Anyone born in rural Saskatchewan before 1950 most likely took their education in a one room schoolhouse. My parents and their siblings fell into this category and attended one room schools in the Wallwort and Everton School Districts.
The grade levels were small in number and the teachers had to provide education to a diverse group of students, both in age levels and in learning abilities. Can you imagine being the teacher in these situations? How could they keep all the students engaged as they tried to cover the lessons? In addition, students missed many school days because they were needed to work at home or the winter weather prevented them from getting to school. My father spoke of times when the weather was really cold and their family didn’t have enough warm clothes for all the children to go to school on the same day.
One rural school teacher was Eugene Anderson and he taught for 14 years at Everton from about 1940 to 1954. My mother and her siblings attended his classes and spoke very highly of the education they received and loved his focus on athletics. There was considerable competition between school districts and the annual field days brought out the best in the student athletes. I recall my mother telling me the pride they had in “besting” the other schools and the credit was given to Mr. Anderson for preparing them for the events.
For many young people of the era, formal school ended at grade 8 as they needed to go to work at home or in the area to provide support for their family. This was the case for my parents and I know my mother wished she could have continued to learn from Mr. Anderson. Her younger siblings were fortunate to have him teach them for the majority of their school years.
I never knew Eugene Anderson. His name was revived for me a couple of weeks ago when his daughter, Gail, contacted me about a painting she had of my grandparents'(my father’s parents) log house in rural Saskatchewan near Wallwort. There have been a few published photos of this house and I have seen numerous paintings by another artist from the area. The memory of this log house is very strong for our family and I remember visiting it a couple of times as a small child in the 1960s. The stone chimney is amazing and all built by my grandparents.
It was very thoughtful of Gail to track me down via my Aunt Lorraine. These paintings are easily lost over time as many people do not have a connection to the subject. Gail thought of our family and shared the gift of this painting with us. Mr. Anderson painted the house from a photo published in a newspaper and the detail is wonderful. I expect it was special for him as well because he knew my parents and my grandparents. Truly a gifted man and splendid individual.
As with many farmhouses in Saskatchewan they fell into disrepair as people traded rural life for urban living. The houses either grew tired and fell down or became the victims of vandals and were destroyed. My grandparents log house suffered from the latter and it has been gone for many years.
Thankfully the memory will live on because of the talented art of a teacher and the thoughtfulness of his daughter.
My second cup is now empty…………………………….
