GERALD SCHOOL DISTRICT No.3492

1. In 1916, the Gerald School District was formed by the following
2. interested people: James Moffat, William Dewar, Dave Rattray Sr., Thomas
3. McCreath and Mr. G.S. Baker. Mr. James Moffat did the building and it was
4. named Gerald for his eldest son. The school was located on the NE ¼ 23-
5. 45-6 W4, four miles east and three and one half miles north of
6. Wainwright. In those days school districts were kept as large as possible
7. in order to keep the taxes low. When formed, Gerald was four miles by
8. four miles but later all east of Baxter Lake was taken out for the new
9. district of Mascot.
10.  
11. In order to meet the department’s regulations, Albert Rattray, at the age
12. of five, made up the eight pupils required to open a school. In later years,
13. the enrollment grew to over thirty pupils.
14.  
15. The first teacher was Miss Sadie McKinnon. She later married Mr. Willard
16. Moffat. Other teachers included: Miss B. Anderson; Miss Nellie Dewar;
17. Miss McLaggan (1922-23); Miss Lucy Withnell (1923-24); Mr. Oliver Murray
18. (1924-30); Miss Edith Hart (the 30s); Miss Edith Steele; Miss Hettie
19. Kennedy (1939-40); Miss Ruth Ruste; Mrs. Hamilton; Miss Eileen McDonald;
20. Mr. Sanders; Miss Florence Shaw; Mr. Huxley Ebbern; Miss Jean Trotter
21. (Touchette). Miss Florence Pugh, June Gossling, and Miss Muriel Hill were
22. supervisors.
23.  
24. Pupils who attended included:
25. (* still in area, + attended Trafalgar for a short period)
26. Jean, Gordon and Kathleen McLachlan; Ethel and Elsie Harris; Tom, Jean,
27. Ella and Alwin McCreath; +Lexie, Bill, *Malise and Ailie Dewar; *David Jr.,
28. Albert, Tom, Jim, Alex and Wallace Rattray; Betty Spady; *Armand, Roland
29. and Stella LaFrance; Marion, Frank, *Myrle (Chynoweth) Baker; Tom, Ted
30. (a.k.a. George), Maurice (possibly Albert) Wilson; Billy and Jack Aykroyd; Jack
31. Prior; +Edgar and *Clara (Berg) Campbell; *Lucille, *Cliff and Eula Deyell;
32. +Allan, Kenneth and Gordon Greenway; *Keith, Della and *Palma (Lewin)
33. Christopherson; and Orville Cooper.
34.  
35. By about 1951, a bus was provided to transport the pupils to Wainwright.
36. The transition had not been easy for some. Tales of riding horseback three
37. miles or more to catch a school bus and many other arrangments have been
38. told. Later the school building was sold to Mr. George Christopherson and
39. moved to his farm where his son Keith still lives.

Gerald School District No. 3492
Submitted by Marie Valleau

Corrections in names and spellings
Submitted by Mryle Baker & Judy Marchand

67-68