LA PAROISSE DE DONNELLY (15) (184 ENGLISH -- 183 fran)

LA PAROISSE DE DONNELLY (15) (184 ENGLISH)

YEAR 1917

THE FIRST SCHOOL OF THE REGION

The first school of the region (1917-1918) was held above the Immigration Hall.  This area served as a dormitory at night and a school during the day.  Mrs. Gravel was the manager, the cook, the nurse, etc., etc.

If we had been coddled and spoilt because we were boarders at the Convent in Morinville between 1914 and 1917, in an institution rather modern for the times where there was a separate school with a good reputation, under the Sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus, all this would soon change and we were far from imagining the contrast that we were to live.

After having persuaded the Government of that era that there was an urgent need for a school board, the first school was opened in September 1917.  It was held in  the second storey of the Immigration Hall. Besides being a dormitory during the night, it also served as a medical clinic for the doctor at night.  Besides the regular boarders, imagine the heavy load of work Mrs. Gravel carried. During the day, there were about 60 lively, more-or-less disciplined young students who ran up and down the stairs….

In the Maisonneuve family, there were five of us who went to school; we had to walk or drive 4 ½ miles by dog sled morning and night. During the very cold days of winter, my parents left the two youngest and Lucille in town at Mrs. Gravel’s, at Mr.  Gamache’s and at Mr. Caron’s. Louis-Philippe and I had to bring the mail, the necessary provisions there; during these days we used only one dog’s harness for two dogs; these were much faster and less cumbersome. The dogs were very useful, but we had to help milk the cows morning and evening, and help in other ways.

It was very difficult to keep a teacher.  In the spring, Mr. Gravel who was one of the trustees of the new school district found himself at times substituting for the absent teacher.  Since he had other duties, as soon as the seeding started, the students were on vacation!

ref: Honoré Maisonneuve