by Bill Mutzeneek
The first Lake Isle School was built in 1913. If memory serves me right George MacLeod was the contractor who built the frame building.
The first settlers homesteaded in the area after the turn of the century, coming from many parts of the world. Many walked in from Edmonton after filing on homesteads at the Land Office. Several families emigrated from Latvia, some from Britain, and from the United States. The necessity of a school for their children was very evident.
There were about 30 pupils when the school was opened. School opened in spite of the fact that it was partly unfinished. There was the lack of a ceiling for one thing; this, of course, was added later.
Ernest Jones is remembered as the first secretary of the school board. Mr. Davidson was the first teacher. Various members of the district served as trustees over the years. The school burned down in the late 1920's.
A new school was built then. William Hayes was the contractor, assisted by Elmer Studer and Billy Hayes Jr. School opened again in the new building sometime in the late twenties or early thirties.
Nellie van Deelen was the first teacher in the new school, followed by a number of other teachers through the years, until the consolidation of the schools in the Darwell area. All children began to attend the larger school in Darwell in the fall of 1947.
Some of the names of the families who attended the first Lake Isle School in the early years were - Russell, Jolly, Braithwaite, Williams, Frey, MacLeod, Voge Ball, Mutzeneek, Abel, MacDonald, Ronquist, Studer, Deering, Butowitz. There are some who do not come to mind, or memory, at this point.
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