A Canada flag recovered from the rubble of W.R. Frose School in Fawcett was presented to the school’s namesake and former principal, who will hang it somewhere in the hamlet as a reminder of the changing nature of the farming community.
The flag was presented to Werner Frose Dec. 14 by Pembina Hills Public Schools trustees during their final board meeting of 2016 at Westlock Elementary School.
Demolition of the former Fawcett school began Nov. 8 and was carried out by Canadian Demolition of Sherwood Park. A lone trackhoe operator, David Rose, began knocking down the building starting at the north end.
Unbeknownst to everyone, there was a Maple Leaf left in the gymnasium,” Supt. Colleen Symyrozum-Watt told the trustees.
The flag was placed on the far east wall of the gymnasium about 22 feet off the ground, Frose indicated.
It was impossible for someone to simply set up a ladder amidst the rubble and recover the flag, so they called on Rose to recover the artifact
“This young man, with this massive trackhoe and a big bucket, managed to retrieve this flag,” said Symyrozum-Watt.
A photo of Werner holding the flag was then published in the Nov. 15 edition of the Town & Country.
Werner, who worked at the school from 1955 until his retirement in 1990, said that Rose gets free coffee every day at 7 a.m. as a thank you for recovering the flag.
He said the flag will be hung at a location agreed upon by the various community groups in Fawcett later in 2017.
“It will remind us of the transition that occurred from the (family farm of the 1950s) to today’s corporate farms, with the resulting reduction in student population,” he added.
W.R. Frose School and the neighbouring Jarvie School were shuttered at the end of the 2013-2014 school year and their students were moved to the former elementary school at Dapp, which was re-branded as Pembina North Community School.
The demolition of W.R. Frose School was tendered out earlier this year at a cost of $189,231. The province agreed to provide up to $250,000 for the project.
Werner thanked the board for the careful and transparent transition from three schools north of Westlock to the single K-9 school at Dapp.
