Classroom memories at Turvin School

By Joan Janzen

If you take a short drive in the country, heading southeast from Kindersley, you’ll spot an old one-room school which remains standing at its original location. A sign designates it as Turvin School District No. 3032, S.W. 1/4 32-29-22 W3rd, 1913 - 1949.

Numerous people from Kindersley attended the school, one of whom was June Nargang. Now 85 years of age, June vividly recalls the two years she spent there, from 1948 to 1950. She said the school’s original sign can be found inside the Merrington School at the Kindersley Museum.

Turvin School was the first school in that area and was built on land owned by the Smith family. June and her family moved from Rosetown to the Turvin area in April 1948, where her dad, Maurice Cook, had purchased a farm.

At that time, Bill and Nina Moffatt taught at the school. June remembers the couple rotating teaching duties, with Bill being the disciplinarian. He was later principal at Westberry School until he retired. “There was a teacherage at the school, and Nina stayed there sometimes,” June remembered.

A few local individuals took turns taking care of janitorial duties. “We used to take our potatoes, carve our initials in it and put them on the fire in the stove, and by noon, we had a nice hot, roasted potato for lunch,” June recalled.

A piano in the school provided musical entertainment for weekly sing-alongs. Eventually, classroom sounds were silenced at Turvin School when rural schools were closed. At that time, June and her classmates were transported to school in Kindersley.

“Because there were so few children in our district, the teachers picked us up and took us to school,” she remembered. However, the school building also served as a gathering place for community events.

“It was a well-used building. There were all kinds of parties, anniversaries, picnics, and wedding dances there,” June said. A live orchestra provided musical entertainment for wedding dances. “My mother often played piano. Piano players switched off cause piano players get tired, but the fiddlers didn’t,” she explained. In 1949, Audrey and Walt Becker were two of the many local newlywed couples who had their wedding dance at Turvin School.

However, after the school closed, the building began to deteriorate. June’s dad purchased the land from the Smith family in 1953, and the school building and teacherage served as grain bins.

There was a barn at the school, which June’s dad moved to their farm and made into a garage and workshop. Eventually, those buildings were destroyed in a fire; however, Turvin School remains standing as a reminder of bygone days when one-room rural schools dotted the prairie landscape.