Little Schools in the Parkland

BLESSED SACRAMENT SCHOOL

  1. Blessed Sacrament School first opened on September 16, 1931 in a
  2. bungalow on fourth avenue (Now the home of Mary Goodwin). The first
  3. teacher was Sister Edwina from the Order of Sisters of St. Joseph,
  4. Peterborough, Ontario. She had 24 students (grades one to eight) which
  5. increased to 31 by the end of October, 1931. Sisters and students lived in
  6. the first convent, now MacKenzie House.
  7.  
  8. Some of the first students were Stella McIntee, Alice McLean, Roger
  9. Perres, Marcel Touchette, Cecelia Touchette, Aileen Davignon, Clare and
  10. Leopold Dupre, Margaret, May and Helen Tolmie and Janet Croteau.
  11.  
  12. On February 21, 1932, a petition was circulated to have a Separate School.
  13. This was signed by nearly all the heads of families in the parish. On June
  14. 13, 1933 a vote was taken. Ninety-eight percent of the voters favored a
  15. Separate School.
  16.  
  17. At the first school board meeting in September 1933, P.J. Poitras was
  18. appointed secretary-treasurer. Father Doyle, pastor at the time was
  19. chairman and trustees were Luke Killoran, G. Grogan, W. Goulet and T.
  20. Besson.
  21.  
  22. On September 19, 1933, Sister Edwina became Mother Superior teaching
  23. elementary grades, Sister Saint Victor and Sister Bernice were high
  24. school teachers in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. The minimum salary was $840.
  25. Sister Fidelma was a housekeeper and Sister Mary Carmel was a cook.
  26. Sister Martha and Sister Macrina came as music teachers who were really
  27. needed in those early days.
  28.  
  29. Emmy Nysetvold (Johnson) tells about Lily Pitman (Saville), Ruth Parcels
  30. (Howe), Linnea Johnson (Gordon) and herself coming from Chauvin to the
  31. convent to take grade twelve. The surrounding towns only taught to grade
  32. eleven but grade twelve was now being demanded. Where else could you
  33. get board and rooms for $12 a month if you went home for weekends? If
  34. you stayed Saturday and Sunday as we had to do when roads were
  35. blocked in winter, the charge was $15 a month. The early settlers found
  36. $15 a large sum in those years of frost and drought.
  37.  
  38. In December 1932, a new church and convent (containing two classrooms)
  39. was completed. Rural school children boarded at the convent until 1955
  40. when school buses brought children in. This convent was sold to Phil May
  41. in 1970. It was turned into an apartment block and the Sisters moved into
  42. Mr. May’s residence, which is still their convent.
  43.  
  44. In November 1933, sod was turned for a larger school. The old church was
  45. moved to the west side corner of Sixth Avenue and Main Street and
  46. incorporated as an auditorium in the new building.
  47.  
  48. Fire destroyed the auditorium and science rooms Sunday, February 23,
  49. 1936. A new auditorium was officially opened in October 1936. The
  50. enrolment was one hundred and forty students in grades one to twelve.
  51. Five Sisters of St. Joseph were on staff.
  52.  
  53. Miss Shire was the first lay teacher. She was hired in October 1936 to
  54. teach commercial subjects, at a salary of $600 per year plus room and
  55. board. Mr. J. Stinert Sr. was the first lay chairman of the school board.
  56. Mrs. J. MacKenzie was the first female board member in 1939.
  57.  
  58. In August, 1945, the Catholic School Board considered joining the
  59. Wainwright School Division but after much discussion and study they
  60. decided not to enter the division. In 1971, Wainwright Separate School
  61. District joined with other Catholic boards to form the East Central
  62. Alberta Catholic Schools Association.
  63.  
  64. In August 1950, water and sewage systems were installed in the Separate
  65. School.
  66.  
  67. In December 1959, the 25th anniversary of Blessed Sacrament School, a
  68. new school was officially opened on the east side of Wainwright. Many
  69. additions were made through the years. In 1991, the 60th anniversary of
  70. Blessed Sacrament, the final building was completed.
  71.  
  72. In 1959, the first male lay principal, Mr. Al Gerwing, was hired. The old
  73. school on main street was sold to the town.
  74.  
  75. Grades one to twelve were taught in the Separate School from 1931-32 to
  76. 1961-62 when grade twelve was no longer offered. The next year grades
  77. ten and eleven were cut and students attended the public school until the
  78. 1991 term when all grades were again taught at Blessed Sacrament.
  79.  
  80. Mr. Henry Becher served as principal for 25 years. In total, sixty-two
  81. Sisters of St. Joseph have taught at Blessed Sacrament School.

Blessed Sacrament School
Source of information “Blessed Sacrament Parish”
submitted by Nancy Ryall

19-20-21