From theSaddleto thePulpit

A COMPLETE LIFE STORY OF

Andy Stann

Published by Gospel Roundup Crusades

Additional copies available throughPageMaster Publication Services Inc.

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From the Saddle to the Pulpit The Life and Times of Andy StannCopyright © 2003 by Andy StannPublished by Gospel Roundup CrusadesBox 41 Willingdon, Alberta, Canada

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by Canadian copyright law.

ISBN 0-9732918-0-X

Cover design by Norman Walcheske

Digitaly printed in Canada by PageMaster Publication Services Inc.www.pagemaster.ca

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DEDICATION

To my beloved wife Eunice without whose encouragement and much prompting this story may never have been written.

To my children Daniel, Cheryl, Charlene and Trevor.. who has been taken away from us and missed dearly to this day.

To my sons Andrew and Darren who came along later and had to spend much time without a father as I travelled in the ministry.

Also, to my step daughters Audrey and Diane who have been a great source of encouragement and as real and loving as daughters.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to especially give a great big thank you to my good friend Norman Walcheske, for his patient assistance in helping me when I got bogged down with the computer and didn’t have a clue what to do. Norman so many times would come to my rescue and straighten things out, including all the editing, spell checking, scanning, picture editing, printing and other work for which I will be eternally grateful.

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ContentsOn The High Seas Of The Atlantic ...................................... 1

The Great Depression......................................................... 7

Spring Follows Winter....................................................... 23

Go West Young Man!........................................................ 33

The Gang Ranch.............................................................. 56

Spring Roundup............................................................... 89

Fall Roundup ................................................................. 100

It’s Leaving Time............................................................ 103

A New Beginning ........................................................... 107

Angel In Disguise ........................................................... 116

My Hour Of Decision...................................................... 122

Only Believe .................................................................. 126

Harry Gets Married ........................................................ 130

Trail, B.C....................................................................... 136

Back To School.............................................................. 142

The Sheppard Team....................................................... 150

Europe Calls .................................................................. 162

Back In Alberta .............................................................. 181

Rodeo Time Again ......................................................... 189

The Good Old USA........................................................ 193

Entering Politics ............................................................. 203

What A Trip!.................................................................. 213

Beware Of Deceivers! .................................................... 217

A Great Ride!................................................................. 222

Willingdon, Alberta......................................................... 229

Foreword

I got to know Andy Stann shortly after they moved to Wil-lingdon across the street and two houses down from our place on 53 Avenue. Andy is truly a genuine gentleman who has gone from life as a rough ranch hand cowboy to a dedicated man of God.

He preaches salvation through Jesus Christ and continually prays for the concerns of all his friends, neighbours and acquaint-ances. His weekly Friday night Western Gospel Coffee House meetings have become a well attended function and many blessings from God have been received, both by the people who have taken part in the singing, etc. and by the people who come to listen and partake in the worshipping of our Lord Jesus Christ. The evenings are concluded with fellowship around a cup of coffee and other goodies which are ever present.

Andy, may God bless you richly in your ministry within our community.

Sincerely, Norman Walcheske.

Michael and Susanna Stann

1ON THE HIGH SEAS OF THE ATLANTIC

ON THE HIGH SEAS

The year - 1928 - in the middle of winter, was the worst time of the year to be sailing across the great Atlantic ocean. That was the time father Michael, mother Susanna along with their three children, Antras, six, Elizabeth, four, and big brother Peter, seventeen, chose to journey to the new world of North America, and in their case, the country of Canada. The new promised land flowing with milk and honey.

Michael, a farmer all his life in the county of Jimbolia, Ro-mania, from the village of Hartsfeldt, had listened intently and with great interest to all the advertising about the great opportunities in this new land. Although very young I do have some recollection of our house and stables and the compound where all was situated surrounded by a high fence.

My father's land was out of the town of Hartsfeldt a few kilometers. Everything had to be hauled into town. All the stacks of grain, and the livestock such as pigs, cows, geese, chickens and of course the horses were all kept in this compound. I can still see all this as in a dream.

Selling the farm and what stock they had, they set out on this great adventure, with only one thought in mind, to make a lot of money and then go back to the old country and get a bigger and better farm. For that reason they did not sell the house and barns in the village, hoping to return. Very few ever made it back, if they did I am sure it was not because they made their fortune. Personally I am only too glad that my father brought us to Canada in light of what happened in Europe ten years later.

– From The Saddle To The Pulpit –2 – On the High Seas of the Atlantic– 3

ON THE RAGING ATLANTIC

Only those who have sailed the North Atlantic in the middle of the winter through a raging storm can appreciate the frighten-ing magnitude of such an experience. Waves that piled up like mountains would pick up that little immigrant ship and take it to their very peak. Then it would drop into the troughs as though into a canyon, it shuddered and groaned as if in pain. It was like a roller coaster ride that never seemed to come to an end. I do not remember how long it took to cross the ocean but it seemed like weeks and as a sailor I was a complete failure. I was sea sick most of that trip. I was never so glad to see land and finally step on terra firma, on Canadian soil.

Landing in Halifax sometime in March my family travelled by train west to the city of Winnipeg where my father was able to obtain a farm one hundred miles south west of Winnipeg, 360 acres of land with all the horses, cattle, and machinery to start working the farm. I will never forget the old log house and barn. That old log house had a dirt floor that mother swept and tried to polish until it would literally shine.

We went to bed at night to the howling and yipping of the coyotes (my mother called them wolves). She prayed that by some miracle she would wake up in the morning in her beloved Hartsfeld, Romania, back among her friends and relatives. I am sure such was the case of many new Canadians who came with great anticipation and dreams. The Canadian government had painted very rosy pictures of land and wealth in this new land where everyone could become rich beyond their wildest dreams. Of course, such was not the case. Many that were able, returned back to their home land.

The land my family settled on was a dry land farm loaded with quack grass and thistles, the quack grass or [kootch grass] as it was also called had very deep tough roots that were very hard to destroy, and almost killed eight horses that first summer of 1929. Back in those days, as any old timers can tell you the winters were very harsh, it was nothing for the temperatures to drop to forty below, and even colder. In the summers the heat was unbelievable. They settled in the district called the Bear Creek District.

– From The Saddle To The Pulpit –2 – On the High Seas of the Atlantic– 3

BEAR CREEK DISTRICT

Across the road from the farm was the first school I attended. It was called the Bear Creek School, with possibly 15 or 20 chil-dren from grades 1 to 8. I can still remember the teachers name: Miss Dupuis. How she ever coped with a foreign kid that did not understand or speak a word of English I’ll never know. But she must have, because as you can see I can read and write a little. She was a great dedicated teacher and after my family moved from Bear Creek to Helston, she also moved there and became my teacher again. I was nine and in grade three at that time.

There were many battles and hardships of those early settlers, but they survived. They had to live and eat what they grew on the land. Money was scarce as hen’s teeth, wood had to be cut by hand and hauled in by team and sled to keep that little log cabin warm. The country was on the verge of the great depression with its accompanying dry hot years that burned the crops and dried up the wells and creeks.

THE BIG MUSKEG

As a boy I had to trail herd the cattle to the west of our farm to what was known as the Hudson’s Bay bog, a spongy stretch of muskeg out of which the water flowed into our creek that ran the length of the farm. But because of the drought and terribly hot weather the creek was dry and very little came down to the farm. The cattle would literally get down on their knees to suck up what water they could from little rivulets seeping from the muskeg.

Many times they would sink through the bog and had to be hauled out with a rope and saddle horse. I had to be very careful where I took my horse or it could sink right through. I knew of nothing else and thought this was simply what life was always like. For the adults those years were devastating to say the least. It must have seemed as though they had been transported by some space ship to another planet where everyone spoke a strange language they could not understand, or be understood.

One of the standard jokes played on new Canadians was to tell them what words to use when asking for some food to be passed at the supper table when working with a group of other

– From The Saddle To The Pulpit –4 – On the High Seas of the Atlantic– 5

young men. Of course you may have guessed, that which they told them was the word for bread or meat etc. were exchanged for some dirty words I will not repeat here. This caused many of the ladies to blush, but of course brought howls of laughter from the guys.

LOST IN THE BUSH

There are incidents that remain very clear in my memory. One time my mother and sister Betty wanted to come out to see the big bog. Hitching up a team to the buckboard they followed along behind as I was herding the cattle west. On the trail that led to the bog there were quite a few Saskatoon berry trees on the side of the road, mother and Betty decided to go berry picking. Had they stayed close to the side of the trail they would not have gotten lost. How true to human nature. We are never satisfied with what we have, or what there is, we always want more, and by this urge to want more and still better we sometimes lose our way, never seemingly satisfied with what we have and be thankful. It seems life is just a school of learning.

When I returned with the cattle, I saw the team and buggy standing by the side of the trail, but no mother and sister. The bush in that area was very dense, heavily forested with poplar trees, and scrub which had grown so close together you had trouble getting through. They got through all right, and then got disoriented so badly they did not know their directions any more.

Leaving the cattle, I rode home for my father and brother Peter to come and help find them. No amount of yelling brought an answer, it was getting dusk and night was not far off. After crawling through this tangle we finally got an answer or they would have had a very scary and miserable night.

– From The Saddle To The Pulpit –4 – On the High Seas of the Atlantic– 5

Helston (Beer Creek, Manitoba)

Allan & Betty – King 7 Dolly Betty & Andy – 1939

Makin' Hay the good ole way

Andys first Home Sweet Home in Manitoba

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