The Elvina St. Jacques Memorial Grant
(awarded in 2003/4 only)
Elvina St. Jacques (née Ducharme) was born in 1907 in Vernor, Ontario. The youngest of 12 children, Ms. St. Jacques was encouraged by her parents to pursue a career in education, and both she and her sister Rose attended Normal School in Ottawa.
In 1926, Ms. St. Jacques began her teaching career in the one-room schoolhouse in Vernor, which her father, a member of the local school board, had helped to organize. In 1927, she married Edward St. Jacques, and the following year gave up her teaching post while pregnant with the first of her five children.
Soon after, the family moved to southern Ontario, in part to provide wider educational opportunities — particularly in English — for the St. Jacques children. In 1957, while living in Brampton, Ontario, Ms. St. Jacques accepted an offer to resume her teaching career with the local Catholic School Board, and subsequently taught Grades 3 and 4 at St. Mary's Elementary School until her retirement.
Ms. St. Jacques was a dedicated teacher who took a special interest in newly arrived, immigrant children, and spent many hours developing methods and resources for helping them learn English. She also frequently supplied, at her own expense, winter clothing for children who were in need. Her colleague Pauline Jones recalls that Ms. St. Jacques was much admired for her "instruction, her discipline, and her gracious manner."
Ms. St. Jacques died in August 2001. Her family and friends provided the funds to The Curriculum Foundation for an Ontario teacher to develop a classroom resource in the area of early literacy (K-3).
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