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Patricia Mantle (1911-1998), former primary school teacher, started St. Michael’s Children’s Centre in 1957 after gathering a group of children together to serve as companions for a friend’s son she was providing respite care for a couple of days a week. After outgrowing her living-room, in 1960 she leased a building to operate the pre-school on land owned by the District of Mission located on Ruskin Crescent. For the next three decades, she both managed and taught at the pre-school five days a week, offering an educational program for three to five year olds designed to help their emotional, social and personal growth and development. Attended by multiple generations of local families, the school was phased out in 1987 following a building inspection in 1986 deeming the structure unsafe for occupation and a recommendation for its demolition. It was believed to be the oldest pre-school in the Fraser Valley.

Anthony Samuel Taulbut was a native of Fareham, Hampshire England who settled in Mission with his wife Rozina and two children, Walter and Amy in 1908. He established a real estate and insurance business and soon became actively involved in the community, serving as the municipal and school district assessor (1917-1939), School Board secretary (1920-1946), and Mission correspondent to the Vancouver Province (1922-1949).

An avid collector with a keen interest in history, Anthony established a museum and archives in part of his house, serving as Mission’s first de facto curator and archivist. As his enthusiasm spread throughout the community, many people from the area contributed local artifacts and archival items to his collection. In later years, began work on a history of Mission, which was never completed due to his untimely death on August 16th, 1949.