AVONGLEN SCHOOL DISTRICT No.3975
- Avonglen School District #3975 was organized in 1920. Members of the
- first school board were: Mr. Jesse Allen, Mr. Joseph Carrington, and Mr.
- Burton Haun. Mrs. R.D. Allen acted as secretary-treasurer.
- Built in 1921, on a corner of land purchased from Burton Haun, on the SW
- ¼ 2-47-8 W4, by Mr. J. Craig Sr., the cost was $3000. School opened on
- October 1, 1921 with Miss Nellie McTavish of Edmonton as the first
- teacher. Some of the original students at Avonglen were: Gladys Haun,
- A.E. (Buck) Haun, John Haun, Maynard, Delbert and Florence Allen, Helen
- Ballentine, George and Frank Ford, Arnold girls, the Shott girls, and John,
- Killian and Donald Goodwin. Margaret (Shotts) Clifford of Wainwright
- attended Avonglen for nine years.
- Teachers following Miss McTavish were: Lolo Mabey, Dorothy Bramley-
- Moore, Marjorie Bennett, Olive (Rush) Sather, Orril (Fischer) Darling, Mrs.
- Murray, Mrs. C. Ballentine, Miss Bates, Miss Anne Kippen, Miss Lily Lakusta,
- Cliff Shelton, Ann Coultman (supervisor), Miss Agnes Grieve, Mary Prosser,
- Kathleen Younker, Miss Louise Best, and Keith Wakefield. Inspectors were
- Mr. L. Goode, Mr. H.T. Coutts and Mr. S.D. Simonson. Later school board
- members were William New, A.E. Haun, William Goodwin, John Ballentine
- and Gerald Allen.
- There was always some entertainment at Avonglen - dances to raise funds
- for the Red Cross, pick-up ball games, picnics and bazaars to raise money
- to pay for the orchestras, picnic supplies and concerts. The Avonglen
- Gospel Mission held services there. From 1944 to 1948 the school
- children went to surrounding schools to practice ball so that they could
- enter the games meet in Irma; then the Irma winners would compete in
- Wainwright against the surrounding Wainwright schools. This was a big
- day for all involved.
- The school was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. After the fire
- was lit at eight o’clock, it took an hour to warm up the building. Desks
- were pulled close to the heater to keep children warm. Inkwells or
- bottles which were frozen were thawed out by holding in the hands until
- the ink thawed enough to be able to use a pen. The outhouses, one for the
- boys and one for the girls, were on the far corners of the playground. The
- teachers knew that in minus thirty degree weather there would be little
- time wasted out there!
- Some of the students on the register were: Barbara, Marvin, Joyce and
- Laura Bartee; Eric June and Edna Dallow; Garry Goodale; Harry, Martha and
- Bob Goodwin; Irene, George and Darwin Lambert; Francis, Gerald, Fred,
- Alfred, Eileen, Marie, Rita, Oscar and Clair Meyer; Elsworth (Dub) Allen as
- well as his children Charles, Florence, Carol and Doug Allen; and Gerald
- Allen’s family, Doris Carleen, Jesse and Lowell.
- Other children were transferred from Passchendale, Alma Mater and
- Education Point because at times their home school had no teacher. In the
- year 1952, Avonglen School was closed and the children were bussed to
- the Passchendale Consolidated School (the old Irma High School). When
- Passchendale was closed in 1959, the majority of the Avonglen students
- were bussed to Irma by the late Mr. Frank Ford.
- The Avonglen school building was still used by the Avonglen Gospel
- Mission until it was moved to the Albert district to become the east room
- of the four-roomed Albert School.
Avonglen School District No. 3975
From “Down Memory Lane” submitted by Margaret Clifford
34-35