THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN VALLEYVIEW, part 2

The Catholic community of Valleyview draws its members from the wider
community, including residents of New Fish Creek, Sunset House and the
area south of Valleyview, so we would like to fill you in on some of the
history of those areas, too.
For example, funeral services for some former residents of New Fish
Creek are recorded in St. Francis Xavier Church records from the early
1940s.
The mission priests at Sturgeon Lake travelled much when travelling was
a challenge, without paved roads to ease the way.
69 Road Church
One of the areas they travelled to was beside what is commonly called
the 69 road, south of Valleyview. A school had been built there on land
donated by George Hoedl. Margaret Klymchuk (nee Yelenik) remembers
Fr. Rou regularly celebrated Sunday Mass in the school.
When children in the area began to be bussed to school in Valleyview in
1954-55, the community bought the school building which was named for
St. Anthony. Fr. Gendre, who became the official priest of Valleyview in
1957, also served St. Anthony Catholic Church.
The church building was sold to the Valleyview Riverside Golf Club and
used as their clubhouse for a number of years. Occasionally it is still used
for functions at the golf course.
Sunset House Church
Another outlying Catholic community served by Fr. Gendre was that of
Sunset House, after the new bridge was built across the Little Smoky closer
to Valleyview.
Previously, Masses were held in an old log community hall. The priests
from Valleyview had to get there the long was around going north of
Valleyview to the Old High Prairie Road, and then back south where it
joined up with the Sunset House Highway.
Ken Breland and Lorraine Johnson (nee Gaboury) remember their
fathers and brothers and others helping to build a church in the late 1950s
just beside the location of the current Sunset House post office. The
church, complete with balcony, was built entirely with volunteer labour.
Breland recalls the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel being full every
Sunday. He says half the children who attended sang in the choir up in the
balcony.
Families were larger back then, with 11 or 12 in a family not uncommon.
Many children received the sacraments of Baptism, 1
st
Reconciliation, 1
st

Eucharist and Confirmation at the little church.
The church building was sold in 1975 and converted into a house, which
sadly burned down in 2012. So, in the mid-seventies, the Catholic
residents of Sunset House were welcomed into the Church family of St.
Rita in Valleyview.
It was soon afterward that plans were made for a newer and larger
Catholic church in Valleyview, the one which still serves the community
today.
Once again, plans are underway for expansion. This time, the project is a
gathering center for fellowship activities at the Church. Sod-turning for the
addition will be held during the 75
th
Anniversary celebration this week-end,
May 24
th
and 25
th
.
Other celebration activities include a Strawberry Tea on Saturday
afternoon; Mass with Confirmation at 4:30 p.m. Saturday; a banquet and
entertainment including a family dance with Pontiac Moon Saturday
evening and on Sunday, 10 a.m. Mass followed by a Pancake Breakfast.
Some of the events will be held at St. Stephens school and others at St.
Ritas Catholic Church, both of which can be accessed just before you
leave the town when heading north on Hwy 49.
Please see our ad elsewhere in the Valley Views for more details.