At a historic one-room schoolhouse 3.5 miles southwest of Codette, Shirley Krone sat at the teacher’s desk, just as she would have as a 21-year-old teacher.
Inkster School was one of many one-room schoolhouses on the south side of the Saskatchewan River between the Wapiti Valley Ski Hill and Codette. All of those schools held a reunion at the Codette Community Centre from July 28 to 30.
The first Wapiti Valley Country Reunion was held in 2005 – Saskatchewan’s 100th birthday. It brought the former schoolchildren of Little Bridge, Newfield, Elkhorn, Murphy Creek and Teddington Schools together.
“Then people came and said, ‘why isn’t my school in there?’ so we broadened it up and included the surrounding schools up to Gronlid,” said Sharlene Penner, one of the organizers.
The goal was to hold reunions every five years. Reunions were also held in 2010 and 2013, with the area expanding each time to include more schools and communities in the RMs of Willow Creek and Nipawin. Now, for the fourth reunion, Codette was added. The village hasn’t held its own homecoming since 1979.
Penner said that to get people to the first reunion, Joan Atkings, another organizer, did a lot of digging to obtain the names of people that went to the schools.
“Originally we sent out letters, we sent out emails, word-of-mouth,” Atkings said. “We used every possible way of getting the information to the people. Now a lot of it is just word-of-mouth, Facebook. We are always continuing to try to find new people to bring here and every year we get new people.”
The organizers said they expected 200 to come to the reunion over the weekend, with many coming from outside the region.
Penner said she’s happy to see all of the people come.
“It’s encouraging. It’s fulfilling to see people get together. You have not just schools getting together, it’s families, friends, neighbours.”
Atkings said she’s always excited to see all of the visitors
“I have memories of people when I was young. It’s nice to see what they’ve been doing or where they’ve come from now, where they’ve been. Their stories are always different.”
When people are telling their stories, either during an open mike session or with each other, Atkings said, it tweaks those memories she had long forgotten. To her, that’s one of the best parts of the reunion.
While at the Inkster School, which was included in the reunion as a optional tour, Krone, who taught there in the 1956-57 school year, said she remembered she was outside with the students one day and had asked one of the students – she was teaching them how to tell time then – to look at the clock and see if it was 3:30 p.m. yet. The student said it wasn’t. As the sun moved, Krone got more suspicious, so a half-hour later, she decided to check the clock herself.
It had stopped.
The reunion also included a celebration of Codette’s Knox United Church’s 90th birthday, a celebration at the Codette Senior Centre – formerly the Codette School, a live auction and group photos of the students of the schools that attended.
Timeline
1906: Settlers come to Gronlid, Garden River and Edenbridge areas
1907: First Lost River post office opens
1909: First Newfield School built
1910: Nipawin’s first town site, six kilometres south of the current one, was developed
1911: Second Newfield School built
1912: Spooner/Beaver Creek Lutheran Church in Ratner built
1914: Inkster School built
1917: Elkhorn School and post office built
1918: Teddington School built
1920 Murphy Creek School built
1922: Little Bridge School built for $4,600 ($66,000 in 2017 dollars)
1924: CPR announces plan to build railway at Nipawin’s present location. The community is moved six kilometres north. A larger Newfield School is built.
1927: Larger Newfield School burns down
1929: CPR Bridge built at Nipawin, ending the need for a ferry service.
1931: Codette’s first rink built
1932: Inkster School adds teacherage
1934: Founding of what would become Nipawin Bible College
1935: Another Newfield School opens
1936: A basement is added to Newfield School, allowing for a second classroom
1937: Nipawin becomes a town
1963: Tobin Lake created after the Saskatchewan River is dammed
1964: Teddington School closes; students go to Gronlid
1966: Murphy Creek School closes; students go to Gronlid
1967: Newfield School closes; students go to Codette
1969: Nipawin’s L.P. Miller Comprehensive built. Pontrilas School closed
1979: Gronlid ferry replaced by bridge
1982: Wapiti Valley Ski Hill founded
1986: Codette Lake created after the Saskatchewan River is dammed
2010: Newfield School moved to Nipawin Museum
