WELLINGTON COUNTY — On Sept. 17, Dianne Stevenson brought together her former classmates from Creekbank School U.S.S. #17.
This school was a single-room schoolhouse built in 1882, and it covered Peel, Pilkington and Woolwich Townships.
Stevenson (nee Spies) moved to British Columbia 52 years ago, but has kept touch with her classmate Linda Arndt.
“I went through Grade 1 to Grade 8 with [Linda] at Creekbank and after it closed one year in Drayton. But we always exchanged a handwritten Christmas card,” she said.
Stevenson noted the school burned down in 1955, so students were relocated to a new school that September until it closed in 1965. The school is now a house.
“[Arndt] knew that I had been working on a wall hanging that I’ve had in the process for probably about 15 to 20 years,” she explained.
“Every time I would come home, I would bring some sheets of fabric that I would ask people that I ran into, to put their signature on.”
Unfortunately, many of the people whose signatures are on the wall hanging are no longer here. However, that did not stop Stevenson from creating the quilted wall hanging on Creekbank school.
“I had done it to look like a blackboard and incorporated pictures that are printed on fabric. And that record book that sits in front of it, it actually has the names of the people that I was able to get over the years.”
In June, Stevenson told Arndt she would be bringing the quilt for her visit in September.
“I off-chance said ‘wouldn’t it be fun to have people get together?’ And it just snowballed,” said Stevenson.
After many email exchanges and advertising in local newspapers, the reunion brought together 54 people, including 29 former Creekbank students and a teacher who taught Stevenson in Grades 1 and 2.
“It was awesome,” she said.
Visit museum
For more information on the history of U.S.S. #17, visit the Wellington County Museum and Archives website at wcma.pastperfectonline.com.
