A retired teacher in southwestern Manitoba enjoys her days being a substitute teacher, piano player and accordion player and she has no intentions of slowing down at age 87. Norma Atkins of Souris, Man. still has her name in at the Southwest Horizon School Division and occasionally fills in for teachers on a casual basis.
“I have been subbing at Souris School for about 20 years, and have also branched out to the Hutterite Colonies as well. It’s enough so when I go, people still remember who I am,” says Atkins.
“When I first started teaching, I taught two years in a country school near Gladstone, Man. The first year I had 32 kids from Grades 1 to 8. I had never been in a multi-grade situation in my own education, so I learned a lot that first year and I hope the kids learned something as well.”
She also taught Grade 3 in Gilbert Plains for three years and from there she moved all the way to the West Coast near White Rock, B.C. where she taught a Grade 2 - 3 split class for a year. Atkins ended up in Eston, Sask. and taught there for one year.
“After these seven years of teaching, my husband and I had seven kids and I stayed home raising kids until the youngest one was in kindergarten,” says Atkins. “I then went back teaching for eight years at Bethel Christian Academy in Brandon, which amalgamated with Christian Heritage School, so I taught under both of those names.”
Atkins grew up in Souris and graduated from Souris School; so she has made the complete circle. She was away for twenty-four years and in 1977 her husband decided to move the family back to Souris believing their children should grow up with grandparents in their lives.
Maurice (Jake) Jacobsen, Norma’s father, was a photographer and owned Jacobsen’s Studio in Souris. He took school group pictures, weddings, and other photos and developed the photos in his shop located on Crescent Avenue.
Atkins plays piano regularly for church and when she subs at the school, she likes to get the younger kids singing along. She can often be spotted coming down the school hallway toting her ever-so-popular accordion, which she plays on occasion in the classroom.
Atkins also enjoys playing a game of ping pong and appreciates a very competitive challenge now and then.
