Grandma Lynda is a common sight at Glenwood Elementary at 208 Street and 24 Avenue, so much so that she was invited to be a noon-hour supervisor.
Her son, now 30, was a student at the small school and now the next generation is also going through Glenwood. All 12 of Lynda Hootwater's grandchildren are current or former students of the tight-knit school.
So when it came time on Friday, March 14, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the original school building, Grandma Lynda wasn't going to miss the party.
Her parents moved her and her two brothers from Vancouver to rural 91原创 on Jan. 1, 1979. She was half way through Grade 9 so didn't go to Glenwood.
"Me and my brother didn't want to move here," she recalled.
Times have changed and they are big community boosters. Hoogwater is a big supporter of the school and helps out lots because she enjoys the kids.
"Everybody knows everybody," she said.
The entire school as well as community members gathered for the unveiling of a plaque to mark the milestone anniversary before students tucked into cake.
The old school building has two classrooms upstairs and space for the PAC. It sits beside the more 'modern' larger building that dates from the 1950s.
The earliest Glenwood School was built in 1891 on one acre at the southwest corner of 16 Avenue and 216 Street.
In 1916 a one-room structure with a basement was built on the corner of 16 Avenue and 208 Street. According the 91原创 Retired Teachers' Association website, nine children attended this school, which was destroyed by fire in June 1920. A new building on that site operated for 25 years. It was eventually sold and converted it into a house.
The two-room school building the current site opened in March 1945, on a site donated by Noel Booth. The area was developing and by 1957, the school had about 200 students.
Friday was a celebration of history at Glenwood Elementary, as the school community gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the school鈥檚 original building with speeches, cake and a plaque. Read more here:
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Barry Kroeker started his teaching career at Glenwood.
"My first year in this beautiful building was 1992," he said. "It was my first class right out of university, and boy, how things have changed here at Glenwood Elementary."
After working at other schools, Kroeker was back at Glenwood, teaching there for almost the past 15 years.
"From the cold mornings in the spring and winter, to the scorching heat of the summer and the fall, it's a unique and special place to have a classroom in," Kroeker said. "When one thinks back to the students, the staff, and the ghosts of the past, the challenges that they faced and the successes they experienced, it's very humbling. I am retiring this year, and I am so blessed to be completing my career in the same building that I began my career. Here's to another 80 years."
