I am sure I have mentioned before that I went to the one-room school at the corner of the 10th Sideroad and the 5th Concession of West Gwillimbury.
The one-room school meant just that — a large room with a cloakroom on either side, one for boys and one for girls. Here, they put their coats, etc., on hooks until it was time for recess or lunch break. At this school (SS#6), there was a toilet in each cloakroom. It was like having an outhouse inside.
This was usually the layout of schools in our district. Because there were many children who walked to school, there were many schools in a small area. Yes, we all walked to school ‘uphill both ways,’ as we would joke years later. In the winter, our parents would remind us if we were walking on the snow banks not to touch the hydro lines.
My sister and I went to SS#4 until 1959. The last half of 1959, we followed my mother to SS#3 as they needed a teacher to finish the year. It was impossible to have Mom at SS#3, my sister at SS#6 and me at SS#4. The County of Simcoe was in a bind, so it consented to us all going to #3.
The last teacher at SS#4 was Paul Kirkup. He was a young man who felt he could not handle such a big number of children, so he somehow got permission from the school board to send grades 7 and 8 about three kilometres north to SS#6 or, as it was commonly called, the Middleton School. It was a long walk for a lot of the Holland Marsh students, including the Hrynyks, Stampers, Tezukas and Scotches.
By this time, Ethyle Breedon had been teaching at SS#6 for 23 years.
She took this influx of students all in stride and, I would think, with a little chuckle when the newbie young man could not handle eight grades.
Ethyle arrived at SS#6 in 1936. Prior to this she had taught in Port Maitland (Haldimand County), Cedar Grove School (south of Alliston) and Pennville School (6th Line, Tecumseth, east of Highway 27).
The old cement school building had a coal- and wood-burning furnace in the basement. The furnace was based on gravity heat coming up through a large grate in the floor. The Campbell crew was responsible for getting the school heated in the winter. They lived just north of the school and had lots of children to do the job.
Water was brought to the school each day from the Campbell home in a bucket with a dipper.
There was no hydro, but there were good windows to the north and south.
Now you have the idea of the one-room schoolhouses through the years.
Ethyle Mae Breedon was born on Sept. 5, 1891, to Robert Breedon (April 23, 1864-March 4, 1946) and Margaret ‘Elizabeth’ Bridgman (March 3, 1865-June 20, 1948). Ethyle was the second of five children: Mary Jane Breedon (Jan. 31, 1890-March 8, 1982), who married Frank Williamson; Hannah Elizabeth ‘Lea’ Breedon (July 13, 1893-June 30, 1984); Henry Nettleton Breedon (July 14, 1896-April 1966), who married Ethyle Stonehouse; and Clarence Nathanael ‘Nat’ Breedon (Jan. 5, 1902-Feb. 15, 1977), who married Mary Janet Sutherland.
After moving from Albion Township, Peel County, the family moved to Simcoe County and settled in Tecumseth Township in 1901. The family lived on the John Aussman farm at Penville for five years as well as the Cross farm near Beeton and attended the Penville and Cross schools. In 1916, Robert and Elizabeth purchased the family farm at Lot 23, Concession 4, Tecumseth Township, where the family settled. Ethyle and Lea remained on the family farm, and although they sold the farm to their nephew, Joe, and his wife, Marilyn, in 1976, their living area of the farmhouse remained their home for the remainder of their years.
Ethyle attended Normal School in Hamilton. While in Hamilton, she stayed with a family, although her father, Robert, would drive her to and pick her up from Hamilton in their horse and carriage each week. As teachers were scarce, Ethyle went out to teach before finishing school.
Ethyle was a well-respected teacher, and when she retired in the early 1960s, she had been teaching for 40 years, 34 of which were in Simcoe County. (When the one-room schoolhouses closed, she taught in the newly built Sir William Osler Public School on Highway 88 before retiring and had mixed emotions moving from a one-room schoolhouse to a big school, but she loved it.)
Her teaching career was her life, and she did it well. Her students and their families were special to her and she spoke fondly of her years teaching. Ralph Williams remembers each morning started with Bible reading, the Lord’s Prayer, singing God Save the King, and exercises. The end of the day was finished with a short prayer: “May the Lord watch between thee and me while we are absent one from the other.” He remembers there was a piano for music classes with Paul McKelvey, and Christmas concert practices.
During the winter, if she was unable to travel home due to weather conditions, Ethyle was welcomed to stay over with the Williams, Langford and other neighbouring families.
Each year, the schools in the district would go to the Beeton Fall Fair, so there was marching practice up and down the road. I remember the excitement growing as the fair grew closer to a day away from school. There were games, exhibits, popcorn, candy apples and marching. Each school district hoped it would come home with a ribbon for being the best.
After retirement, Ethyle and Lea enjoyed travelling, visiting family and friends, and would be seen at a lot of functions in the area. Many a former student would be happy to greet her. Ethyle had chosen the career of teaching, while Lea made the decision to stay at home on the family farm, farming with Nat and family.
On Ethyle’s 90th birthday, there was a reception for her at Dunkerron United Church. Many former students came to wish her well. One friend who came to see her was Bertha Langford (the next day, Bertha celebrated her 91st birthday), Reeve Alan Glassford and his wife, Doris (who was also a student of Ethyle’s), and many others.
Ethyle died on March 27, 1982, in her 91st year. Her service was held at Dunkerron United Church and she is buried at the Bond Head United Church cemetery with family.
Both Brenda and her mother, Marilyn Breedon, have had great fun looking up pictures and dates that enabled me to write this column.
