SCHOOL

 

(see Joe Rich Fire Hall and Recreational Complex, Joe Rich Jottings , My First School, Joe Rich 1951-53 & Joe Rich School )

In 1921, the Joe Rich residents got together and at a series of lively meetings worked out the details of acquiring land, building a school on it and gathering a list of potential students to present to the Superintendent of Schools. The first board of trustees was composed of: James Baillie, William Black, Tom Smith, Martin E. Band, and John Findlay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1923 Mary, the new teacher takes a ride with Cyril

The Joe Rich School house was built in 1922 with the help of many of the local residents. John Findlay, Martin Band and William Black were the main builders. Charlie Clement did the chinking between the logs. Although costs were low by today’s standards significant contributions of labour and cash were needed from the local residents. Although John Findlay was a bachelor, the largest contribution of $206 is from him. Residents were credited with a gift to the school of $.50 for each hour they worked on the school property.

The school was located on the site of the present community hall and was an attractive well built one-room large log building with windows down each of the two long sides. The front door entered into a cloak room divided by a partition from the main school room. In the main room, just in front of the partition was a wood heater which took two foot logs from which a stovepipe led across the room to the chimney at the other end of the building. This long stovepipe improved the efficiency of the heater. There was no plumbing in the school so the toilet was an outhouse. Jim Weddell remembers that the temperature in the outhouse was always frigid and that winter trips to it were very short affairs. He also remembers that his brother Stuart once balanced a bucket of water just above the door while the outhouse was in use. The unfortunate occupant was doused on the way out.

The school provided teaching in Grades I to VIII. Older children had to board in Kelowna for their high schooling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1925 George Baillie, Bob Band, Alice Band, Kathleen Philpott, Edith Philpott, Harry Band, Philip Baillie

Evelyn (Vanidour) Bailey described the school. “On entering, there was a small hall or cloakroom with a row of hooks on the wall, a bench with the water bucket on it (water was obtained from the creek). In the schoolroom, the potbellied stove stood in the center of the room (for maximum heat!) An older boy, in this case, Alan Smith, was in charge of splitting wood and looking after the stove. Winnifred Smith and other girls helped with the cleaning of the school. They were paid a few cents a week for this. As the school was sometimes used for meetings and other community activities, there was a gas lamp provided and a cupboard which held some dishes as well as the meagre school supplies.” ‘Jelly pads’ were used for reproducing work sheets. The yearly allotment of foolscap was two packs. There was a little pump organ in the school for community activities, but occasionally some of the teachers used it.

Although the schoolhouse had windows down both sides, it had only one door. This was eventually thought to be unsafe in the case of fire, but the school was closed before another door was added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1935 Stuart Weddell, Christine Mack, Ron Philpott, Mary Baillie, Jack Baillie, Pat Weddell, Jim Weddell

The first teacher in 1922 was Myra Winifred Lang. The first students are listed in the attendance book, which the Weddells still have, as: Hugh John Baillie (16), James Phillip H. Baillie (9), Alice Margaret Band (13), Harold Lorne Band (5), Robert Martin Band (11), Ellen Roberta Black (8), Douglas Black (5), Audrey Annie Smith (9), Jenny Elizabeth Smith (7), Donald Smith (5), and George Spencer Baillie (13).

In 1923, the teacher was Mary M. Shanks. The school records show that Cyril Weddell was supplying the wood for the school that winter for which he was paid $4. One can probably assume that since he fell in love with and married the teacher that year, he did an excellent job of keeping the school warm. He and Mary Shanks were married in August of the following year. Therefore, during her second year of teaching she was Mrs. Weddell. Later that year, she became pregnant with Pat and so stopped teaching after her second year. While she was the teacher in December of 1923, the Philpotts arrived at the school: Edith Annie Philpott (9) and Kathleen Ellen Philpott (6).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1929 Orval waits for his sister Anne Curts, the teacher

One year, the school was closed several days because of the “flu” and several years later, it was closed for nearly two weeks because of “infantile paralysis”.

Mary Shanks had boarded with the Nicholases while she was teaching before she and Cyril were married. When she stopped teaching, she and Cyril often boarded the teachers in their home. However, Mrs. Band thought that it was unfair that all the teachers were boarding with the Weddells and so boarded the teacher for a year.

Eight students were required to open and maintain a school in this province. Sometimes the number of Joe Rich students was nearly too small. Occasionally, some added students were coaxed into attending the school in the early fall in order to have a sufficient number of student names to keep the school open. To avoid closing the school for this reason both Cyril Weddell and John Findlay made a point of trying to hire farm hands with families to bolster the school enrolment. Jim Weddell thinks that the three Williams children who registered in the school in 1943 probably belonged to Findlay’s hired man. Lollie Sankjohanser was the daughter of a woman who worked for Cyril Weddell, and the six Gillis children’s father was also employed by Weddells. The family lived in the Fazan house during 1939. The three Reid children who were in the school in 1941 also belonged to a farm employee of Weddell’s. Their father also kept bees in the Glenmore area and brought the bees to Joe Rich during the summer.

A man from the valley, usually with a family, was hired to look after the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1931 Teacher, Jean Knight boarding at Weddell's

The schoolhouse also doubled as a community hall. On Sundays, it was sometimes used for church. From 1923 to 1927, the services were conducted by J. Baillie who had studied for the ministry in England. After he left, they were conducted every fifth Sunday by Rev. C.E. Davis from Kelowna. On Friday nights, community dances were usually held in the schoolhouse. Parents brought their children and taught them how to dance. Locals or musicians from town, sometimes Chuck and Sandy Howard, provided the music. Everyone had a wonderful time, so good that the Philpotts, who probably lived the farthest away usually made a point of coming. It was the event of the week.

Nearly all the children walked to school. The Philpott children had a very long trek down Belgo or North Fork Creek through what is now the Lindahl property and onto the Joe Rich Road, now Highway 33. They then crossed over the bridge and up to the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1933 (back) Cathy Mack, Kathleen Philpott, Jennie Smith, Winnie Smith, Harry Band, Don Smith, Alex Band (front) Pat Weddell, Mary Baillie, Christine Mack, Alan Smith, Cecil and Charlie Philpott

Teachers at the Joe Rich School were:

1922-23 Myra Winifred Lang

1923-24 Mary Shanks

1924-25 Mary (Shanks) Weddell

1925-26 Earla H. McDonald

1926-27 Christina Jane Ferguson

1927-28 Agnes Smith

1928-29 Annie E. Curts

1929-30 Annie E. Curts

1930-31 Rosemary Fuller

1931-32 Jean M. Knight

1932-33 Jean M. Knight

1933-34 Evelyn Vanidour

1934-35 Evelyn Vanidour

1935-36 Evelyn Vanidour

1936-37 James A. Mugford

1937-38 Helen E. Humphreys

1938-39 Helen E. Humphreys

1939-40 Mary Ellergot

1940-41 Mary Ellergot

1941-42 Doris Atwood

1942-43 Doris Atwood

1943-44 Elna Cruise

1944-45 Lois M. Dawson

1945-51 ? (In 1947, the school closed for a few years because of a lack of students)

1951-52 James Cornelson

1952-53 James Cornelson

1953-54 Mrs. H.J. Melsted, Ms. MacKenzie

1954-55 Mr. Sam Janzen

1955-56 Mrs. M. Frew

1956-57 Mrs. M. Frew

Other teachers were: Ginter Black, Shelagh Purvis, and Mrs. Varney.

Joe Rich school teachers were often young women fresh out of Normal School. In a backwoods community such as Joe Rich was then, they were very attractive marriageable material and so several were lost to teaching by being married to local young bachelors. The first to be married was Mary Shanks who married Cyril Weddell in 1924. The second was Evelyn Vanidour who married Harold Bailey in the 1930s, and the third was Helen Humphreys who married Bob Band about 1940.

The records show that Mary Ellergot, Doris Atwood, and Elna Cruise taught when their own children were attending the school.

James Cornelson lived in a cabin on the property where the Community Hall now stands. He had heart problems and for about 6 months was often replaced by his wife. She was not a trained teacher, but could substitute.

Mrs. Melsted boarded at the Smiths.

Mr. and Mrs. Frew came from Williams Lake and drove a little English pickup truck. By the time Mrs. Frew was teaching here, Monti Philpott had quit school, but he decided to go down to the school house for the Christmas Concert and ended up helping. He says that Mrs. Frew was a real ‘battle axe’ and bossed him around like one of her little students.

By 1946, the teacher was being paid $136.92 a year by the school district (probably not including board and room). The janitor got $23 a year. Fencing around the school that year cost a whole $16.40.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1934 School house

Gert Weddell has the minutes of a school house community meeting in 1954 in which Mr. Janzen, the teacher brought back news from a meeting of the school board in Kelowna the day before where the fate of the Joe Rich School had been discussed. The 18 residents at the meeting felt it was impractical to close the school and transport the pupils to Black Mountain or Rutland. They decided to embark on the necessary upgrading of the school which included completing the well, replacing the school signs, rebuilding the fence, repainting the interior in a light colour, putting down linoleum and improving the lighting. They elected Doug Black to represent Joe Rich at future District 23 School Board Meetings.

A partial list of the students who attended the Joe Rich School is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1934 Joe Rich School & Playground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1956 Mrs. Frew's class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1968 School house and outhouse

In 1957, the school was finally closed. Bussing had become a more practical way of getting students to school in Black Mountain and Rutland. The road was much improved. For many years the school stood empty except when it was used as a community hall. Finally, it was moved to the adjacent property of Culoses, now belonging to Cliff Pearson, where it still survives as a storage building. In 1979, the present community hall and fire station was officially opened on the previous school site. Mrs. Mary Weddell cut the ribbon.

From 1957 onward, students in Joe Rich Valley went to school on the big orange buses. For many years, the bus was driven by Reno Culos who had moved the old schoolhouse onto his property and was leasing the school property.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2004 Joe Rich School House

 

 

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