Hugo Gerhardt "Gerry" Dobrindt

1906 - 2007  (100 years)

• Name	Hugo Gerhardt "Gerry" Dobrindt
  Born	17 Nov 1906	Smithville, Lincoln Co., Ontario   [1, 2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Name	Gerhardt Dobrindt
  Name	Gerry Dobrindt
  Occupation	1938	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	inspector
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-161462
  Died	9 Sep 2007	London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada   [1, 3]
  Buried	Mount Pleasant Cemetery, London, Middlesex Co., Ontario   [1, 3]
  Person ID	I161462	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family 1	Erma Bacher,   b. Fisherville, Haldimand Co., Ontario ,   d. 2007
  Last Modified	26 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F46180	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Evelyn Clara Near,   b. 3 Oct 1907, , Welland Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 8 Mar 1982, Collier, Lee, Florida  (Age 74 years)
  Children	1. Diane Dobrindt
  Last Modified	26 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F55836	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  DOBRINDT, Gerhardt (Gerry) - Passed away on Sunday, September, 9th, 2007, in his 101st year. Beloved husband of the late Evelyn (Near) Dobrindt and the late Erma (Bacher) (Scoffield) Dobrindt. Dad will be lovingly remembered by his daughters, Diane (David) Snyder and Karen (Bob) Speight; his grandchildren, Wendy (Bruce) Travnicek, Debby (Cecil) Johnson, Kimberly (Jim) Hodges, Kevin (Ellen) Speight; his seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He will be lovingly remembered by the Scoffield family Bill (Patricia), Jack (Mary), Dorothy (Garry) Balsdon, and Carol (Gord) Davidson. Dad was born in Smithville, the youngest of five. He was an educator and an author. He started his career as a teacher in Fisherville, moving on to Principal of Empire School, Inspector in Waterloo County and ending his career as a Master of English at London Normal School/ London Teachers' College. Gerry's family would like to give a special thank you to the staff at Longworth Long Term Care for their care and compassion and to the nurses on C4-200 at LHSC Victoria Hospital and Alice and Kim from Helping Hands. The family will receive friends at Trinity Lutheran Church, 746 Colborne Street at Oxford Street, London on Saturday, September 15th, from 11 a.m. until time of funeral service at 1: 30 p.m. with Reverend James R. Garey officiating. Interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, London. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the G.H. Dobrindt Bursary for post-secondary education, c/o Trinity Lutheran Church, 746 Colborne Street, London, ON N6A 3Z7. On line condolences accepted at www.amgeorgefh.on.ca. The Record 13 Sep 2007 _________________ Children of the Sunnyside community living on either side of Highway 8 between Centreville and the Kitchener city boundary had been taught at Centreville, except when they were bused to Suddaby School in Kitchener to let the Parkway pupils attend Centreville. By the fall of 1940, Sunnyside had 105 families and a population of 500. The separation of Parkway from Centreville gave Sunnyside families the idea of a school of their own. In December 1940, a meeting of 55 ratepayers at St Luke's Lutheran Church was called by Gordon Wiegand, Ralph Brubacher and Harry Simpson and chaired by inspector G.H. Dobrindt. They decided to form a new school section'97SS 31 (Sunnyside) - with Irvin Moss, Edward From Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries by Bloomfield _______________________ W.H.E. Schmalz, with B.A. Jones, one of the architects of the Kitchener City Hall of 1923, designed a 4-room school which was built by Dunker Construction for $37,500 and opened on 9 September 1941. Retired school inspector Dobrindt recalls touring with the Sunnyside trustees as far as away as Brantford, to gather models and ideas for a school appropriate for a fast-growing suburban area. The design featured tile floors, glass blackboards, classroom lockers, electric clocks, steam heating and a large "auditorium" in the basement that was to prove valuable for community meetings including well-baby clinics, the Sunnyside Women's Institute, Girl Guides, Scouts, Recreation Club, and Home and School Association. Designed to take a second storey, the school was later enlarged both before and after the annexation of the community to Kitchener in January 1952. From Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries by Bloomfield _____________________ G.H. Dobrindt's wife, Evelyn, was on the provincial executive of the Federation of Home and School Associations and appointed local County Organizer during the period from 1938 to 1948. From Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries by Bloomfield ________________ Vera A. (Sullivan) Hergott (1896-1985) taught at Shantz Station School from 1920 to 1924, when she married Herbert Hergott who kept a gasoline station at the crossroads on Highway 7 before his death in 1930. After teaching in Kitchener and elsewhere, Mrs Hergott was appointed to Shantz Station in 1934 and was still there in 1955. She continued to live nearby with her son and some of her in-laws. Throughout her teaching career, she was usually responsible for more than 40 children, aged from 6 to 15 years. A former pupil, taught by Mrs Hergott through all eight grades of elementary school, writes that she "gave us a firm foundation in reading, writing and arithmetic as well as the other basics. She had student teachers from Normal School for several years, so must have been considered a good teacher, organizer and mentor." A "strict disciplinarian," Mrs Hergott would unbend a little and "actually smile" during the visits of G.H. Dobrindt, the Waterloo North school inspector. Her handwriting was beautifully "firm, open and legible, "inspiring in her pupils "at least a desire to imitate her example." Using nib pens and inkwells in their wooden desk units, pupils had to be neat, as the "possibilities of spilled ink were very real." Mrs Hergott read aloud to the whole school and in creative ways encouraged the reading habit among her pupils. From Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries by Bloomfield ___________________ According to former inspector G.H. Dobrindt, 1937 marked the beginning of a whole new philosophy of education which was more child-centred, less prescriptive and more flexible. New courses ol study for Grades 1 to 6 placed less emphasis on examinations and more on projects related to the life of pupils. For example, a child would learn first to print double-spaced in Grade 1, and then make a gradual transition to cursive writing in Grades 3 and 4. Instead ot the prescribed graded readers, teachers could choose readers from several printing houses. Social Studies became a study of "people in places at different times" and stressed the local community and field trips to points of interest. Teaching methods became more participatory, with contributions of various skills in group projects and reporting to the whole class. In the late 1930s, Dobrindt recalls, teachers needed considerable guidance in the transition to a new approach which was "less regimented, more humane and life-building" and stressed individual responsibility. Some things disappeared, with High School entrance exams (which inspectors helped to mark) phased out between 1940 and the early 1950s. But schools still observed the practice of prayers and devotional exercises at the beginning or end ol the school day or both. AAs provincial inspector of education for North Waterloo from 1938 to 1948, Dobrindt was responsible for the townships of Waterloo, Woolwich and Wellesley. He visited each class twice yearly, and beginning teachers more frequently. Among many other duties, he had to monitor the financial statements and submit them to the Ontario Department of Education, calculate annual levies and advise on new capital funds, and calculate annual teachers' superannuation levies to be deducted and paid into the provincial superannuation fund with matching levies from school boards. These statistical reports were time-consuming for himself, his half-time secretary and his wife, and distracted him from more direct concern with the needs of children and teachers. The monthly attendance report was especially demanding. The "SA9" form (nicknamed "seldom accurate") from each school had to be compiled into statistical summaries of days lost by illness, truancy or other reasons. Monthly statistics had also to be compiled into annual returns. In his administrative work, an inspector had to deal with three concepts of a "year"- calendar, fiscal and school. From Waterloo Township Through Two Centuries by Bloomfield

  
  

• Sources

  [S490] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - The Record (1994-March 2008), Obituary of Gerhardt Dobrindt - 13 Sep 2007. [S655] z Vit - ON - Birth Registration. Hugo Gerhardt Dobrindt Date of Birth:17 Nov 1906 Clinton Twp Gender:Male Birth Place:Lincoln, Ontario, Canada Father's name:Charles Jolette Dobrindt (farmer of Clinton Twp) Mother's name:Minnie Smoke Deneke [S2238] Cemetery - ON, Middlesex, London - Mount Pleasant. Dorbrindt, Evelyn C. (Near) 1907-1982 Gerhardt H. (Gerry) 1906-2007 Happiness is being together

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 17 Nov 1906 - Smithville, Lincoln Co., Ontario Occupation - inspector - 1938 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 9 Sep 2007 - London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Mount Pleasant Cemetery, London, Middlesex Co., Ontario  = Link to Google Earth