Helena Brice

Helena Brice was born on September 30, 1908 in Tisdale , Saskatchewan . Her parents, George McTavish and Henrietta McArthur, were also graced with a second daughter, Mary, and a son, Gordon.

Helena and her brother and sister took all their schooling in Saskatoon where the family lived for many years. All three children went through school to become teachers although George eventually became an undertaker.

Helena taught in many of the rural one-room schoolhouses scattered across Saskatchewan . In 1930 she moved to Wadena where she taught for 6 years before moving on to yet another place where children needed her.

In 1939 Helena was pulled back to the town of Wadena where she became a farmer’s wife. She married George Brice in January of that year and settled into the Brice House located next to the Museum.

She continued being a substitute teacher in the Wadena school system for many years. She has one daughter, Betty, and two grandchildren, Brian James and Bruce James. Both her grandchildren live in Saskatoon ; Betty and her husband, Bob James, live in Estan , Saskatchewan .

Helena has a love of history and she instilled this passion into her daughter who is now the curator of Estan Museum . She donated the Brice house to the Wadena & District Museum & Nature Center in 2002 in an effort to preserve the history of the home.

Helena ’s husband, George Brice, passed away in 1976. Helena continued to live in the Brice House for 24 years. She moved into the Waneeda Park Lodge in 2000 and this is where she continues to spend her days: Remembering the past.