Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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A CLOSE UP LOOK AT OUR HEADMISTRESS Joan Baldwin Whitwill was born in the English country of Derbyshire in a town called Dronfield. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, her father was a teacher and head- master of a boy ' s school. When their daughter was three years old the Baldwins moved south to Essex. As a small child, she was educated along with a handful of other local children by a governess in her parents ' home. One might assume that her surroundings, in addition to her fathers ' academic background would have led her into teaching. On the contrary, she says, my uncle was also a teacher, and I thought I ' d had enough of it. Her ambition was to become a journalist. After having finished her tutelage with the governess, she began studies at Colchester high school; a girls ' school which was a ten mile trek by bus morning and night from the Baldwins ' home. This ended when Mrs. Whitwill was 12 at which point she enrolled in a girls ' boarding school called Wycombe Abbey. While she was at the Abbey, her father died and it became apparent to her that if she were to continue her education, she would have to do so on scholarship. In 1934, she won a scholarship to Oxford. Oxford, according to Mrs. Whitwill turned out to be a bit of a shock. She enrolled to take a three year honors degree in English, and was informed by her tutor in the summer before her first term that should read twelve books of Virgil before September. These books were read in Spain where she filled in the time between high school and college working as an au pair girl. This was an experience that Mrs. Whitwill recalls with mixed feelings; treated as more of a servant than a student, she was given no op- portunity to travel, and was con- tinuously saddled with her em- ployer ' s small child. She was bored stiff. She offers good advice for any girl. considering an au pair job: be sure that the family cares for you. Her stay did allow her to learn a smattering of Spanish which she has retained and often practices with Elmwood ' s many Spanish- speaking students. After three busy years, she graduated with her degree (M.A. Honors Oxon.). At the time of the Munich Crisis, as Europe was on the threshold of the second world war, Mrs. Whitwill registered as an ambulance driver, and this is the position that she occupied throughout the war. She shared a flat with an Oxford chum who was dating a Canadian soldier. One evening Joan Baldwin was in- troduced to a friend of his, a fellow soldier: John Whitwill, who would become her husband in 1941. At the war ' s end, the Whitwills and their first of seven children Mary Lou came to Brandford Ontario. Mrs. Whitwill did not take up teaching until 1963, when her youngest child Sarah, was nine. She soon discovered that she quite enjoyed it. In 1964, the family moved to Ottawa. She had remained in touch with her Oxford chum who now was Mrs. BIyth, the headmistress of Elmwood. Mrs. BIyth invited her to join the staff, Mrs. Whitwill accepted, and taught English and history until 1969, when the BIyths moved to England, and she was appointed head- mistress. When asked what she found most enjoyable about her job, she replied the contact with young people growing up, and with the staff. The aspect of her job that she finds most difficult is dealing with parents with unrealistic goals for their children. She says: university is not for everyone. She feels that Elmwood ' s greatest asset is the personal interest of staff in students, teachers who care. Like many of us, she concedes its greatest drawback is its lack of space, and inadequate gym and science facilities. Those will come though, she believes, in the future. As to Mrs. Whitwill ' s future, she and her husband have bought a house in Ottawa. She has been offered a teaching position at Elmwood, but plans to wait at least a year before deciding whether to accept it. In the meantime she plans to enjoy her grandchildren, and to relax a little with some of her hobbies, which include sewing crafts, reading history and novels, bicycling, coo ' king and camping. Though she doubts that she will do much more camping, the Whitwills have camped from Ottawa to Vancouver; as she says, when you have seven children, its the only way to travel. She also entertains the idea of taking some kind of university or craft course, perhaps to improve her French, or to learn a skill such as upholstering. Today, Mrs. Whitwill ' s seven children; Mary Lou, Elizabeth, twins John and Mark, Paul, Stephen and Sarah are all grown up. A doting grandmother, she has 9 grand- children, and reveals with great pride that her oldest, Deborah last year started university at Western Ontario. To Mrs. Whitwill, we wish all the very best of health and happiness in the years to come. We will all miss her very much. We all hope that she will come back to teach, because she has a tremendous amount to offer. Mrs. Whitwill ' s career as an educator is not ended, neither has she, or will she ever stop learning. Lisa Stilborn

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HEADMISTRESS ' S MESSAGE Dear Samara friends: Many times I have heard you ask, nay plead, nay beg, for contributions and I don ' t want to be one of those who make your life difficult. Your editors spoke of the things you have learnt this year and I am sure, although I can ' t remember for certain, that one of them must have been patience, patience, and still more patience. Yes, that is a valuable characteristic to acquire, one useful in many a situation. It has been a great privilege over the years to be allowed a little space to use for a message to the school and I am sorry that this will probably be the last time. Who knows however. Maybe I will make, in other years to come, an unsolicited contribution or two, or three or more because I shall certainly be wishing the school good luck and great prosperity as I do now, with a full heart. Mrs. Gundy joins me in a message of good will. My happiest thought is that I leave you all in the caring hands of Mrs. White and Mrs. Gundy. Be as good to them as you have been to me and as they will be to you in the years to come. Mrs. Whitwill