My PARENTS' WORK - District of Saanich

''At the school where I went, we wore
tunics and white shires. My grandmother,
perhaps, bought those in
England. They'd have a hem and we'd
let them down each year so they
would last a year or two."
BETTY-JEAN 'BJ' (SAUNDERS) FAIR
REMEMBERING TEACHERS ...
"Bob Huddlestone stood out for me.
He did a lot for me. There was
Chandler- she must have lived to be
100 at least. There was a principal I
had who used to walk around with a
stick in his hand and he'd be scratching
his leg- I don't know what that was all
about. If people got out of hand, I'd
seen him strap the whole class."
HERBERT CROFT, 80
"I had some lovely old teachers.
Probably my favourite was my teacher
in Grade 4 at Quadra, Frances
Gardner. She was a darling and she
was quite an elderly teacher at th e
time. Then in Grade 6, I had Miss
Harley. She was actually married to
Norman Forbes, who was the viceprincipal
of Mount Doug. She was a
very strict teacher, but she was very
fair. She told us that if we did the
homework we were given on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
she wouldn't give us any on the
weekend because she didn't want us
sitting up on Sunday night doing
homework. She said our weekends
should be free but if we didn't obey
her, she would load us down with
homework on the weekend."
JAMES 'JIM ' S HOGG, 83
"I remember my Grade 1 teacher
Mrs. Sims. She was a lovely lady. I
remember our principal, Mr. O'Neil.
We went as far as Grade 8 at Tillicum
School. There was one teacher in
particular in Grade 6. She had given
us an arithmetic examination, and she
threatened us that if we didn't get 100
percent, she would give us a strapping
for every mistake we made.
Fortunately, I happened to be one of
the three who got 100 percent. I was
lucky, but some of the youngsters gOt
as many as 13 strappings-13
mistakes-so needless to say, parents
were up in arms and visited the
school. Saanich School Board heard
about it. School trustees arrived and
she was transferred to another school.
She was an excellent teacher, but
quite a disciplinarian."
M URIEL 'ASHY ' MARY (ASH) LOCKHART
"I remember Miss Fee because she
was very kind to me, and Miss
Scholefield at Royal Oak School
because she was so upset one day
when she had to tell me I failed.
I just thought she was wonderful
after that."
MARY VOWLES, 61
"Gus Woodward stands our in my
mind because we called him 'Gus.'
Anyway, he was quite the guy- kind
of strict, though. If any of the boys
did anything out of hand, he got the
strap and he'd strap their hands."
ESTHER MAY M ORTIMER, 61
"There were the two Dunnett girls
and there was a Mr. Evercomb. Billy
McMichael was the principal at
Cedar Hill. He was the one principal
we really liked, although I had a ru nin
with him. He used to hand out
chewing gum to the kids when we
were in Math; that's why we liked
him. Then there was Miss Chandler
who lived to over 100. We used to
call her Old Dame Chandler, but
when I look back at it, she had a
great influence on our iife and she
was a wonderful teacher."
ERIC 'STOFE' STOFER, 85
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