MELBRAE SCHOOL DISTRICT No.2777

1. The Melbrae School was built in 1912 on the NE ¼ 21-44-10 W4. At this
2. time it was called Gooseberry Plains, but the Harding family were
3. instrumental in changing it to Melbrae, after a district they came from in
4. Scotland. The first teacher was Miss Schnare who taught for two years.
5. The school was closed in the winter if the weather was severe and kept
6. open in the summer.
7.  
8. Members of the first school board were Mr. Henry Harding and Mr. Donald
9. Mallis with Mr. John Drake as secretary. Later Mr. Fred Bumpus and Alex
10. Harding were trustees. In 1918 Mr. John Daugherty was secretary. The
11. Last members fo the school board were Ludwig Hollinger and Norman
12. Fluevog.
13.  
14. The value of the school library in 1918 was $75. That year, $18.32 worth
15. of books were added.
16.  
17. Some of the first students to attend were: Dicka and Norman Fluevog,
18. Harold Arland and Lenora Pietz. In 1918, 18 pupils were in the register
19. and Miss Morrow was the teacher. The inspector was Walter Scott.
20.  
21. Teachers of Melbrae included: Miss Schnare, Miss Hazel Freeman, Miss
22. Chapman, Miss Thompson, Miss Morrow, Miss Lenora Pietz, Miss White, Mr.
23. E. Simpson, Mr. McCracken, Miss Alice Clark, Miss Lora Matthews, Mr. C.
24. Enright, Miss Jane Wilson, Miss Sylvia Lynn, Mr. Harold Linson, Miss Asta
25. Lindberg, and Mrs. Alice Darkes.
26.  
27. In the war years, teachers were hard to get, so supervisors were put in
28. the schools. They supervised correspondence lessons. Irma Theroux, Anita
29. Lindberg, and Illes Dubasz supervised until school was closed and the
30. students bussed to Lougheed.
31.  
32. Melbrae, as were most schools, was the centre of entertainment for the
33. community. Dances, card parties, chicken suppers, concerts and ball
34. games were held at the school. In may of 1972, Melbrae School was struck
35. by lightning and burned to the ground.

Melbrae School District No. 2777
from “Down Memory Lane”

58