The Mesachie Lake School

 

The school was built near the community hall in 1956 to accommodate kids grades 1-3 and later expanded to also accommodate grades 4-6 because the school at Lake Cowichan was too full. Helen Robertson was a teacher there in the 1950s. Later, Sofie Heycock and Cathe Cocks were the teachers.

 

Lorene (Jack) Milligan remembers practice teaching in the school after the expansion: “I was a member of the Future Teachers Club in grades 11 and 12 and one of the highlights in high school was having some classroom experience at the Mesachie Lake school. Sofie Heycock was the Principal and taught the older grades while Cathe Cocks taught the younger kids. Because my aim was to teach primary grades, I got to do numerous teaching adventures with Cathe. Because it was a small school I experienced more challenges than I might have had in a larger school. There were only 2 classrooms and Sofie and Cathe were experts in this environment. I still remember Cathe giving me a stack of printing books to mark, correct, and then to print in lower case the letters of the alphabet for the next day lesson. Very trivial to many, but that practice put me in good shape later when I went to UBC to study Primary Education. The Prof asked groups of us in a class to go to the board and print the alphabet as we would to teach young children. I have to admit that my printing was awesome compared to the rest. The children at Mesachie Lake received the best attention, help, and encouragement!

Sofie ran a tight ship, but had a heart of gold. Cathe had great charm, an outgoing personality, and a wonderful sense of humour. Between them they made for great staff at the Mesachie Lake school.”

 

Rick Rajala remembers the school: “My main memory of the school is that Mrs. Heycock was a stern, no-nonsense taskmaster who controlled the classroom. It wasn’t until later that I realized what a wonderful teacher and person she was. Later, a second classroom was added, and Cathe Cocks taught then too.”

 

Judy Palliser went to that school too: “I remember one morning we were all working away on our workbooks and all of a sudden Mrs. Horsfall showed up and asked the teacher if everything was OK. Someone had put the flag up, but with the flag upside down. Mrs. Horsfall recognized from her Girl Guide days that an upside down flag indicated that trouble was afoot, and she was just checking. She fixed the flag, and we were all mindful about putting up the flag after that!”

And on another day: “One time my younger sister Jeri decided to walk up to the school. It was a very stormy day with thunder and lightning and she didn’t tell Mom she was going. When Mom found her missing she went looking for her. I remember how frightened Mom was and her kerchief blowing in the wind. Stewart Coates found her near the school just in time as a huge tree crashed across the road by the park, right beside the gazebo!”

 

Cathe Cocks told Julie Roome a story about the school: “One Christmas the guys in the mill made plywood Santas, about 3 feet tall, one for each kid in the school, and the children all painted them as a pre-Christmas project.”

Judy Palliser remembers a school trip to the Chinese cook house at Christmas: “I remember the Chinese cooking Chinese food for us and remember the whiskey bottles in paper bags under the tables. They gave us lichee nuts in boxes and showed us how to eat them.”