BROWNING SCHOOL DISTRICT No.4002

1. The first Browning School was built in 1927 on the NE ¼ 26-41-4 W4.
2. The name Browning was suggested by Lewis Taylor, after his favourite
3. poet, Robert Browning. The first teacher was Lottie McLeod (later Mrs.
4. Chris Meyers), who boarded at the Evans home. No records of the school
5. were located, so only memories could be relied on for the following
6. information.
7.  
8. The first students to attend the school were: Alfred Harbak; Louise, Marie
9. and Margaret Freestone; Eluned, Glyn and David Evans; Pamela Rice; Helen,
10. Lois and Faye Johnson. The teachers that taught were: Lottie McLeod (Mrs.
11. Chris Meyers), Alice Cranmer (Mrs. Wilfred McPeak), Miss Sims, Mr.
12. McLaughlin, Ann Spilde (Mrs. Ken Sparks), Ruth Freeman, Miss Carroll,
13. Hazel Congdon (Mrs. Fuglum), Miss Bodden, Mildred Carrington, Beth
14. Reinhart (Mrs. Mike Belik), Grace Tveten (Mrs. Ray Snyder), Bill Hanson,
15. Barbara (Mrs. Frank) Davis.
16.  
17. Some of those serving on the school board were: Harry Rice, Walter Taylor, Fritz Alwood, Mrs. George Woodbridge, Harry Scott, Mrs. Paul Harbak and Jim Armstrong.
18.  
19. Several of the community families opened their homes to the teachers,
20. including the Alex Meyers, Evans, Houses and Woodbridges.
21.  
22. The school burned down in 1930 and was rebuilt that year. During this
23. time, Charlie Walters’ shack was moved to the school site and used as a
24. classroom until the new school was ready.
25.  
26. Mr. Bevans provided and helped plant honeysuckle and caragana cuttings
27. around the schoolyard. Mrs. Rice and Mrs. Woodbridge cultivated these
28. rows for two years or more, with a horse and garden cultivator. A little
29. plot of lilac was planted just inside the gate by the school children in
30. memory of their school chum, Teddy McPherson.
31.  
32. In about 1945 a portable teacherage was placed in the school yard. Bill
33. Hanson was the first teacher to live in it and a teacherage shower was
34. held at Evans to help equip the new home. In 1950, because of so few
35. students to attend, Browning School was closed, and the students were
36. bussed to the McCafferty school. The school division later moved
37. Browning school to Empire as the Empire school had burned down. Don Guy
38. purchased the barn and outbuildings. At one time there were as many as
39. twenty-five homesteads in the school district. The school in the earlier
40. years was the nucleus of the community and all our social functions were
41. held there. There were dances, card parties, box socials, picnics, Sunday
42. School, embarkation leave parties and so on. One of the highlights of the
43. year was the Christmas party. We would practice for weeks for that
44. ‘magic evening.’ Mrs. Rice would walk to the school to play the piano and
45. assist in many other ways, including costumes. She played for nearly
46. every concert held in the Browning School during the twenty-two years.
47. For many years Harry Rice played the role of Santa Claus. For the winter
48. social events, usually the family living furthest away would load his
49. sleigh with straw and quilts and pick up the other neighbours along the
50. way. By the time we reached the school, we would nearly all be standing
51. to make enough room for everyone.
52.  
53. Our community was fortunate to have many talented people: Alwoods
54. played for many of the dances; Lorna and Harry Alwood were very artistic;
55. some of the Harbak family had lovely voices; Harry Alwood was a talented
56. pianist and, of course, the Rices were gifted for entertaining.
57.  
58. During the war years, the school children had a Junior Red Cross, which
59. was later turned into a Junior U.F.A. I remember one of their projects
60. during the mid ’40s was making money to buy a toboggan. Hot dogs were
61. sold in the Co-op store in Edgerton to finance the projects, and the
62. toboggan was purchased. The Junior U.F.A. also published a monthly
63. community paper called “The Browning Breeze.” It carried the latest local
64. news, jokes, stories of interest etc. and was sold to the local families at
65. $.25 a year. When I recall the labour involved in ‘going to press,’ I am sure
66. it was a labour of love, as little money was derived for so many hours of
67. work. With the use of a typewriter and our artistic Alwoods, it really was
68. a pretty fair paper.
69.  
70. At one picnic at Arm Lake, Wilfred McPeak and Tom Woodcock went early
71. to catch enough fish for everyone for supper. The mothers arrived with
72. their frying pans, and all had a bountiful supper of fish. Everyone ended up
73. with dysentery except the two fishermen, and the reason still remains a
74. mystery.
75.  
76. The annual sports day held in Edgerton was another day that was eagerly
77. anticipated. All the Edgerton area school children would gather and
78. compete for the coveted prize ribbons. The ball tournaments during the
79. day were taken very seriously and I doubt Babe Ruth could have felt any
80. more important. Picnic lunches were taken and shared, and nearly all the
81. children got a few pennies to spend at the booth on the grounds. An
82. exciting, long, tiring but happy day.
83.  
84. Those days are gone, the schoolyard is empty, but the memories are ours
85. to cherish.

Browning School District No. 4002
Submitted by Mary (Taylor) Whitby

101-102-103