Christmas celebrations in 1945 at Antelope Park School

Mrs. Beryl English had recorded memories of teaching at Antelope Park School during the 1945-1946 school year in the history book entitled ‘The School Beneath the Hill’. Sixteen students were enrolled: eight boys and eight girls. The three youngest students were in Grade 2, two students each were in grades 3, 6 and 8. Two grade 9 students and two grade 10 students worked on their Grade 10 correspondence courses.

Christmas, 1945, Antelope Park School. (L-R): Evelyn, Edith and Ethel McKeary, Doreen and Betty Waldron, Eileen Logan. 

Antelope Park School class of 1945-1946: Back row (l-r): Alv Seim, Betty Waldron, Evelyn McKeary, Alvin Cook, Ethel McKeary, Mrs. Beryl English (teacher), Doreen Waldron, Edgar Berry, Edith McKeary, David Cook. Front row (l-r): Mark Robert Berry, Eileen Logan, Lawrence McKeary, Winnie Waldron, Albert Cook.

After an early winter snow storm Beryl found herself stranded on a farm near Loverna. But when she returned to her classroom she discovered two of the oldest students conducting classes without her.

Christmas concerts were a highlight of the school year, and Beryl noted they were worth all the time, worry and effort expended. Six of the oldest girls were industrious and created their own unique Christmas dresses. The pink, blue and yellow gowns were hand sewn and made out of crepe paper.

“That was what I admired about the Antelope Park kids; they could do anything they set their minds to,” Beryl wrote. There was accordion music, singers and Santa handed out gifts and bags of candy and nuts.

After spending a winter vacation in Montreal visiting her husband who was serving with the Royal Canadian Postal Corps, Beryl and their two-year-old son returned to their freezing cold accommodation in Antelope Park.

At the end of the school year, Beryl was given her first tuberculosis x-ray at Loverna. Two weeks later she entered the Saskatoon Sanatorium where she was a patient until February, 1947. That ended her teaching career at Antelope Park School.