A 98-year-old spelling bee champion from Canada retained her title over the weekend.
Stepping back into Nova Scotia’s Barneys River Station Schoolhouse Museum was like walking back in time for Adell Keays.
“Brings back lots of memories,” said Keays, who was a student at the school from the early 1930s through to Grade 10.
The 98-year-old who attended Barneys River Station School, built before Confederation, took part in a community spelling bee at the school this past weekend.
Keays’ niece Joan Williams-Mann was among the organizers of the event, which brought together old classmates and family descendants that attended the one-room schoolhouse, which shut down in the early 1970s.
“I have been hearing about her spelling bee win in 1936 forever so this year I said to her, ‘It is time you defended that title,'” Williams-Mann said.
Set to turn 99 at the end of this year, Keays still recalls the word that won her the title 87 years ago: “phlegm.”
In front of a crowd of spectators, Keays took her throne at the front of the class.
A former teacher at the school, 93-year-old Nova Ross Bannerman acted as a witness, running a tight ship, like she did way back when she took part in spelling bees herself.
“You had to say the word two turns and if you didn’t get it you took to your seat,” she said.
Ross Bannerman is the curator of the now museum, which houses school supplies, desks and books used over the last century.
As the competition got underway on Sunday afternoon, in front of a packed room Keays reeled off her first word like a true champ and one by one she started to take out the competition, retaining her title and her trophy.
It turned out it as a proud yet also conflicting moment.
“On the trophy, they spelled her name wrong,” said Williams-Mann, who joked that her aunt would not be happy with the printing mistake.
“We need to look into that,” Keays teased as she held up her trophy with a grin.
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