Miss Young

Edith (Young) Vereschagin taught at Mossy Vale School the second year it was open (1944-45), and she returned the next year. Edith was an enthusiastic, accomplished writer and artist; assets which her students must have found both inspiring and motivating. She was my Uncle Jack Morris's teacher. Years after Mossy Vale, Edith told with a smile, of a "situation" that arose during her tenure. My uncle, who had misbehaved somewhat inappropriately, was dismissed early one day by Edith, with a note for my grandmother, explaining the misdemeanor. Jack didn't come back to school the following day but when he returned the next, he relayed that his mom intended to pay a visit to the school that noon to see Miss Young. Apparently, she and all of the students were not to do anything, or go anywhere, until she arrived. My Romanian-born grandmother, a rotund woman with completely broken english, and generally spoken with extra volume to compensate, could appear fairly intimidating, more so to those who crossed her. Edith, feared the worst. Anticipating the wrath of an overly protective parent, her hour of dread finally arrived. But what my grandmother brought to school that lunch hour, was a healthy dose of support and appreciation in the form of enough home-cooked food to feed an army.

Photo courtesy: A. Byers

Mossy Vale Church

The Pas Trail Mission Field was established in 1932. The first minister to serve the area was Stuart East. In the late 1930s the Anglican Church held services. Two weddings were held at St. John's Anglican Church at Mossy Vale (built in 1940): Geordie and Katie Smith, and Eldon and Joyce Adamson. Church was held every summer at the church from 1952 until 1962; a year after most Mossy Valers had gone, and as our little district was being disassembled and flooding was already in progress.

This one minute movie, edited from home movies made by my aunt and uncle, Madeline and Harry Schroeder, about 1960, brings to life the ride down the sandy road to the church. My grandfather, Florea (Frank Sr.) Morris, makes a brief appearance along the side of the road near the site of his old homestead which he was visiting that day. The house that the Morris's built and which was located across the road from the church, is briefly and partially visible through the trees as the camera pans by. In the churchyard some of the congregation (my aunt decked in a stylish hat) visit after the service, as was always the practice.

Movie clips courtesy: M. and H. Schroeder