Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.11.1992, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 13. nóvember 1992 • 3
The Incredible Shrinking School
Maria and Barbara, reunited at Rose Vale School (in background).
Photos by Joan Eyolfson Cadham
.
i
First Rose Vale teacher —
Lillian Gudmundson Sumarlidson.
byJoan Eyolfson Cadham, Elfros, SK
Lillian Gudmundson, now Mrs.
Henry Sumarlidson of White Rock,
B.C., the first teacher, and Maria
Eyolfson Hermanutz of Edjnonton, Al-
berta, a former student who taught at
Rose Vale School in 1951, were among
the featured guests at the celebrations
surrounding thc unveiling of the memori-
al plaque for Rose Vale School District
No. 4163.
About 100 former students, teachers,
friends and family members gathered at
the school site and, later, in Elffos Legion
and Community Hall to honour the pio-
neers who had built the school, to philos-
ophize over Saskatchewan’s future, and
to enjoy some nostalgia, sharing memo-
ries of Rose Vale, which was opened in
1919 and closed in 1954.
Festivities around the caim included
introductions of former teachers and a
reassembling of their classes, school his-
tory and folklore, a moment of silence in
memoiy of former students and teachers,
the unveiling of the caim and a flag rais-
ing ceremony ending with O Canada.
The school yard was two and one half
acres of the south east comer of SE5-32-
13, on land owned by George Ireland.
The school district consisted of portions
of Elfros, Leslie, Walhalla and Quill
Valley school districts, in Saskatchewan.
The land is now owned by former
Rose Vale pupil Larry Zemlak, who
donated the corncr where the cairn
stands next to the original flag pole.
The oldest pupil present, one of the
original class of 1919, Fred Ireland, cut
the ribbon to unveil the memorial plaque
which was donated by the Elfros His-
torical Society. The caim was wrapped in
the original school flag, the Union Jack,
but the Maple Leaf fluttered from the old
flag pole while the group sang the mod-
em version of 0 Canada.
The school was a 20-by-20-foot build-
ing with a boys’ and a girls’ cloak room
and an anteroom where the wash basin
stood. Visits to the school, which had
been used for several years as a granary
but which was cleared out for its special
day, provoked universal choruses of:
“Good grief, it’s shrunk!” from former
pupils who paced off the room, marking
the space required for the old black fur-
nace, for the water cooler, for the piano
and, most importantly. for the stage and
the Christmas tree, and who could not
fathom where the audience - the entire
community - had been seated. Nor could
anyone believe costume changes in the
girls’ cloakroom, concert time being thc
only time the boys were allowed into that
sacred spot. There were also some ques-
tions raised about card parties and dances
in an era when sleeping babies took up
the spare comers and a major lunch was
served from the girls’ cloakroom.
Ceremonies concluded with formal
presentations and dinner in Elfros. Mrs.
Sumarlidson, now 92, entertained with
music for a sing-along on the Heintzman
which had been bought for the school
on May 5, 1922 and which is now in the
Elfros Hall. In her address she drew on a
memory for the classic poets, but Rose
Vale’s first teacher, who was in charge of
the school from 1919 to 1921, recalled
how disturbed she was the Christmas
before she left Rose Vale when she dis-
covered that, on the tree there was not
even a card for her from her pupils. “I
carried on,” she said. “I couldn’t show
how upset I was.”
The day after Christmas she received
a surprise visit from her entire class,
escorted by Siggi Sturlaugson. The chil-
dren had ordered an engraved gold
watch for their teacher but it had been
late in arriving. Mrs. Sumarlidson
brought the watch with her to the re-
union. “I’ve had
several watches
over the years,”
she said. “This is
the one I’ve kept.”
She has other
pleasant Christ-
mas memories, in-
cluding Christmas
concerts in an era
when “live” can-
dles were used on
the tree. “When
they got hot, they
slanted,” she said.
Miss Gudmund-
son, the first
teacher. lived
with her parents
and walked or
biked the three
miles to school. When Maria Eyolfson
Hermanutz taught in 1951, she lived with
her parents and walked to school with her
little sisters who were her students.
When Miss Gudmundson was hired to
teach at Rose Vale in 1919, she was paid
$1,080 a year. During the Depression,
teachers’ salaries fell to a low of $375 a
month and when Maria Eyolfson began to
teach in the Sturgis school district in
1948, she recalled, her salary was only
$1,000 a year, paid over 10 months. “On
that, we had to save enough to live until
our next cheque at the end of September
and I had to pay room and board when I
went back to university for sbc weeks in
the summer from 1949 to 1959,” she said.
By the time Miss Eyolfson was hired to
teach at Rose Vale in 1950-51, her salary
had climbed to $1,250 a year.
The school closed at the end of Junc,
1954. Enrolment had declined to half a
dozen kids who were bussed into Elfros
for elementary school and to Foam Lakc
or Wynyard for high school. The final
community event was a wedding dance in
1958 in honour of former students, Ed
Smith and Johanna de Jong, who were
present at the reunion.
Plans for Rose Vale day began almost
two years ago when a group of former
pupils including Smiths, McLeods,
Irelands, Ridleys and Reynolds decided
that, with so many old schools being tom
down, it was time for a permanent marker
for Rose Vale, the little green and white
wooden building which had served as the
heart of the community for thirty-five
years. The cairn was erected in the very
comer of the old school yard, near the site
of the actual school building.
Although there were a few depressing
moments when former pupils recalled that
Rose Vale, a school that took its sports
veiy seriously, never ever beat Mozart in a
ball game, generally the day was filled
with happy memories.
When former teacher, Maria Eyolfson
was a Rose Vale student, she, like most lit-
tle girls, had a best friend, a youngster
who lived too far away to visit but whom
she saw every day at school. “Barbara
(Josephson) and I were inseperable,”
Maria recalls. “If we had a fight, I’d cry
because Barbara wouldn’t play with me.”
Barbara’s family moved away when they
were both about nine years old.
“I saw her at the school,” Maria said.
“We hadn’t seen each other since we were
nine. I walked over to her and said, ‘Bar-
bara?’ She looked at mc and said,
‘Maria?’ It was wonderful.”
Maria summed up the main reason for
the success of the Rose Vale day. “Of
course it was a successful event,” she said.
Usually the only time an entirc communi-
ty gets together is for a funeral. We don’t
often enough come together to celebrate
and to have fun.”
CANADA'S FIREARMS
AMNESTY
November 1 to 30, 1992
CP^
ikgf "■ lew
Think gun safety. Make it count.
The new firearms control law gives everyone
the chance to turn in unwanted or illegal guns
and register restricted weapons without fear
of prosecution for possession offences during the
amnesty. The amnesty means you can also
dispose of any prohibited weapons, explosives
or ammunition.
Too often, forgotten or neglected guns can lead
to a tragedy.
The amnesty is an ideal opportunity to get rid
of weapons you no longer want.
Taking advantage of the amnesty is easy.
Simply unload the gun and turn it over to your
local police. If there is the slightest risk or if
you have any questions, call your local police.
Make it happen for the safety of you and
your family.
■♦I Department of Justice Ministére de la Justice
\fes
Canada
Canada
Find out more about the
Firearms Acquisition
Certificate, safe storage,
restricted and prohibited
weapons or other parts of
the firearms law that
concern you. Ask your
local police for brochures.
Canad'á