It’s a tale as old as time and not just in Lloyd. Without a few dedicated individuals teaching kids, society would be doomed.
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It’s something I also firmly believe in as well. Teaching is an underpaid profession that is often devalued in modern society. Today I want to take a look back, as I sometimes do, to 1982 when a professional in the education industry retired at the ripe old age of 55.
Elmo Cuthbert (Mo) Price was born on April 29, 1927, in Melfort, Sask. He attended school in Melfort and was a particularly accomplished athlete and excelled at hockey. He completed a year at Teachers College in 1945-46 and spent many summers at the universities of Saskatchewan and Alberta taking summer school classes. Eventually he would earn his Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Alberta in 1959 and master’s from the University of Oregon in 1970.
It was in 1947 when he would join the Lloydminster Public School District, marrying his high school sweetheart Thelma McPhee the following year.
Price would quickly climb through the ranks at the school, being appointed vice principal in the elementary school system. He would then become supervising principal in 1959 and helped that position until 1966. Price would then become the Superintendent before taking on the role of director of education for Lloydminster city from 1974-1982. His total tenure helping the school system was 35 years, longer than I’ve been on this planet.
Photo courtesy Lloydminster Regional Archives
Keeping to his sports background he was involved in hockey, fastball, basketball, tennis, hunting and fishing, curling and golf. He organized a learn to swim program and operated a school minor hockey system.
The thing that caught my eye about the astute educator was an article from 1982 that covered his retirement. What seemed to be a piece on his retirement described all the initiatives he led to improve education in the Border City. I’d say about half of the overall article just listed the things he did.
He was at the forefront of establishing internship periods of training new teachers, he helped institute K-12 parent-teacher interviews, extensive outdoor education programs, school band options from grades 6 to 12, work experience programs for older students who had difficulty with regular academic school, in-house improvements like school-based budgeting, pushed to see a full-time speech therapist hired, integrated Kindergarten into the school system, he helped speed up the introduction of computers into the curriculum and kept construction of new schools moving on par with the population expansion of the city. His associates remembered him for his ready sense of humour.
Looking back he clearly was a passionate educator, looking for ways to improve and also ways to move the profession forward.
In 2004, former students of Price established an Award of Excellence in English at Lakeland College in his name.
Today, the Mo Price award still exists at Lakeland College and can net students $500 for those achieving the highest mark in the introductory literature course offered at Lakeland College. The recipient must also major in English, arts of education, or plan to enter journalism.
While I may not have had the best schooling experience for a variety of reasons, I recognize educators like Price work incredibly hard to ensure everyone gets a fair education and can feel prepared for adulthood.
I think if there’s anything I learned looking back at Price’s career, it’s that one person can make a very large impact.
I’ll wrap up my ramblings today by thanking all those educators who work far too hard to ensure our kids have a better future.
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