Forest View School District # 4966

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The Forest View S.D. 4966 was formed 1931 on SW1⁄4 - 13-42-12-W2 with a special grant of $200.00 from the Department of Education. The first trustees and officials were: Mrs. Lizzie Davidson, Mr. William Teidjens, Mr. D. A. Hipkins, Wallace Anderson (Chairman), Herb Anderson (Secretary).

There were 17 ratepayers in the district. Volunteers cut and hauled the logs to Paul Thibault’s sawmill. In the winter of 1931, the logs were sawed into lumber, free of charge, by Paul Thibault. A barrel of gasoline was donated by the Imperial Oil Co. of Tisdale to help saw the logs. Since they had more lumber than needed to build the school, it was traded for doors and windows. The $200.00 grant received was used to buy shingles, nails, school desks, etc. The school was all built by volunteer labour. It opened for classes in September 1932.
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Some reflections by Alan Squire about teaching at Forest View:

I was up bright and early and walked a mile to have a look at the school. It was a new school, only being in operation for a few years. I was the third teacher there. Supplies were few and furniture was almost nil. An old barrel stove heater stood at the back, together with two cloakrooms. The windows were on the west side and there was a lovely looking view. The greatest asset a teacher had in those days was a piece of chalk and a blackboard together with a good writing arm. It wasn’t long before the students started to arrive and I was surprised that most of the students were in the upper grades. Forest View was like any school in the depression years, little of any thing was available and you had to be resourceful ... . I enjoyed my stay at Forest View. They were a good group of students and of course I had gained in experience. In those days teachers were always fair game for anything that went wrong, so they did not remain in a district for too long.
Alan Squire
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Church services, dances, card parties, etc. were held in the school. Dances were held to raise money for the children's Christmas treats and gifts when they held their Christmas Concert.

In later years, the school joined the Hudson Bay School Unit. It remained in the Unit until 1962 when it transferred to the Tisdale School Unit. This was when the Forest View School was closed and the children were taken by bus to the Bjorkdale school. A few years later, the school was sold to Whitford Brothers of Bjorkdale and is now used as a workshop. In tribute to the memory of the school, a stone marker was placed at the gate of the school yard in 1971.
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The Teachers:

Florence Wallington

1932-33

Benson Guest

1933-35

Allan Squire

1935-37

T. Salomn

1937-38

Marion Clifford

1938-39

Eva Douglas

1939-40 

Beatrice Ford

1939-40

Esther Smith

1939-40

Stan Back

1939-40

Muriel Townsend

1940-42

Walter Doyle

1942

Muriel Jenson

1942-44

Olive Lindal

1944-45

Ethel Martin

1945

Jeanette Zazelenchuk

1946-47

Madeline Duschscherer

1947-48

Alma Green

1948-50

Iona Berg

1950-51

Patricia Jones

1951-52

Jessie Poelzer

1952-53

Margaret Ashdown

1953-54

Freda Jensen

1954-56

Julia Kuchmy

1956-57

Mary Kwiatkowski

1957-58

Natalie Zuber

1958-59

Tille Pitzel

1959

Margaret Salmond

1959-60

Robert Allan

1960-62

Margaret Looby

1960-62

Minitta Rankin

1960-62

Mrs. Bodholt

1960-62

Mr. Bagg

1960-62
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Abstracted from: A Season or So ... A history of the people of Bjorkdale and surrounding districts, 1983. Published by Bjorkdale Historical Committee, and from Along the Red Deer - Chelan West, Edited by Stan Black.
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