

Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps

Private

28 February 1917

26 August 1942

James Bentley Ferris
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa]

400 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force

Flying Officer

10 October 1916

20 January 1943

Charles Gordon Gorrie
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]

422 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force

Flying Officer

22 January 1924

20 November 1943

Robert Talbot Hemmons
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa]

Royal Canadian Air Force

Pilot Officer

3 September 1917

24 August 1942

George Edward Stevenson
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]

431 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force

Warrant Officer Class II

16 August 1918

26 February 1944

Wilbert Crothers Wallace
[Wawanesa, Wawanesa Hospital, Wawanesa United]

HMCS Avalon, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve

Ordinary Seaman

18 November 1920

12 December 1942

Sources:

“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.

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.

Obituary [Robert James Harris], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 February 2019.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

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

We thank Nathan Kramer, Darryl Toews, and Beth Smale for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 March 2024

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