VIRGINIA ANDREW (BEATTY)

Condolences & Memories (4 entries)

• Mrs. Andrew was my Grade 12 math teacher and later a colleague when I joined the St. Vital School Division. She was a phenomenal teacher. She was the first math teacher that I had who really taught for understanding, not just rote learning. I give her full credit for turning my ability in mathematics around. She gave me a foundation to build on and a new-found love for mathematics. My high school math had been in a mess and Math had become my nemesis. I just missed scraping through my Grade 11 Math and needed to retake it, while being allowed to audit Grade 12. I had multiple conflicts in my scheduling and was given the option attending and skipping classes so that I could take all my courses as long as I kept up with assignments and tests. I stopped attending my grade 12 math classes for the last month of school to concentrate on my grade 11. I ended up passing it, which allowed me to write my grade 12 in August. Mrs. Andrew offered to tutor me and one other student just before the August exam, and I remember going to her home for those sessions. In the last month of school I had not taken the unit on conics and could not answer the exam questions on that section- but I managed a perfect mark for the rest of the paper. There was one question on the test, on real and imaginary numbers, that gave me some concern. I didn’t think it could be answered as it was worded. I gave the answer that I thought they wanted and wrote a note about how I thought the question wasn’t properly worded. When I got my mark and thankfully shared it with Mrs. Andrew, she confirmed that indeed the question I’ve been wrongly worded and that only two students had actually commented on that. She had been a provincial marker for the August exams that Year. I enjoyed teaching mathematics and thought of Mrs. Andrew as a role model. I ended up being the President of the Manitoba Teachers Association and the chair the Mathematics Steering Committee at the Department of Education for the better part of a decade and a half. That would never have happened without Mrs. Andrew’s formative influence. Mrs. Andrew was a mentor to teachers as well. I remember on more than one occasion a knock on my classroom door. She would leave teaching and go into the hall to speak with a colleague, come back, grab some materials, and go back it out into the hall to explain something to them. She was the penultimate professional. When I became a school administrator and had a dream team mathematics teacher on my staff, I would think of them as a “that’s a Mrs. Andrew”. At one of the Riel Chapter Retired Teachers Luncheons I attended upon retiring, I was privileged to be able to remind Mrs. Andrew what a great job she had done in her teaching career and how much she was respected and admired by so many. She will be greatly missed and always remembered. - Posted by: Jack Fraser (Former teacher and later a colleague.) on: May 13, 2020

• Dear Dona-Lee and Family, I am saddened at the loss of your dear mother. She has been a great asset to the teaching community of Winnipeg. I got to know and admire her, both as a parent and teacher and had many constructive talks with her. I treasure the unplanned visit you both paid me at my home a while back. My heart is with you at this time of grief and I pray that God gives you the strength and courage to carry on. Lovingly, Mrs Dookeran - Posted by: Irene Dookeran (Associate) on: May 01, 2020

• Virginia and I used to go for walks together. A great person. Sincerely Donna Macaw - Posted by: Donna Macaw (friend my husband Ken was at UofM with Virginia's husband ) on: Apr 25, 2020

• Mrs. Andrew was my Computer Science teacher back in 1968. That was in the very early days of computers, when we had to punch holes in cards and send our cards out to the university to the “main frame” computer. I have vivid memories of what a wonderful teacher Mrs. Andrew was. She was enthusiastic about the subject, an excellent explainer and generally very helpful. That was a long time ago, and for a teacher to have made such an impact on me and on other students, really tells you what a great teacher she was! - Posted by: Georgia Lees (Former student in the 1960s!) on: Apr 25, 2020