The following excerpts start with the decision to purchase property and include relevant pages from the PDF format of the book without editing (see links below for the official online version of the book). Vanier School use to be called Thibault school and was part of the Thibault school division.
Due to a lack of space, there was question
of refusing students from the Sturgeon Division. Trustees Ernest
Houle, Leon Riopel, Laura Gibeau, Ephrem Rousseau and Roland
Riopel spent much time pondering this situation and in 1956,
decided to purchase the property offered to them by Mr. Zephirin
Tellier. Also purchased was a lot belonging to the Daughters of Jesus.
An unfortunate event hastened the onset of construction. During
the night of March 14 to 15, 1958, a fire of unknown origin broke
out in the "Red School". It was discovered around one o'clock in
the morning but, despite the firemen's efforts, the devastating flames
could not be contained. The building was completely destroyed.
Alone, like a sentinel, the chimney remained standing. Also
destroyed were the school registers.
While the walls of the new school were being erected, classes
were held in the parish hall offered by Monsignor Loranger, the
parish priest. The school would have eight classrooms, a large
gymnasium, a chemistry laboratory, an industrial arts shop and an
ultra-modern home economics room. The official opening was set
for October 24, 1958. To celebrate this memorable occasion, many
interested and grateful parents insisted on being present. Also, in
attendance were: His Excellency Bishop Philippe Lussier, bishop
of St. Paul, who blessed the school; Superintendent Jonason,
representing the Minister of Education, A. Aalborg, Arthur
Soetaert, the Mayor, Emilien Dupuis, the architect, the Trustees,
the new principal, Sister Marie Agnes-Joseph (A. Trottier) and the
president of the student body, Lee Steffes.
As early as 1964, the School Board had foreseen another
construction for September of 1965, that of a new elementary school
to serve some 245 young pupils from Grades 1 to 8. An underlying
problem was indicated on the agenda of each School Board meeting:
too many students for the space available. Satisfying the demands
of an ever-progressive school system entailed the conversion of
Thibault School into a senior high school which could offer
academic, technical science, commercial and home economics
courses.
The Department of Education saw the problem in another light,
that of budgetary cuts. It became possible to only build one wing
onto the existing school.
In 1966, the people of Morinville celebrated the 75th anniversary
of the parish. They also desired to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary
of their school district's foundation. On March 8, 1967, the official
blessing and inauguration of the new wing took place. The solemnity
of the event stressed the vital importance of the school in this social
group, the parish. On this occasion, the School Board wanted to
recognize and reward a number of persons for their numerous,
faithful and fruitful years of service.
Sister Marie Anysie (Omerille Deschenes) had devoted 34 years
of her religious life to teaching the little ones in Morinville.
Paul-Emile Brochu, secretary-treasurer, since 1946
Ernest Houle, trustee for 17 years
Leon Riopel, trustee for 15 years
Ephrem Rousseau, trustee for 15 years
Amedee Brochu, trustee for 15 years
Roland Riopel, trustee for 10 years
Throughout its seventy-five years of existence, since the day the
first school board was elected in June 1892, the Thibault School
District had developed progressively, thanks to the parents who had
understood their duties and thanks to the loyalty and integrity of
the trustees who had preserved and built the precious heritage left
by the pioneers.
It could honestly be said that teaching at the Thibault school
and at the Notre Dame Convent was done conscientiously, according
to the established programs of the Province of Alberta. At the same
time, the teaching of French and catechism was given priority. Each
year, the graduates would leave their Alma Mater, proudly aware
that they had benefitted from the professional and total dedication
of the Sisters and lay teachers.
At the end of 1966, the last Daughter of Jesus serving as school
principal25 ceded the position to a lay person, Marcel Schayes, a
former student. The direction and administration of Morinville's
schools were now totally in the hands of the laity. Another chapter
was about to be written in the annals of Morinville's history. Other
events were to occur that would completely and irrevocably change
the profile of Notre Dame Convent and Thibault School.
In September of 1967, the School Board hired Mr. Wilfrid
Fitzpatrick to serve as superintendent. He was responsible for
administration and education in the entire district. The school then
had 28 teachers; the convent, only 10 boarders and 14 Sisters.
On Sunday June 18, the residents of Morinville were invited to
the Recreation Centre for a farewell tea in honour of the nine
Daughters of Jesus about to depart from Morinville. They
represented a total of 161 years of community and educational
service in the parish.
Sisters:
Odile Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 years
Marie Anysie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 years
Anna Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 years
Marie Hector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 years
Marie St-Benoit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 years
M.Agnes-Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 years
M.Charles-Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 years
Marie Therese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 years
An inspection of the Convent in 1968 revealed that the heating
system had to be replaced. This would entail considerable expense
and only five Sisters remained. After having given it a great deal
of thought, the Sisters considered the eventual demolition of the
convent. It was then that the School Board decided to purchase the
property and to have classrooms there until such time as a new
school was built. The convent thus became an elementary school,
containing eight classrooms.
That same year, permission was granted by Mrs. Pauline Vanier
to name Thibault school "Georges P. Vanier", after her late husband
and former Governor-General of Canada, Georges Philias Vanier.
Five Sisters26 continued to live in Morinville but left the convent
during the summer of 1970, residing in one of the town's private
homes. They continued to teach in the school until 1972. On
November nineteenth, Morinville bid a final adieu to the Daughters
of Jesus who had lived and toiled among them for seventy years.27
God alone knows all the devotion, and hidden generosities which
generated the unfolding and blossoming of their work. On this
occasion, a Mass of thanksgiving was concelebrated by Bishop
Raymond Roy, Bishop of St Paul, and Father G.H.Primeau, the
parish priest. Bishop Henri Routhier, o.m.i. Archbishop of Grouard-
McLennan and former student of the Daughters of Jesus in Pincher
Creek, offered an appropriate and moving homily. He became the
convent. It was then that the School Board decided to purchase the
property and to have classrooms there until such time as a new
school was built. The convent thus became an elementary school,
containing eight classrooms.
That same year, permission was granted by Mrs. Pauline Vanier
to name Thibault school "Georges P. Vanier", after her late husband
and former Governor-General of Canada, Georges Philias Vanier.
Five Sisters continued to live in Morinville but left the convent
during the summer of 1970, residing in one of the town's private
homes. They continued to teach in the school until 1972. On
November nineteenth, Morinville bid a final adieu to the Daughters
of Jesus who had lived and toiled among them for seventy years.27
God alone knows all the devotion, and hidden generosities which
generated the unfolding and blossoming of their work. On this
occasion, a Mass of thanksgiving was concelebrated by Bishop
Raymond Roy, Bishop of St Paul, and Father G.H.Primeau, the
parish priest. Bishop Henri Routhier, o.m.i. Archbishop of Grouard-
McLennan and former student of the Daughters of Jesus in Pincher
Creek, offered an appropriate and moving homily. He became the
interpreter for all those who had benefitted, in one way or another,
from the education these Sisters had given. Their sustained work
in the field of religious education and the maintaining of those forces
which upheld both of our country's cultures were their principal
merit.
A reception followed at the Recreational Centre. A concert was
given in their honour and speeches were made by representatives
from the town, the parish, the school board and the teaching staff.
Notre Dame Convent's greatest glory is to have permitted the
blossoming of sacerdotal and religious vocations as well as that of
lay apostleship.
Priests who were originally from Morinville and former stu-
dents of the Daughters of Jesus
* Father Ovide Desroches, ordained in 1912. He was born in
Montreal in 1886. In 1898, he came with his parents to settle in
Morinville, always considered to be his adoptive parish. He served
a parish priest in many different parishes of the Archdiocese of
Edmonton. He later became a Trappist Monk at the Priory of
Notre-Dame des Prairies in St. Norbert, Manitoba, in 1935. He
died in 1980.28
* Bishop John Bokenfohr, o.m.i., ordained in 1927. He became
Provincial for the Oblate Province of Regina and later, Bishop
of Kimberley, South Africa. He died in 1982.
* Father Valerien Gaudet, o.m.i., ordained in 1932.
* Father Alcidas Ricard, ordained in 1939. Died in an accident in
1969.
* Father Lucien Robert, ordained in 1951.
* Father Lucien Morissette, ordained to the priesthood in 1955.
* Father Alphonse Roy, ordained in 1961; took his first vows in the
Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1956.
Priests who were boarders at Notre Dame Convent
* Father Roland Berube, ordained in 1933. Died on November 29,
1990.
* Father Emile Briere, ordained in 1940; is now a member of the
Madonna House Apostolate, Combermere, Ontario.
Sisters whose origins were in Morinville and former students of
the Daughters of Jesus
Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus
Marie-Anne Desroches Jeannette Rousseau
Pages from the official version of the book where Vanier is mentioned
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