PLAXTOL SCHOOL DISTRICT No.3677
- Plaxtol School was built on the NE ¼ 23-47-7 W4, and was named for Mr.
- Geoff Golding’s home in England. Classes opened there in 1919. Mr.
- Bartlett Tory was the teacher; Ashton and Allan Golding, Connie and Bill
- Fletcher and Danny Smith were the pupils.
- Other teachers included: Mrs. Rodgers, Phyllis Kent, Miss Halpin, Miss
- Sissons, Mary (Peggy) Brown, Kathleen Murdock and Jean Wilson. As the
- latter three ladies married local farmers, it was decided to hire a man, so
- Darryl Peterson was hired followed by Mary Watson who became Mrs. Bill
- Woods, Phyllis Stevens, Miss Halstead, Florence Morgan, Mrs. M. P. Veitch,
- Adele Irving, and Grace Ewert who became Mrs. Burton Seale, Mary Dyer
- and Mrs. Nagy.
- Other uses for the school were church services and Sunday school,
- concerts, plays, meetings, suppers and many dances. It was certainly the
- hub of the community.
- Common to the rural schools of those days was the old black stove. It was
- a ‘hate-love’ object. Hated for its obstinacy for not catching fire, for its
- belching smoke (at times) and for its ashes. But it was loved for the
- warmth it finally radiated on cold winter mornings making it possible for
- children to sit in their seats and remove their coats. It heated frozen
- lunches and pails of beans or cocoa. Perchance the lid was not loosened, it
- would blow off with such force the contents would be spewed to the
- ceiling, there to remain for some time. When a basement was added in
- 1936 and a furnace put in, this hazard was eliminated.
- One half hour weekly was given a young student minister for religious
- instruction in two successive years, 1924 and 1925. He also formed a
- boys’ group that met weekly. He left his studies for the ministry and
- coached big league football. He later resumed his studies at university
- and finally became president of Stanford University. After twenty years,
- he retired from that position to become chancellor of that institution. He
- became Dr. J.E. Wallace Sterling, by an Honorary Doctorate of Law
- bestowed on him about 1970 when he gave the Convocation address at the
- University of Alberta. Plaxtol is proud to have been a part of his life.
- During the ‘30s there was friendly rivalry between the school ball teams
- and the neighboring schools of Passchendale and Battle Heights. With the
- Veitch 1927 Ford packed full and a few of the older boys on horseback,
- they descended on either of the other ball diamonds and generally were
- quite happy with the results. Return games were played.
- In the 1940’s with both teacher and pupil shortages, and centralization of
- schools, the school bell was soon to be silenced. There were teachers Joy
- Enger and Muriel Wakefield with temporary teachers and supervisors,
- among whom were Mrs. Ione Hetherington, Muriel Wakefield, Fred
- Brimacombe, Florence Fletcher and Betty Larson.
- Finally the school was closed. Harold King bought the building and moved
- it to Wainwright.
- Plaxtol students: Maurice & Mildred Bamelis; Ernest, Hazel and Marjory
- Brink; Alberta, Dale, Harlan, Hazel, Icel, Ila, Orie and Veva Casper; Allan
- Colby; Billy Enman; Bill and Stuart Farnsworth; Bill and Mary Fedoruk; Bill,
- Cecil, Clifford, Connie, Doris, George, Harry, Ronald and Vernon Fletcher;
- Arthur, Edna, Fred, Harry, Helen, John and Susie Ford; Forence, Kostym,
- Peter, Violet and Olga Gidora; Ashton, Allan and Margaret Golding; Jim,
- Margaret, Raymond, Stanley and Velva Hill; Kenny and Tommy Kelly; Mary
- Landers; George Morley; Adrienne, Denice, Maurice and Roger Pare; Audrey
- and Emery Ross; Eva and Helen Skoreyko; Jim Veitch and Gordon Woods.
Plaxtol School District No. 3677
Submitted by Marie Valleau with acknowledgment to “Buffalo Trails
and Tales”
42-43