Educator.
Born on the family farmstead near Seaforth in Huron County, Ontario on 22 May 1904, son of Melvin James Blanchard (1865-1958) and Betsy Dodds (1860-1931), he attended grade school in a rural schoolhouse, finished high school at Seaforth Collegiate Institute, and attended teacher training at London Normal School. After acquiring certificates in Physical Training and Cadet Instruction, he began working at the Ontario School for the Deaf (OSD) at Belleville, working there 12 years as a teacher; in the Junior Department for three years and the Senior Department for eight years. During the school off-season, he attended summer classes at Queen’s University at Kingston, from which he earned a BA degree (1931). He spent two summers at the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph and obtained a Public School Inspectors Certificate and Intermediate Certificate in Agriculture, teaching vocational agriculture in his final year at the OSD in Belleville.
In 1935, he came to Manitoba as Superintendent (1935-1940) of the Manitoba School for the Deaf (MSD) at its 500 Shaftesbury Boulevard location. With the conversion of the MSD site into a military training base as part of the No. 2 Air Training Command of the Commonwealth Air Training Program, he left for Montreal, Quebec, taking up work as the Senior Supervising Teacher at the MacKay School for the Deaf (1940-?). He married Phyllis Lenore Blanchard (1903-1977) and was a member of the Masons, YMCA, and United Church.
He died on 7 November 1975 and was buried at Rideau Memorial Gardens at Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec.
“M. S. Blanchard named head of Deaf School,” Winnipeg Tribune, 2 July 1935, page 2.
“Supt. Blanchard,“ Manitoba Echo, October 1935, page 4.
“Principal explains how Deaf children overcome handicaps,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 April 1939, page 7.
“Don't try to see how many sheep your can count in night,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 April 1940, page 11.
“Montreal, Sept. 23,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 September 1940, page 10.
Maitlandbank Cemetery burial transcriptions [Seaforth, Ontario], FindAGrave.
Rideau Memorial Gardens burial transcriptions [Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec], FindAGrave.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 15 November 2023
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