‘I’m going to miss the hugs’: Winnipeg teacher’s fond farewell after 44 years

After 44 years, an educator lovingly known as Teacher Wendy is set to retire, leaving behind a lasting legacy. Daniel Halmarson shares her story.

For the past 44 years, a Transcona nursery school teacher has been helping children learn the basics and ready them for kindergarten.

“The best part is being with the kids,” Wendy Frejuk told CTV News. “Just really enjoying the time with them and talking to them. They’re very interesting little people.”

Wendy Frejuk – better known as ‘Teacher Wendy’ – opened Children’s Choice Nursery School on the upper level of Transcona Memorial United Church in 1981 after completing the childcare course at Red River College (now known as RRC Polytech).

“People told us we couldn’t do it or that it wouldn’t work, but it did,” she said.

Now, more than four decades later, Frejuk has decided to retire at the end of this school year – leaving behind a remarkable legacy of teaching and nurturing.

“I’m going to miss the hugs, but that’s one of the great things about this job, I think,” she said.

Frejuk said she’s had hundreds of students who return to the classroom years later to enroll their own kids.

“It’s very special that they bring their kids here – I think it’s very special,” she explained. “I always said jokingly that if anybody came in and said, ‘you taught my grandma, I’d be done. And we’re almost close to that.”

Christie Welechenko attended Children’s Choice during that first year and remembers the classroom as a fun place to learn and play. Now, her own son Gage is following in her footsteps.

“He loves singing and dancing. He’s so kind and giving,” Welechenko explained. “And this place has had a huge, huge impact on the sweet young man he’s become.”

It’s a similar story for Heather Johnson and her family.

“I think my mom was more shocked than I was when I went back and told her ‘Teacher Wendy’ was still here,” Johnson said. “We have pictures of us in the class and now pictures of my kids here. It’s really nice.”

Frejuk said her upcoming retirement is bittersweet, but she hopes she’s made an impact on every child who’s walked into her classroom.

“A lot of them might not remember being here, but I think they’ll remember a few key things that will help them in life.”