We’re not sure of the year, but we think it was 1952/53 that this photo was taken by Wilfred Gibson back in the days when there was only one elementary school in Sooke. This view is right where one sees Sooke Elementary today.
While Sooke’s first school was built in 1872 on Muir land close to today’s Caldwell Road, it remained there only until 1891. At that time, land was made available by pioneer William Bell Charters, and a contract was let for Alexander Whyte to construct a wood-frame building on the current site, very close to the post-Second World War structure in this photo.
When this image was taken, school buses brought kids in from Otter Point, Shirley, Elders Camp and East Sooke, and there was still no school in Saseenos. We’re not sure of the name of the first teacher at left, but next is the personality who came to Sooke as Miss Annie Johnson from Prince George in 1924, straight from Provincial Normal School. She soon caught the eye of Bert, one of the seven Acreman brothers, sons of Benjamin and Rebecca Acreman, who’d come from Newfoundland. As Mrs. Annie Acreman, she became the best-known teacher Sooke has ever had, and her career went on to teach four generations of Sooke youngsters.
Annie’s husband Bert drove a logging truck and built a house for his bride at the northeast corner of Dover Street and Sooke Road, which still stands. The couple raised one son, John (we called him Jake), whose affinity was farming; for a time, he ran a farm where the terrain is dense with houses today, right about where Acreman Place meets Church Road.
Mrs. Margart Price stands next, and though she taught for a dozen years, we’re not familiar with her later history. Ernie Pollard, principal, is on the right. Records show him teaching at Sooke from 1947 to 1958. He was succeeded as principal by Laurie Simpson, seated centre, who remained at Sooke, a dedicated community worker, until retiring to Victoria.
Seated at right is a teacher we believe is Miss Alice Weicker. At left is another teacher who became a well-known personality, who taught at Sooke from 1949 throughout her career. Married to Joe Westad, a logger, she built a lovely home in Saseenos, and is perhaps best remembered by many former students who took Grade 1 with her, as being very strict.
Elida Peers is the historian with Sooke Region Museum.
