Mabel Violet Beattie was born December 6, 1882 in Ireland and emigrated to Canada with her parents in 1893. The family settle in Kamloops; six of the seven Beattie children entered the teaching profession. Mabel Beattie received her teacher training at Normal School in Vancouver and taught in a one-room school on the North Thompson River for two years. In 1904 she began teaching primary students in the Public School in Enderby. In 1907 she had 76 students in her classroom. In 1913 Miss Beattie and her students moved to the new A.L. Fortune School for high school and elementary students. Miss Beattie was appointed principal of the Elementary School in 1917, a position she retained for most of her years in Enderby. She taught grades 6, 7 and/or 8 and was a firm disciplinarian. Miss Beattie was an active member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, St. George's Anglican Church and Sir Douglas Haig Chapter I.O.D.E. She boarded with the Robert Peel family on Sicamous Street in Enderby. Miss Beattie returned to live in Kamloops upon her retirement in 1945. In 1953 the high school annual was dedicated to Miss Beattie; at that time she wrote in introduction to the annual and described the early years, the staff and students in Enderby school. Miss Beattie returned to Enderby for a dedication ceremony when the new school, M.V.Beattie Elementary, was named in her honour. Mabel V. Beattie died in Kamloops September 13, 1971.