Twin Creek School

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The following is a short narrative by a former female student of Twin Creek School
  It saddens me to see the places where childhood memories were made changing or being changed, but we can't keep things the same forever, can we? The little one-room Kleine Gemeinde Mennonite schoolhouse where I spent 3 years of my childhood will be removed next week. I'm not sure if it will be relocated or sold. It closed down last year due to not enough students.
  Twin Creek School was originally located close to Aguacate Lake crossroads, close to Leonard M Reimer, current owner of Midwest Steel Hardware. Back then it was called Edenthal School #20 I believe. However when I started attending it they had just relocated it further north, on a hilltop, where it received its name of Twin Creek. It is the northernmost schoolhouse in Spanish Lookout and the highest in elevation. It overlooks a wide, lush green valley.
  I remember heading to school on a trailer made out of the bed of an old Ford pickup pulled by an old tractor. My older brother would drive and we younger ones rode on the trailer. At that time the school lot had recently been cleared so there weren't lots of places to play hide and seek. Unlike the Old Colony from Shipyard who keep the boys and girls separate, the Kleine Gemeinde allow mixed seating and playing. We studied the Mennonite Catechism, we used A Beka Books, we studied in English and spoke Plautdietsch, and sometimes had to stay in for recess if we were too rowdy. Recess games were Four Square, King's Base, Dodge Ball among others. Since we were Kleine Gemeinde, all the boys used button-down shirts and the girls wore one-piece dresses with their hair in braids.
  We rarely took homework unless we were very far behind schedule. The teacher was very kind and often he played with us.
  All in all, I have very wonderful memories of those school years. And I'm glad of that, because barely a year after I was transferred to another school, my life changed drastically. Perhaps someday I should write my book, right?
 P. S. Most of my fellow students of that time have remained Kleine Gemeinde except for me and a few others.

Class of 2001-2002


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