Recently, I read Richard Dowson's article on researching Elon Musk's maternal grandmother, Wyn Fletcher. I think I can add to this story, especially as it relates to Moose Jaw. I too tried to learn more about "Wynjoy" from Moose Jaw's Library and Archives, but unfortunately I didn't find that much. I was doing this research to prepare a Bio for my Mother, Joyce Hagan (nee Gardner), to be included in last Spring's Dance Festival program.
Before Wyn Fletcher opened a dance studio in Regina, she and my Mother opened one here in Moose Jaw, on September 1st, 1937, on Fairford Street West, in the Hammond Building. Fortunately my sister, Betty Ann Whittaker, had some of our Mom's old materials, including this card announcing the opening of "Wynjoy" in Moose Jaw. She also had two sheets that I assume were the inside and outside of a 3-fold pamphlet for "Wynjoy" when it opened in Regina. I initially scanned and saved these as PDF files, but they were very large, so I played around with them to get smaller PNG versions, which would be easier to send.
Richard's article makes no reference to the initial "Wynjoy" in Moose Jaw, nor of my Mother's involvement in the Regina one. I'm curious from where did Richard learn that it was Wyn and her husband that opened the Regina studio. I'm also not certain when the Moose Jaw studio closed. The only other information I've got on what was going on between the opening of the Moose Jaw studio and the early days of the Regina studio, are a couple of Times-Herald articles my sister had about the Sixth Annual Review by Wynjoy Studio, as well as a pamphlet for this held at Tech Auditorium on Monday, June 14, 1943.
Until I prepared my Mother's Bio, I only knew that she had taken substantial dance training in larger centres in Canada and even the United States. I also knew that she had been involved in setting up and operating at least one dance studio, but exactly when and where I did not know. And I knew that she continued to teach dance out of her home after starting a family with her husband, long-time Moose Jaw accountant Nairn Hagan. How long her and Wyn remained in contact I do not know, but a collection of small black and white snaps my sister also had, shows that they and their husbands got together once in Moose Jaw's River Park, in I believe the early 1940's.
Ron Hagan
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