Pages 51 – 100 - RM of Morris

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