Rolling Hills MemoriesUpper video is original with background music - 6:37
Lower video is digitally enhanced for clarity and slowed to .600x, Sound disabled - 11:03 George Lowe came to Rolling Hills as a teacher in 1961, and stayed until 1965, when the decision was made to begin phasing out the high school program. In that short time he earned the respect of his peers, students, and the community. George is well remembered for his "outdoor education" classes, teaching the fine art of hand mixing concrete, building sidewalk forms, and the occasional landscaping session. He was a dedicated supporter of school sports, and spent much of his free time transporting teams and student groups to events, organizing hockey, making ice on the outdoor rink, and once in a while, hauling an injured kid to the hospital. He also owned an 8mm movie camera, and recorded some of those activities. Almost 60 years later, those images have become priceless bits of our heritage. George married a local girl, Marilyn Kristianson, and after leaving Rolling Hills for teaching positions in his native Saskatchewan, they eventually migrated back to his home town of Kyle, farming, teaching, and raising their family. They have maintained close ties with Rolling Hills, and George recalls the four years spent here as the best of his teaching career. Rolling Hills was fortunate to have had someone of such outstanding character as a role model for it's future citizens. Some of the movies he collected have been converted to digital format and assembled in a short movie clip. George and Marilyn would like to share these, and hope you enjoy the journey back. George Lowe passed away on August 5, 2018 at the age of 79 |
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Arena Construction - September 1990
In the late spring and early summer of 1990, after years of planning, fundraising, delay and no small amount of controversy, the Rolling Hills Ag Society was able to break ground on the largest and most expensive construction project the community had ever undertaken. They were going to build a multi-purpose ice arena. In typical Rolling Hills fashion, this group of determined and dedicated individuals used volunteer labor to maximum advantage at every stage of construction. The resulting structure is an enduring testament to the value of perseverance, ingenuity and plain old stubbornness. The Arena today is a much sought after venue by urban based recreational level hockey and ringette teams that often find it impossible to compete for ice time in the larger centers. The Sidelines Cafe, located in the lobby, serves as the Arena Concession and the community's only operating restaurant and coffee shop during the winter months. Click or tap for more info: Rolling Hills Arena There is also an excellent story by Connie Hemsing in our last history book, "Rolling Hills Remembers". Note: All 3 Rolling Hills history books are available in digital PDF format inside our web store "MainStreet General Store"
YouTube Channel
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
1999 was the 50th Anniversary of the school system in Rolling Hills. To mark the occasion, Principal Susan Chomistek and teacher Maureen Powell created this video. Using what was state of the art equipment at the time, they were able to combine still image slideshows with live video clips to capture the unique history of the buildings and the people who made education a reality in our community. Some of the older participants in this tribute are no longer with us. The younger ones now have families, some with children attending Rolling Hills School, building memories for their own Sentimental Journey.
The original VHS tapes were upgraded as technology advanced, first to DVD, and then to various digital file formats. As is often the case, the original media had some minor loss of quality and we decided to leave those imperfections in the converted files.
Link for Rolling Hills School 50th Anniversary video "Sentimental Journey": https://youtu.be/-MLEVnEnHO8
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
1999 was the 50th Anniversary of the school system in Rolling Hills. To mark the occasion, Principal Susan Chomistek and teacher Maureen Powell created this video. Using what was state of the art equipment at the time, they were able to combine still image slideshows with live video clips to capture the unique history of the buildings and the people who made education a reality in our community. Some of the older participants in this tribute are no longer with us. The younger ones now have families, some with children attending Rolling Hills School, building memories for their own Sentimental Journey.
The original VHS tapes were upgraded as technology advanced, first to DVD, and then to various digital file formats. As is often the case, the original media had some minor loss of quality and we decided to leave those imperfections in the converted files.
Link for Rolling Hills School 50th Anniversary video "Sentimental Journey": https://youtu.be/-MLEVnEnHO8
Rolling Hills School 60th Anniversary
Much of the early social life of Rolling Hills was centered around its school buildings. Schools were often the only place large enough to accommodate a gathering of more than a few people and as such, became the default community center for meetings, dances, and church services. In the early 1940s, Rolling Hills had 4 schools, Bow Bend in the Southeast corner, Benita in the South, West Rolling Hills in the West and East Rolling Hills in town. By 1947, as transportation infrastructure improved, students from the southern schools were being bussed to East Rolling Hills, leaving West Rolling Hills as the only “country school” which continued as such until it was closed in 1956. The closure of West Hills was part of a plan that saw construction begin on a new school to accommodate grades 4 through 12, and in 1957, the new building was ready for students. Featuring an Industrial Arts shop, Home Economics lab, and full-size gymnasium, it was truly a sign that we had arrived as a community. In the years between 1957 and 1965, it was the hub for student and community activities. Basketball was a big sport, and both male and female teams were fierce competitors at the local and provincial levels. Many an evening was spent in the packed gymnasium, cheering on the local stars.
In 1966, declining enrollment forced the decision to begin phasing out the high school, and starting with Grade 12, students were transported to the new Brooks Composite High School. East Rolling Hills School was officially renamed Rolling Hills School and continues to operate as a very active kindergarten through Grade 9 facility. The industrial arts shop is now the public/school library and the Home Economics Room still functions as a food services area.
2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the first graduating class of Rolling Hills School and the staff commissioned a slide show to commemorate the event. Created by Judy Sereda, the video focuses on students and staff and their activities.
Link for video: https://youtu.be/44DbERRKNMg
Much of the early social life of Rolling Hills was centered around its school buildings. Schools were often the only place large enough to accommodate a gathering of more than a few people and as such, became the default community center for meetings, dances, and church services. In the early 1940s, Rolling Hills had 4 schools, Bow Bend in the Southeast corner, Benita in the South, West Rolling Hills in the West and East Rolling Hills in town. By 1947, as transportation infrastructure improved, students from the southern schools were being bussed to East Rolling Hills, leaving West Rolling Hills as the only “country school” which continued as such until it was closed in 1956. The closure of West Hills was part of a plan that saw construction begin on a new school to accommodate grades 4 through 12, and in 1957, the new building was ready for students. Featuring an Industrial Arts shop, Home Economics lab, and full-size gymnasium, it was truly a sign that we had arrived as a community. In the years between 1957 and 1965, it was the hub for student and community activities. Basketball was a big sport, and both male and female teams were fierce competitors at the local and provincial levels. Many an evening was spent in the packed gymnasium, cheering on the local stars.
In 1966, declining enrollment forced the decision to begin phasing out the high school, and starting with Grade 12, students were transported to the new Brooks Composite High School. East Rolling Hills School was officially renamed Rolling Hills School and continues to operate as a very active kindergarten through Grade 9 facility. The industrial arts shop is now the public/school library and the Home Economics Room still functions as a food services area.
2018 marked the 60th anniversary of the first graduating class of Rolling Hills School and the staff commissioned a slide show to commemorate the event. Created by Judy Sereda, the video focuses on students and staff and their activities.
Link for video: https://youtu.be/44DbERRKNMg
Rolling Hills 85th Anniversary
While there is no firm date that marks the establishment of Rolling Hills, it is generally accepted that the arrival of permanent settlers in early April of 1939 is the true beginning of our community. Many stories from our first history books mention settlers arriving during the Easter Weekend of April 7-9, 1939. As part of the PFRA resettlement program, most families had sent at least one member to the area in 1938 to look at the land and choose a new farm in exchange for their holdings in the drought areas of Saskatchewan. A very few had constructed some type of shelter, but for the most part those early visitors went back home to begin the long task of dismantling one life to begin building another.
It is interesting to note that the name of the area goes back to the very beginning of the establishment of the Eastern section of the CPR irrigation project. The canal system had been partially constructed with the headgates of the main canal showing the name “Rolling Hills 1913”. The commencement of WW1 and the following economic turmoil of the late1920s and early1930s halted further development and would eventually lead to creation of the Eastern Irrigation District in 1935. It was the desire to see this area made productive that lead to the fortunate circumstance that diverted two government officials from their original destination of Peace River and sent them to Rolling Hills.
The following video “Land of Promise” was created by Judy Sereda in 1999 to commemorate this event and to capture the memories of those who were a part of that very difficult time. The movie footage in the last part of the video is courtesy of the PFRA. As is common with media of that vintage, the image quality of the movie is no where near the standards of today. Technology to improve the quality of movie images was simply not available when Judy created the original VHS version. Through the magic of digital imaging and AI Enhancement, we were able to improve the quality substantially.
For more information on the history of Rolling Hills and the EID please visit our webstore for digital copies of our 3 history books or the Rolling Hills Public Library for print editions. Another excellent resource is the book “Tapping the Bow” by Renie Gross and Lea Nicoll Kramer, written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EID.
Link to: “Land of Promise”: https://youtu.be/ir74928kFQU
While there is no firm date that marks the establishment of Rolling Hills, it is generally accepted that the arrival of permanent settlers in early April of 1939 is the true beginning of our community. Many stories from our first history books mention settlers arriving during the Easter Weekend of April 7-9, 1939. As part of the PFRA resettlement program, most families had sent at least one member to the area in 1938 to look at the land and choose a new farm in exchange for their holdings in the drought areas of Saskatchewan. A very few had constructed some type of shelter, but for the most part those early visitors went back home to begin the long task of dismantling one life to begin building another.
It is interesting to note that the name of the area goes back to the very beginning of the establishment of the Eastern section of the CPR irrigation project. The canal system had been partially constructed with the headgates of the main canal showing the name “Rolling Hills 1913”. The commencement of WW1 and the following economic turmoil of the late1920s and early1930s halted further development and would eventually lead to creation of the Eastern Irrigation District in 1935. It was the desire to see this area made productive that lead to the fortunate circumstance that diverted two government officials from their original destination of Peace River and sent them to Rolling Hills.
The following video “Land of Promise” was created by Judy Sereda in 1999 to commemorate this event and to capture the memories of those who were a part of that very difficult time. The movie footage in the last part of the video is courtesy of the PFRA. As is common with media of that vintage, the image quality of the movie is no where near the standards of today. Technology to improve the quality of movie images was simply not available when Judy created the original VHS version. Through the magic of digital imaging and AI Enhancement, we were able to improve the quality substantially.
For more information on the history of Rolling Hills and the EID please visit our webstore for digital copies of our 3 history books or the Rolling Hills Public Library for print editions. Another excellent resource is the book “Tapping the Bow” by Renie Gross and Lea Nicoll Kramer, written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EID.
Link to: “Land of Promise”: https://youtu.be/ir74928kFQU
Soil For Tomorrow
In 1935, the Government of Canada passed the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act in response to the prolonged drought of the 1930s, which saw an estimated 247,000 people leave the Prairies between 1931 and 1941. In 1936, a census reported that a total of 13,900 farms had been abandoned, leaving almost 3 million acres unproductive and vulnerable to soil erosion.
The act allowed for the formation of a branch of Agriculture Canada called the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). The PFRA was charged with the task of implementing programs to address the short term needs of relocating farm families from drought areas to more productive zones, as well as the longer term goal of restoring the abandoned acres to some level of productivity.
One such initiative was the land exchange program that established the Rolling Hills area and made irrigation a focal point for long-term sustainable development of agriculture, leading to the creation of several other irrigation projects on the Prairies.
In 1945, the National Film Board (NFB) and the PFRA documented this process and created a film, “Soil For Tomorrow”, which provides some background of events that contributed to an era known as the "Dirty Thirties".
The film features participants from the local area in re-creations of actual events. Appearing in the scene of a family with their belongings packed into an old truck, leaving for greener pastures are Gordon and Myrtle Patterson, their children Garry and Joan, nephew Dale Patterson and niece Arlene Patterson (Lester). Dale is also in the irrigation scene towards the end of the film, and Myrtle and Arlene appear in the garden scene.
The film is available for streaming on the National Film Board website with the following link: https://www.nfb.ca/film/soil-for-tomorrow/
In 1935, the Government of Canada passed the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act in response to the prolonged drought of the 1930s, which saw an estimated 247,000 people leave the Prairies between 1931 and 1941. In 1936, a census reported that a total of 13,900 farms had been abandoned, leaving almost 3 million acres unproductive and vulnerable to soil erosion.
The act allowed for the formation of a branch of Agriculture Canada called the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA). The PFRA was charged with the task of implementing programs to address the short term needs of relocating farm families from drought areas to more productive zones, as well as the longer term goal of restoring the abandoned acres to some level of productivity.
One such initiative was the land exchange program that established the Rolling Hills area and made irrigation a focal point for long-term sustainable development of agriculture, leading to the creation of several other irrigation projects on the Prairies.
In 1945, the National Film Board (NFB) and the PFRA documented this process and created a film, “Soil For Tomorrow”, which provides some background of events that contributed to an era known as the "Dirty Thirties".
The film features participants from the local area in re-creations of actual events. Appearing in the scene of a family with their belongings packed into an old truck, leaving for greener pastures are Gordon and Myrtle Patterson, their children Garry and Joan, nephew Dale Patterson and niece Arlene Patterson (Lester). Dale is also in the irrigation scene towards the end of the film, and Myrtle and Arlene appear in the garden scene.
The film is available for streaming on the National Film Board website with the following link: https://www.nfb.ca/film/soil-for-tomorrow/