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... IN OUR EDUCATION<br />
77<br />
CORNELIUS W. WIEBE<br />
(May and June, 1921)<br />
by David Penner<br />
GEORGE G. SIEMENS<br />
(1934-1944)<br />
by Lloyd Siemens<br />
Cornelius W. and Helen Wiebe married on June 25, 1916.<br />
Dr. Cornelius W. Wiebe who passed away in July <strong>of</strong><br />
1999 at the age <strong>of</strong> 106, and was a long time doctor in<br />
Winkler, was my substitute teacher in the spring months<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1921. He earned his way through medical school this<br />
way.<br />
One day he took us kids into the basement <strong>of</strong> the<br />
school and let us look at his microscope. He dissected a<br />
fly and put the parts under the microscope and showed<br />
us how big the legs and feet looked. To me, a kid <strong>of</strong> eight,<br />
the feet looked like huge suction cups. Then he said,<br />
“Just look at that! First they go outside and crawl around<br />
on the cow dung pile, and then they come in the house<br />
and crawl on the butter!” Well, that day when we got home<br />
from school, my mother had just finished churning butter,<br />
but somehow my appetite for fresh butter had disappeared.<br />
Mr. George G. Siemens.<br />
My father, George G. Siemens, was the principal <strong>of</strong><br />
the Kane Consolidated School from 1934-1944. In addition<br />
to his administrative duties in the three-room school,<br />
he also taught grades 9-11 and served as school janitor,<br />
heating “engineer”, snow remover and occasional<br />
groundskeeper. In these last four duties he was assisted<br />
substantially (in the later years) by me and by my older<br />
brother Reynold, whom he paid the princely sum <strong>of</strong> 25<br />
cents each per month for sweeping three classrooms daily,<br />
cleaning out the trash and performing other odd jobs. In<br />
the evening hours and during many summer months he<br />
studied towards his BA degree, both through correspondence<br />
courses (imagine doing advanced calculus by correspondence!)<br />
and at summer schools. He was also frequently<br />
invited to serve as an <strong>of</strong>ficial “marker” <strong>of</strong> final examinations<br />
for the Department <strong>of</strong> Education.<br />
My mother, Tina, raised her two sons and performed<br />
various social duties such as organizing sewing circles and<br />
hosting Red Cross fundraising activities in the teacherage.<br />
Together with my father, she played the guitar and the<br />
two <strong>of</strong> them frequently performed duets at teachers’ socials<br />
in the Kane - Roland - Lowe Farm areas. My mother