10-015: New Teacher in Charlie Lake (1929)

In 1929 a new teacher arrived to teach in Charlie Lake. She came from Vancouver. She came because, she says unashamedly, “The salary was the highest in the province of B.C”. It was $132.00/month. She had had three years experience and needed every hour of it for she had 40 rootin’ tootin’ ranchers’ kids to teach — several in each of eight grades. In those days, a youngster who had passed his eighth grade was ready to earn his living. He could read, write, spell and figure and these were the only necessary requirements of costing a homestead operation, or figuring the interest on a note at the bank.

The new teacher was Jean Bill. She boarded at Soman’s, a stopping place and general store at the Lake. There was never a dull moment controlling the pupil’s high spirits and redirecting their outdoor minds to books and lessons and blackboards.

Jean recalls that Pen Powell and Tud Southwick, two of the biggest boys in her room, occupied one wide desk, seated on a bench. These two, when sent to the creek for a bucket of drinking water were liable to be gone for an hour investigating the flora and fauna on the way, enjoying the scenery, chasing squirrels, checking traps or engaging in any number of pursuits more attractive to them than the school room. But Jean, blonde and petite though she was, was a no-nonsense teacher, and the grounding must have been good, for neither boy suffered in later life.