Longtime trustee led ‘by example’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/01/2012 (5184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mary Andree’s last major act in a remarkable 43-year career as a Transcona school trustee was typical — she tried to get Wayoata School renamed after its former student, Terry Fox.

Andree lost that bid in a 5-4 vote shortly before she retired from River East Transcona School Division’s board in 2006.

Earlier in her career, Andree strongly supported having the names of Joseph Teres, Margaret Underhill and Harold Hatcher placed on division schools.

She died Thursday at the age of 85.

Andree was first elected in 1962 and had only one brief interruption in an otherwise continuous career as a school trustee.

She once told the story of her first meeting on the former Transcona-Springfield school board, an emergency meeting called on a Sunday morning because of the Cuban missile crisis. Trustees toured schools to determine if the basements were suitable as bomb shelters for students and staff, she recalled.

“She was a really remarkable woman,” said Bernie Wolfe, a longtime trustee, councillor and heritage advocate. “She never missed a school board meeting of any kind.”

It was unusual for women to be elected to school boards when Andree first ran, Wolfe said Monday. “She was the only woman school trustee we had. She worked like hell.”

Transcona trustee Colleen Carswell was effusive in her praise: “The key to Mary’s success and longevity as a trustee was because she dedicated her life to making sure the children of Transcona would get the best education possible.

“I was in awe when I would watch Mary give a speech. She never wrote anything down. Every speech that she gave came from her heart and from her passion for children and education,” Carswell said.

Trustee George Marshall first served with Andree in 1969 when she was the only woman on the board. By 1998, Marshall was the only man on the board.

“Mary was at the forefront of an increased role for women in politics, in life, and especially in trusteeship. She did not lead by placard, nor by complaint, nor by speeches, but by example,” Marshall said Monday.

Andree, who has a street named after her in Transcona, was chairwoman of the former Transcona-Springfield board well into her 70s.

Those were turbulent years with an often-fractious board and were marked by a lengthy strike by bus drivers and mechanics.

Consternation was high over the province’s forced school division amalgamation. Transcona went from having a majority on the Transcona-Springfield board to having two seats and a share of a third on the nine-member River East Transcona board.

Education Minister Nancy Allan said she was sad to hear of Andree’s death.

“In her 43 years of service, Mary showed tremendous dedication to public education and to the people of Transcona and northeast Winnipeg, the community she served for so many years. She will be greatly missed by Manitoba’s school community. Our thoughts are with her family and friends,” Allan said.

Andree’s life will be celebrated in a funeral mass Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Parish.

Her family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the River East Transcona Keep Them in School Foundation.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca