What's in a Name?

École Dorothy Lynas Elementary School was originally referred to as the Indian River School. In  1988, Reverend Roy Dungey, however, proposed that the school should be named after Dorothy Lynas, a very dedicated member of the community of North Vancouver. At that time, Leo Marshall was Superintendent of Schools. On a motion by Trustee Dungey, the Board voted to name the new school in Indian River, the "Dorothy Lynas Elementary School".

In putting the motion before the Board, Trustee Dungey said the following:

"With two exceptions, Boards of this District have named schools after the areas in which they were built or streets on which they were placed. The exceptions occurred in 1965 with the naming of Carson Graham Secondary School after Dr. Carson Graham, a North Vancouver physician and school board member, and in 1985 with the renaming of the Hamilton Jr. Secondary School for the District's long-serving Superintendent of Schools, William E. Lucas. Exceptions such as this have only been made and should only be made when the service provided by the individual is of such an outstanding nature that it cannot go unrecognized.

I would submit that we now have such another occasion before us. We have with us an individual who has been part of this community for the past half century, who was first elected to this school board in 1956 and who has provided since that time 30 years of service as a school

trustee-a record unmatched anywhere else in the Province of British Columbia. In addition to her service as a school trustee she has served as a member of the North Shore Union Board of Health for the past 25 years, as a member of the District Council Planning Advisory Committee, the North Vancouver Recreation Commission, the District of North Vancouver Scholarship Committee, the program committee of the Canadian Education Association and numerous other bodies and organizations. She has provided a continuity and stability to the Board over the past many years, not just by her presence, but by a consistency of approach to issues that has unswervingly put the interest of children before all other interests.

In recognition of the contribution to education in North Vancouver made by this dedicated and remarkable woman, I would move that the school to be built in Indian River be named "Dorothy Lynas Elementary School."

(Note that Dorothy Lynas' term of service on the Board was not actually a record. Trustee Allison in Princeton, BC served 45 years.)