Pages 51 – 100 - RM of Morris

100
KANE - THE SPIRIT LIVES ON
THE MEETING PLACE
(Kane School)
by Dora Hildebrand
There has always been a strong need for spiritual fellowship
among the prairie settlers, and the homesteaders
around the Kane area were no exception. When the schools
appeared, they became the community centres and were
used for all social and spiritual events and no one questioned
the matter.
The Schnebly family came to Kane in 1916, and farmed
here until 1926 when they returned to Normal, Illinois.
Dr. William Cutlip, in his book Precious Memories, quotes
Ruth Schnebly as saying, “The only time I remember going
to a service was when my Dad tried to start a Sunday
School class at Kane, but it didn’t work out as I recall.”
Marge (Walsh) Olson, whose father was the N. M.
Paterson grain buyer from 1924-1930, writes, “My Mom
did have a little Sunday School, and for a time she had
Bible classes in the school for an hour every Friday.”
Some of the early gatherings gleaned from oral tradition
were back in 1930-1932 when Margaret Toews (sister
to John J. Toews) taught Room II in the Kane School.
Margaret, an accomplished pianist, with her brothers David
and William on the violins, provided many sacred concerts
in the school on Sunday nights. Margaret was also
instrumental in staging the literary programs of a secular
nature on weeknights.
Rev. R. A. Peden, who served in the Myrtle/Roland
United Church in the thirties, conducted periodic services
in the Kane School. Several Mennonites attended occasionally,
including Henry J. Gerbrandt, employed at the
James B. Davidson’s, and Margaret Heinrichs, employed
at the George Miller’s in 1939. Rev. Peden was too far
removed, culturally and doctrinally, to affect the
Mennonites much.
The first baptisms ever recorded in Kane were in the
school in the mid to late thirties. Gladys Fredricksen, and
her much younger brother Donald, were baptized around
1935-36. Marion Bruce, granddaughter to James B.
Davidson, was baptized in 1937. Alex White says of his
family, “I believe we were all baptized in the Kane School
by Rev. Peden of the United Church!”
Evelyn (Jack) Schellenberg, Kane School teacher from
Alex White was baptized in the Kane School by United Church minister Russell A. Peden in 1937.