Local homecoming
By Melissa Piche Times Contributor
Former students of Samuel Crowther School will gather to celebrate the schools 70 + 1 anniversary homecoming on June 9-10.
Rhonda Christie Stockwell and Daniel Hendricks are members of the Samuel Crowther School Homecoming committee (SCSH), whose members have been steadily working on this project since before the pandemic.
“I got involved with the SCSH Committee in July of 2022,” said Hendricks. “That spring I had spent time on a planning committee for the Samuel Crowther School ‘Class of 1972’ 50th year reunion, which we held in July.”
Stockwell eagerly encouraged him to join the committee and welcomed his help with the SCSH. There are 10 committee members who have all done an enormous amount of work for the homecoming – it has been a complete group effort.
May 6, 1952, marks the ribbon cutting ceremony of the original Samuel Crowther School’s official opening; back then it was Strathmore’s only school with all classes of Grades 1-12 under one roof. It remained the only school in Strathmore until 1970 when Westmount Elementary opened for students of Grades 1-6.
Stockwell is the president of the Western District Historical Society and she thought it would be a project that her society would like to take on. She said it didn’t take much convincing of her fellow committee members to take the homecoming on as a project.
“The homecoming is in conjunction to the Samuel Crowther School turning 70 years old, which would have been last year in 2022,” Stockwell said. “But with Covid we held off a year, hence that’s why we are having it this year.”
“Celebrating the Anniversary of the 1952 opening of Samuel Crowther School will be a walk down memory lane,” said Hendricks.
The current response for the homecoming is very encouraging and the people who have reached out are extremely excited about the event.
The persons attending this event will range in ages and class years, with even some who graduated from the early years after 1952. The committee also anticipate some families with up to possibly three generations of persons being educated in the original school.
Organizing reunion events is not new to either Hendricks or Stockwell. In 2012, Hendricks also helped organize the 40th anniversary of the Class of 1972.
Stockwell has also had experience in organizing class reunions. She was part of the 1993 Homecoming Planning Committee. Since the 1993 event, Stockwell makes note that the internet and social media have been very helpful in planning such events and makes getting the word out much easier.
“With previous events people had to be mailed invites and then they had to mail them back,” said Stockwell.
Three teachers’ names were honoured at Samuel Crowther School. Mr. Samuel Crowther was hired as a teacher in 1924 and appointed principal in 1926 for the then Strathmore School, which consisted of 11 rooms in seven different buildings.
Crowther was instrumental in the building of the new school and became the namesake, but unfortunately he was never principal, as he passed away in 1951. In 1956, the MacKenzie Wing and gymnasium were added.
The new wing was named after W. Ian MacKenzie who began teaching in Strathmore in 1928. He was principal from 1951 until his retirement in 1970.
The Gordon Wing was added in 1959 and named in honour of Margaret Gordon who is remembered as the “Grade 1 teacher.” She was a teacher in Strathmore from 1928 until 1964 when she retired.
Although the original building for Samuel Crowther School is no longer used as a public school, it is commendable that it is still used for education. Sacred Heart Academy opened in 2001 with students from kindergarten to Grade 7. In 2004, Holy Cross Collegiate opened its doors for students in Grades 7-12.
The SCSH event is open to anyone who attended Samuel Crowther School and not just limited to graduates, so if you fall into this category and would like to attend, make sure to get your registration in. It is emphasized that registration is required for the Friday evening ‘Ice Breaker’ and the Saturday evening dinner, as numbers need to be finalized for catering purposes.
If you were a student and would like more information and to register for the event, please join the Facebook page Samuel Crowther School Homecoming – June 9/10, 2023. Registration forms can be found on the website (www.scshomecoming.ca). Registration forms can also be found and dropped off with Dave Stephenson at Strathmore Home Hardware. All attendees need to be registered by May 15.
There will be an array of events all over the community during the weekend as parts of the homecoming. From car shows to skits performed throughout town by the Strathmore Theatre Players Guild, plus a market and open house at Klaiber’s Barn reviewing ‘Legacy Farm.’ The community is invited to participate in these family-friendly events.