preserving the future

Preserving the FutureThe Story Behind the St. Albert Research Station

John Bocock

“Gift of a Lifetime” 1

We are in Cree Territory 5

Lunch with the President 9

Dr. C. Fred Bentley 13

The Land and the People 17

Dr. Roy Berg 31

St. Albert 37

Contented Cows - Concerned Consumers 42

Rant Wagon 52

Tirley Garth, England 57

Jenny and Rachel 68

Henry Kancs 71

“Phyllis” by H. W. (Bunny) Austin, Jenny’s father 74

Acknowledgements 75

“Common Folk” by Geoff (W.G.B.) Bocock, my father 76

Sustainable Agriculture 77

Contents

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Remarks made by the Bocock family at the an-nouncement ceremony:

Bill: Agr icu l tu ra l , Life and Environmental Sciences can be assured that the land on which this tent is pitched is not stony land. How-ever, we have found two stone hammers, solid clues that it supported families before settle-ment by Europeans. I want to thank Will Campbell and Lew-is Cardinal for blessing this land this morning. I

also want to thank our neighbor, Walter Mis for his invaluable efforts, enabling a speedy transfer of this land from W. G. Bocock to The University of Alberta. Walter’s only recompense is our lasting gratitude and the knowledge that he is contributing to the future. Despite dry years and hail, for as far back as there are records, this land has never failed to produce. The worst threat has been pollution from industry. Pollution has affected the health of family members, employees, livestock and vegetation. “The Future of Dirt is Our Future,” was a headline in Saturday’s Edmonton Journal. A graduate of Purdue Uni-versity estimates the cost of providing one acre of man-made topsoil is $30,000.00. Dr.C.F.Bentleysummeduptheneedfor landstewardshipwiththesewords.“Futuregenerationswillfindinexcusable our squandering of agricultural land.” It is our hope that some of the research done here will provide alternatives to the dependency of North American agricultureonpetroleumproducts.WehaveconfidencetheUniversitywillbegoodstewardsofthisland. Phyllis, whose grandfather homesteaded near Beaumont in 1885 has the next word.

Phyllis: Our family does not agree on all things; those who work and live with us know that! But we do agree that farm-land can and must be preserved. We believe that the University of Alberta will honor the commitment we made. I remember a Cree friend, Ed Burnstick, saying that we are meant to care for the land as if we are thinking for seven future generations. Now we are passing on this responsibility to the younger generation. I’d like to think whenever my great nieces, great nephews and their children pass by this university land they will feel proud of the fact it is being used to feed the world. Now I will introduce Rachel, who is the youngest member of our family, but in her other life is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association.

Rachel: I am very happy and relieved that this land is being entrusted to the stewardship of the University of Alberta as it isafittingtributetomyfamily’slegacy.Mygreat-grandfatherlefthisfarminIrelandduring“TheTroubles’’tostartanewlifeforhisfamilyhere.Mygrandfatherlosthisfirstfarmduringthedepressionandworkedforhisfather-in-law until he could afford to buy the farm for himself. For my father and uncle, farming is so much a part of their life that even on vacation they often took more pictures of tractors and sewage lagoons than they did of monuments or scenic vistas (unless of course those vistas contained cows or hay stacks). My father and uncle were often accused of being addicted to farming! The University should not be surprised to

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receivemanyoffersofneighbourlyassistancewiththelivestockandfieldsfromthesetwoovertheyearstocome.We look forward to having the University as our neighbours.

Jenny: Seeing people with their goats, trying to make a living on rocky soil in Eritrea has given me a passion to save prime agricultural soil. George Friesan from “Preserve Agricultural Land,” speaking to Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, told us only seven percent of Canada is farmable. Less than one percent is prime land. Professor Fred Bentley, renowned U. of A. soil scientist, said inputs are less on good soil. I salute Jim Visser and Wayne Groot for their work to protect #1 soil. The Good Lord and Initiatives of Change have inspired us to get along and think for the world. It has been a privilege to meet university professors and researchers who have worked all over the world. Re-cently they hosted a seminar for someone from Zimbabwe who told about supplying 600,000 small farms with virus clean sweet potatoes. Researchers at the university want to help. My thought has been to let the original Canadians use our farm. When the chance came to sell to the university, Lewis Cardinal and Alvin Manitopyes (two First Nations friends) felt that selling to the university would help everyone. People from the university have been very helpful and pleasant. So thank you.

John: Daughter, Rachel, charged me with being addicted to farming. I plead guilty as charged! I am grateful to the University for providing this opportunity for our long-time neighbours to meet our new neighbours. Maporientation-777acres-not800acresbecausethetwinningofHighway#2tookasliceoffthreeofthefivequarters. Special recognition is richly deserved by: Tom and Cathy Vandermeer, who have worked with us for 26 years. Bruce Bocock, who is responsible for the straight drill rows you see as you look east and to his dad, cousin Terry, who delivers seed and other essentials as required. Specialtributetomysister,MaryAllam,whosesonandgrandsonshavealsojustfinishedseedingandarewithus today. Finally, a fond remembrance to our late parents, Molly and Geoff.

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We are in Cree Territory

Jenny was born in London, England, heart of the British Empire. She sometimes laments that wherever she goes in the world, she feels convicted to apologize for the sins of the Empire, the slave trade, arbitrary borders, etc. Grain was shipped from Ireland to England even as people in Ireland were starving during the potato famine.

In the Canadian context, “settlement” by newcomers happened without heartfelt regard for original residents. When the Prairie Provinces were surveyed, many became “road allowance people,” without deed to any land. The buffalo and other staples of their livelihood were gone.

In 1912, the year the Bocock family arrived in Canada from England, employment advertisements in newspapers sometimes had a note at the bottom, “Englishmen need not apply.” This was not because the employer was afraid of addictiontoteadrinking;itwasbecauseofATTITUDE.Mygrandfatherhadmanyfinequalitiesbutevenatanearlyage I wondered why he referred to any immigrant from east of the English Channel as a foreigner. When I played cribbagewithhim,thecardshadtobeshuffledandcutthe“proper”wayandnodeviationwastolerated.Acartoonistonce depicted fog in the Channel with a Brit making the astute observation that, “The continent is isolated.” I apologize to anyone who has been hurt by my own self-righteous inclinations.

Judy J. Johnson PhD, professor of psychology at Mount Royal Collage, Calgary, Alberta, is the author of What’s So WRONG With Being Absolutely RIGHT. It is a good read, whatever one’s background or belief system.

When we started to consider the best disposition of our land, Jenny thought about this sad history and what we could do about it. We discussed the University possibility with our First Nations friends and without exception they said this was the best thing we could do.

Lewis Cardinal asked Elder Will Campbell to preside over a pipe ceremony preceding the announcement ceremony.

We have known Alvin Manitopyes for 35 years. He sent us this email:

Good Afternoon John/Jenny and Bill/Phyllis,

I feel honoured to be mentioned in the speeches - thank you!This is a land transfer that is of a noble nature. I say noble because it’s in the true meaning of performing a noble act and today’s society has lost the meaning of nobleness.As a descendent of three Chiefs who signed Treaty #4 the true spirit and intent of the Treaty was signed by Chiefs who were of a noble nature. The Treaty commissioner representing the Queen stated the land shared by the Cree and

Elder, Will Campbell performing the Pipe Ceremony before the announcement.

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other Indian Nations is to be used for agricultural purposes and only enough land for the plough of the European settler to penetrate the earth. They said they would come back and make another treaty with us regarding natural resources but this never happened. When they drew up the documents they said all land had been ceded and the mountains were never negotiated.So today I view the Bocock family as exercising their Treaty rights in making use of the land for agricultural purposes in accordance to the spirit and intent of the sacred Treaties and by committing their land to be used in the future for agricultural purposes then it’s consistent with the Treaties so this is what I mean when I use the term - noble!I commend all your family in this act of sharing.

Alvin

Singer/Drummer, Joe Giroux concluding the announcement ceremony.

Left to right: Carol Duggan, Shirley Challoner, President Indira Samarasekera chatting with my sister, Mary Allam, Susan Mclaren, Cameron Allam, following the announcement, June 4, 2008.

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Editorial and Letters:

9

Lunch with the President

Within hours of signing the agreement with the University of Alberta, our phone rang and a friendlyvoicesaiditwastheofficeofthepresident,“Onemomentplease.”Nextcametheenthusi-astic voice of President lndira Samarasekera, saying this was a gift that one normally only dreams about.SheinvitedustolunchattheFacultyClubafewdayslatertotalkfurther.Herfirstcommentat lunch was, “I want to know what lies behind this gift: tell me about yourselves.” This request has since been reinforced by others, prompting this attempt to put “pen to paper.” It will be shorter than Dad’s autobiography. “A Tale For The Telling,” and have fewer sonnets than “Poems For People,” myfirstpublishingventure.

Before looking back, I should update two items from “Gift of a Lifetime” on the previous pages. The subtitle is “The inside story of how the largest-ever gift of land for research to a Canadian uni-versitycametogether.”IamdelightedtohandoverthatbrieflyhelddistinctiontoRuthandEdwinMattheis: see following page.

EdwinwasbrieflyintroducedtomeonJune4,2008,atourannouncementbyMarilynMonson,gift planning manager for U. of A. She later whispered to me that Edwin was considering doing some-thing like we had done. Subsequently we were guests of the University at “Growing Alberta” at the Calgary Roundup Centre and found ourselves sitting next to Ruth and Edwin. I was invited to their announcement and carpooled to Calgary with Barry lrving, manager of all the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) research stations. Shortly after entering the Ranchman’s

Club, Ruth came up to me and said she wanted me to know howmuchtheywereinfluencedbyourexample.

Better things were yet to come; lunch on their (now U. of A.) ranch looking out over the Red Deer River valley. Be-fore lunch we had a one-and-a-half-hour tour of one part of the ranch and after lunch a two-hour tour of another part, all on Edwin’s electric powered dune buggy. This noiseless

machine is consistent with Edwin’s “minimum interference” philosophy and allowed Edwin and Bill toconfirmplantandbirdspeciesenroute.JennyandEdwinsatupfrontandBillandIwerecomfort-ably perched on the traditional spring-mounted buggy seat behind, with a crash bar to hold on to. The location is dry, mixed grass prairie so one of the most impressive surprises was to see the extensive wetland that Edwin has developed over the years using surplus irrigation water. My only regret was that my cousin, David Boag was not with us. While I was studying agriculture at U. of A., he was studying conservation biology and stayed at the farm with us. With regret, I must confess that when discussingconservationissuesaswedrovetotheUniversity,hewouldonoccasionpoundhisfiston the dashboard in frustration over my unsympathetic, conventional farmer “plant every acre, drain every slough” attitudes. Seeing what Edwin has done would have been a tonic to David.

David grew up in Strathcona County. Today, if a Strathcona farmer wishes to subdivide a quarter section which has a creek running through it, he can only do so subsequent to putting a conservation casement on the creek and creek banks. Conservation is not only becoming respectable, it is becom-ing standard practice.

The second update is regarding the Bocock Chair. We are delighted with the selection of Bill Sho-tykandthatoneofhisfirstintroductionstoAlbertawasdeliveringthe9th Annual Bentley Lecture in Sustainable Agriculture. To view this and previous lectures, Google <Bentley Lecture>. On the ALES Dept. of Renewable Resources web page click on galleries and presentations under Bentley Lectures.

We extend to Bill and his family a warmest of western welcomes. Our horizons are wide and so are our needs for his expertise! We do give him permission to return to his home farm in Ontario everyMay24th weekend for their traditional tree planting. Bill refers to his farm as his private univer-sity. His web site, www.ualberta.ca/~shotyk/ portrays the thousands of trees planted and the beavers who enjoy the habitat.

Better things were yet to come; lunch on their (now U of A) ranch looking out over the Red Deer River valley.

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The University of Alberta said Tuesday it is the recipient of the largest gift of land by any Canadian university, a working 5,000-hectare ranch, 150 kilometers east of Calgary.

The gift came from Edwin and Ruth Mattheis, two alumni who have lived in Calgary since 1958. The couple bought the 19 sections of Three Walking Sticks Ranch near Duchess in 1977.

“We had this marvelous piece of land and we didn’t want to see it sub-divided and abused,” said Ruth Mattheis.

The ranch, which includes lands where the legendary Alberta cowboy John Ware once lived, will house the university’s new Rangelands Research Institute, to focus on range-land ecology and management. Soil conservation, water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, land reclamation and livestock production will all be studied.

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Inaugural Bocock Chair

By Michel Proulx October 11, 2011

(Edmonton) Agricultural and environmental research at the University of Alberta received a major boost as the first Bocock Chair in Agriculture and the En-vironment started his new duties earlier this month.

William Shotyk, an internationally renowned soil and water scientist, plans to develop a world-class centre at the University of Alberta for agricultural and environmen-tal research and teaching, em-phasizing chemical transforma-tions at the water-air-soil interface.

“Soil is where the action is,” says Shotyk, who specializes in environmental pollution by heavy metals. “Consider the discussion about oilsands, heavy metals and water quality . . . there are basic questions about what’s actu-ally in the water, how much is associated with soil particles and how much is really dissolved in the water and accessible to organisms. The molecular transformations of elements between environmental compartments are in urgent need of study.”

One of the first things Shotyk will do in his new position is deliver the annual Bentley Lecture in Sustainable Agriculture on Oct. 13 at 3 p.m. in the Myer Horowitz Theatre. The title of his talk is “Soil and water: Our key to survival.”

Shotyk spent the last decade as professor at the University of Heidelberg where he was also the director of the Institute of Environmental Geochemistry. He and his research team studied the natural and anthropogenic geochemical cycles of trace elements and used ice cores from the Canadian Arctic as archives of global environ-mental change. Prior to that, he spent a dozen years at the University of Berne, developing the use of peat bogs worldwide as archives of environmental pollution and climate change.

His research at the U of A will examine the linkage between agricultural practices and greenhouse gas emis-sions, eutrophication of wetlands, landscape homogenization, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and issues in water management. Using the structure and function of natural ecosystems as a guide, the long-term objectives of his research will lead to a better understanding of how to sustainably manage our natural resources, maintain productive ecosystems and foster human health.

Shotyk will have all the tools needed to look at those issues in a systematic way with the construction of a new clean lab. The lab is being designed to study the cycling and transformations of trace metals in soils, water, air, manures and plants from both agricultural and natural ecosystems. The lab will be a state-of-the-art analytical facility, the first of its kind in North America, and one of only two in the world to combine colloid and particle separation with trace element and Pb isotope analysis. The lab is scheduled to be completed by October 2012.Shotyk is originally from Ontario and is cross-appointed between the Department of Renewable Resources in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sci-ences in the Faculty of Science.

Copyright © 2002-2011 University of Alberta

William Shotyk is the first Bocock Chair in Agriculture and Environment.

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Evergreen Revolutionaries

Edwin and Ruth, we write to say How much we enjoyed a perfect dayTours in a buggy with electric power John Ware vistas by the hour.

Land reclaimed from man’s abuses Plots to explore its future usesHome of a rangeland research station Ideal for vital experimentation.

Water managed for the common good Irrigation to produce more foodWetlands maintained through times of drought Nature’s bounty blossoms all about.

A peek at future possibilitiesA tribute to two friends abilities.

John Bocock August 18, 2011

Professor MS Swaminathan said in the 2010 Bentley Lecture that we now face the challenge of producing more food, using less inputs - “The Evergreen Revolution.”

Jenny, Bill and Edwin at the entrance of the University of Alberta Rangeland Research Institute

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Dr. C. Fred Bentley

Dr. Bentley taught me soils and public speaking. This was good medicine for this shycountryladwhodidnothavethebenefitof4Hpublicspeakingtraining!

Many years later, I had breakfast with Fred and his fellow soils professor, Dr. John Toogood, I gathered from their conversation that the Breton Plots Soil Conservation Society had just been approved to help run a casino to raise money for the Breton Plots Endowment Fund. I expressed astonishment that, in Alberta, retired soils professors have tovolunteerweekends to runcasinos tofinancevital long termexperimentalplots. Fred’s response was, “John, give me $25 and you will be a member of the so-ciety.” For a number of years, Fred hosted society meetings in his home. Fred, John and more recently Dr. Jim Robertson have been major donors of both retirement time andfinancetotheBretonPlotsandtheEndowmentFund.Itisnowover$1,000,000.More is needed.

Dr. M. S. Swaminathan quoted the following 1982 statement by Dr. Bentley in his Fred Bentley/Lester Pearson Memorial Lecture, October 7, 2010, “I am of the opinion that the welfare of Canadians, and especially of future generations, is being adversely affected by unnecessary usage of a considerable area of agricultural land fornon-agriculturalpurposes.Iamalsooftheopinionthattheextentandsignificanceof farmland deterioration under use in Canada are largely unknown and very inad-equately researched.”

The winter 2012 edition of New Trail, University of Alberta alumni magazine features a full page of current partnerships with India: “There are around 500 Indian students studying at the U. of A., about 75 academic staff with ties to India, and 11 research agreements and memorandums of understanding with Indian institutions and organizations. An ambitious$4.9millionprojectmanagedinpartnership by the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences and In-dia’s MS Swaminathan Research Founda-tion will aim to alleviate poverty and mal-nutrition in three rural communities in India. An ALES research team – composed of pro-fessors Nat Kav, Brent Swallow, Ellen God-dard and Miles Dyke, ’08 PhD, as well three ALES graduate students and their counter-parts from the MS Swarninathan Foundation – are introducing intercropping, the practice of planting multiple crops in the same area. Plants that require different nutrients or dif-ferent sunlight conditions can share farmland, increase diversity and be more resilient against pests.”

MymaSnart,ALESDevelopmentOfficer,worked closely with Fred on the Breton Plots Endowment Fund. I am also grateful for her helpful input on our land deal with the Universi-ty just before she retired. At her retirement party I was asked to read the sonnet I wrote for her.

Forever Aggie

This is Myrna’s special day

Retiring from the U. of A.

Shesaysgood-byetoroom2-14

Fruits of her labor clearly seen.

HerfilesincludetheBretonPlots

Basic research for better crops

The Endowment Fund, one million raised

Work well done needs to be praised.

Bar None, a cause close to her heart

Funds help students get their start

With a little help from her friend Reg

Every year a larger pledge.

Years of faithful service done

Years ahead, more time for fun.

John Bocock

April 15, 2008

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Dr. C. Fred Bentley Biography

A variety of international agricultural development assistance activities punctuated the time of the Bentleys at the University of Alberta. Major assign-ments included a year in Sri Lanka (1952-53); three months in Thailand (1962); three months (1967) for Fred in India as leader of a ten member Canadian Agri-cultural Task Force seeking to identify how Canadian capabilities and resources might be able to assist lndia’s agriculture sector.

As a result of that work Bentley spent a year in the Canadian International DevelopmentAgency(CIDA)asthefirstSpecialAdvisorforAgriculture.TheCIDA position entailed about four months visiting more than a dozen develop-ing countries. In 1970 with the establishment of The International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Fred became a member of the Board of Governors, and of its executive committee, under the chairmanship of former Prime Min-ister Pearson.

In 1972 Bentley was invited to become a member of the governing board of a new agency, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid

Tropics (ICRISAT) near Hyderbad, India. He served, in a voluntary capacity, as chair of the ICRISAT board for ten years. During that time ICRISAT became one of the largest and most successful of the 15 IARIs. In recognition of Bentley’s contributions, ICRISAT, in 2001, designated its conference room as the Dr. C. Fred Bentley Conference Centre.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Bentley did many short-term international consultancies for agencies such as Canada’s CIDA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank, Rockfound (an arm of the Rockefeller Foundation), and the United States Agency for International Development.

Bentley was active in professional agriculture organizations. He served as president of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists, the Canadian Society of Soil Science, the Agricultural Institute of Canada and the International Society of Soil Science (afouryearterm).Hewasalso,forfiveyears,thefirstchairoftheboard of trustees for the International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM) headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bentley has received more than thirty awards in recognition of his efforts and contributions. They include:

OfficeroftheOrderofCanada;Member of the Alberta Order of Excellence;Honorary Doctor degrees from the Universities of Alberta and Guelph;Fellowships in seven professional societies (four of them non-Canadian);The H. H. Bennett Award made once yearly by the Soil and Water Conservation Society of America;and The Outstanding Achievement Award of the Univer-sity of Minnesota.

Although it is 26 years since Bentley was designated Professor Emeritus of Soil Science by the University of Alberta, he continues to be deeply involved in agricultural activities related to the Uni-versity of Alberta. In recognition of Helen Bentley’s contributions to Home Economics, the Alberta Home Economics Association has established a bursary in her honor at the University of Alberta.

Helen and Fred Bentley have made major donations, in their joint names, to the Edmonton Community Foundation, the Univer-sity of Alberta and the International Development Research Centre.

Dr. C. Fred Bentley, P. Ag.

The Big Picture

Professors have a reputation Of zeroing in on one vocationA narrow field to match the hour Reclusive in an ivory tower.

Fred blows away this misconception And brings a wider expectationNot one child hungry, food for all Journals print his clarion call.

Hands in the soil, manure on test Down and dirty, what works bestThe Breton Plots showed higher yields Copied on countless Alberta fields.

Message sown in fertile soilTime will honor all your toil.

Happy 90th birthday March 14 ’04 John Bocock Class of ’57.

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St. Albert Research Station. Foreground: U of A plot

seeder. Background: Alberta Agriculture plot seeder.

St. Albert Research Station. Plot of Fababeans, a legume noted for the amount of nitrogen the rhizomes on its roots deposit in the soil reducing the need for fertilizer on succeeding crops.

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The Land and the People

TheSouthWestQuarterofSection28Township54Range25Westofthe4th Meridian, at the intersec-tionofHighway2andTownshipRoad544isthehomequarteroftheSt.AlbertResearchStation.

In 1897 it became the “home” quarter of Oscar Terrault. At the recent banquet celebrating the 60th anniversary of the St. Albert Air Cadet Squadron I sat next to Germaine Pinco, granddaughter of Oscar. She remembered me sitting at their kitchen table together with her father, Toussaint, and neighbour, Cheri Chevigny. Toussaint was farming SW 28 but his home quarter was SE 20 so he had to move equipment and produce between them on busy Highway 2. Cheri owned NE 20 and was ready to retire. Toussaim agreed to buy it as it adjoined his SE 20. I agreed to buy his SW 28 as it adjoined our NW 28. All three of us went awayhappy!WehadpreviouslyboughtNE28fromCheri.Beforethat,in1940,DadhadboughttheNW28, which belonged to Charlie Robertson. We subsequently bought SE 28 from George Kluthe.

The family histories and the history of Volmer that follow are from “Black Robes Vision, A History of St. Albert and District,” compiled by the St. Albert Historical Society in 1985 in two volumes. I am grate-ful for this great historic record and for Ray Pinco, chair, board of directors, giving permission to use these extracts from it. Ray is Germaine’s husband.

As the Robertson family had moved to the Peace River area, their history was not included. Dad said in his book that “we had always got along well as neighbours.”

For a number of years Oscar Terrault’s oldest son, Henry, did custom threshing for us. Being the youngest, it was my privilege when the bin was almost full to squeeze into the bin past the thresher spout to push grain back into the corners of the bin. Just before getting buried, a wave to Henry would prompt a move to the next bin. Henry was also trustee of Volmer School, which I attended for grades 1 to 8, and on the board of the St. Albert Community Hall, still home base of the air cadets.

Henry farmed land on both sides of Volmer School. His son, Dave, installed a horn on their John Deere D, very high tech for those days. He diligently honked every time he passed the school. Successive teach-ers were not impressed, as it did not help us concentrate on our studies. I wonder if they ever complained to the trustee?

Our sister Mary liked horses so we went to school by buggy in fall and spring and cutter in winter. When she graduated from Volmer there was no school bus service to St. Albert so she boarded with friends in Edmonton and attended Westglen High School. Bill and I mobilized our bicycles. In weather unsuitable for cycling, we walked.

Bilda Flynn taught us until she married Ben Kluthe. Her sister, Rita, then taught us until she married Cliff Crozier. They lived 2.5 miles east of us and Volmer School was1.5 miles west of us. In good weather they would cycle, giving Bill and me company. I do not recall any challenges to a race!

Between marriages and party telephone lines it was a close-knit community. At one time we had 13 familiesonourpartyline.Ourringwas4shorts.Neighbourswouldbetwoshortsandalongoralongandashort, etc. It was prudent to censor gossip “on line.’’ Identity theft had a different connotation in those days!

Someyearsago,JennyandaladypassengerdroveouttothefieldwhereIwasworking.“Do you know who I am?’’“I am sorry, you will have to help me.”“IamMissSartor,yourteacherin1948.’’Wehadahappyreunionovertea.Shegaveusaphotoof

herself with her 22 eager students. Please see the following page. Back row, left to right: Beatrice Terrault, daughterofEmile;BenHinch,whosefatherbuiltour1947 loosehousingdairybarn;NoreenTerrault;Rita Brennies; Miss Sartor; Ernie Bokenfohr; Robert Bokenfohr - hidden behind the goofy guy with head tipping over (me); Ray Brennies; Bill Bocock; and John Bokenfohr (Sturgeon Erectors) who built our free stall dairy barn in 1980 and our machine shed in 1982.

I am grateful for all my teachers, especially for the way they coped with split classes (8 grades) and cold mornings when our ink would be frozen until 10 a.m. We had to cope with the fact that attractive and vivacious teachers like the three mentioned opted for early career changes: they married farmers!

In the picture of the Volmer class of 1929 on page 29, Helen Kingston is my mother’s sister.

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Oscar and Annie Terrault

by Jean Terroult, Oermaine PiucoBeatrice Lavoit and Paulette Touw

Our grandfather, Oscar Terrault, was born in Montreal in 1870. He became an accountant. He came west to Al-berta on the advice of his physician who felt the drier western climate would be healthier for Oscar’s failing lungs. Hepurchasedaquarter-sectionoflandmadeavailablebytheC.P.R.,SW28·54·25-W4,andarrivedinSt.Albertinthe fall of 1897.

The Following spring Oscar began construction on the two-story frame house and sent for his childhood sweet-heart, Annie Patenaude, who followed him to St. Albert one year later. Annie’s mother helped her pack the trunk with all her belongings, which included the wedding ring. Annie, who was Oscar’s age, came west chaperoned by a priest who had explicit orders from her parents to marry Oscar and Annie immediately upon arrival. Once at her destination, Annie opened the trunk for the ring, but no ring could be found! The priest, Father J. B. Morin, being a resourceful man, performed the wedding ceremony using a cigar band for the ring. Oscar and Annie were married October 31, 1898, with Sam Bouchard and Ulgeric L’Able as witnesses, in the St. Albert Church.

OscarandAnniewereblessedwithfivesons:HenriJoseph(January14,1900);EmilePierre(June20,1903);ReneArmand(December17,1904);ToussaintEdouard(October25,1905);PaulAvila(January21,1908).Allthechildren were delivered at home by Nurse Rondeau.

HenriandEmilestartedschoolin1908atBoulaisSchool,locatedonSE3·54·35·W4,amilesouthofthepres-ent Volmer Store on Highway 635. They attended this school until it was condemned. On January 25, 1913, a new schooldistrictwasformed,andanewschool,locatedonNE21·54·25·W4,calledGuilbault,wasattendedbytheboys. Henri went to school for six years; Emile, for seven; Rene, Toussaint and Paul were able to go for eight years. The weather conditions and the fact that they worked at home to help with the crops caused them to miss a great

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dealofschool.TheirfirstyearsweremostdifficultbecausetheycouldnotspeakEnglish.Two of their teachers were Mr. O’Grady and Father Sullivan.

While the boys attended school, their father, Oscar, was secretary of the school board. Although he was bilingual when he arrived in St. Albert, Annie was not. However, she learnedEnglishwithhersonswhentheywereinschool,andasaresult,becamefluentin both French and English.

One of the most exciting times for the boys was Christmas. Grandmother made a special Christmas pudding steamed in cheesecloth. The boys had the special duty to en-sure that the stove was continuously fueled so that the water would not stop boiling. On Christmas evening, rum was poured over the pudding, all the lights extinguished and the dessertceremoniouslysetafire.

In1914or1915Oscarbought a secondquarterof land, affectionatelycalled theMissionQuarter,fromtheOblateFathers:SE20·54·25·W4.Thefirstyeartheyclearedthebrushoff40acres,hauledthetimberhome,thensawedandsplitthewoodduringthewinter. The woodpile was so huge it lasted ten years! The following spring they grubbed the stumps and broke the land. This quarter later became the home of Toussaint.

Thefirstpieceoffarmingequipmentpurchasedwasan18”walkingplowwhichwaspulledbyfourhorses.Oscar’sfirstdrillwasa15-shoedrill.Thenheboughtathreshingmachine which had no blower; bundles had to be hand fed into the cylinder. It was pow-ered by a 12-horse engine on a “truck.” Three or four years later, a blower was added to the thresher. Next came a 21” Humming Bird Thresher and a Fordson Tractor with steel wheels. Later the Fordson was traded in for a Titan. Next came the Allis-Chalmers trac-tor and a 28” Red River Special separator. This brings us to the combine era.

Around1914OscartookhisfamilytotheannualexhibitioninEdmontonwheretheysaw a special automobile called the Maxwell. Oscar found it so interesting that the next dayhewentbackandboughtthefirstfamilycar!

TheonlymembersofthefamilytogetalightcaseofthefluwereHenriandEmile,but their dad was able to cure them in three days with red liniment. During this time, every pregnant woman in the area died. A messenger travelled around the area each day toannouncethepreviousday’sfluvictims.

About 1915 Oscar obtained a homestead quarter in Riviere Qui Barre which the familygraduallydeveloped.In1921,S1/2-6-55-25-W4waspurchased;andin1929or1930,thehomesteadwastradedforSW5-55·25·W4.Theformerparceloflandeventu-ally became Henry’s home, and the latter became Emile’s.

Following the purchase of the homestead land, Oscar became ill. He died of cancer

Oscar Terrault Family

Paul Terrault

Rene Terrault

20

on December 18, 1923.Annie, now with five grown sons, remained on the

farm which was cooperatively managed by the men. In 1926, Henri left the fold to be married, followed by Emile in1932and,finally,Toussaintin1935.

Due to her advancing age and ill health, Annie moved to theYouvilleHome in1943,whereshe remaineduntilher death on October 13, 1946.We grandchildren havefond recollections of visiting her each Sunday after Mass.

Rene and Paul remained at home with their mother and expanded their farming operation when SE3·55·25·W4,which included the mineral rights, was purchased from the Bellisle family. This north quarter became Paul’s and the home quarter, Rene’s.

In addition to farming, Paul found employment at the Samismine.OnJanuary21,1944,hediedtragicallyinacar accident near Barrhead.

Rene suffered from the same lung ailment as did his father, and as a result was not able to do strenuous work. Being alone at home, Rene was often found visiting and reminiscing with family members. He passed away December 28, 1956.

Emile and Mary Terrault, Beatrice, Noreen

and Dorothy

Alice, Henry, Dave, Clara, Gladys

Sheila, Laurent, Germaine, Donald, Lucy and Toussaint

Raising the roof on the Terrault farm

Cutting grain on the Terrault farm - 1947

21

Cheri and Vera Chevigny

Cheri Chevigny was born in St. Albert on June 9, 1913. He was the youngest child of Octave and Julie Chevigny and remained in St. Albert all his life.

As a young man Cheri was active in local sports and played baseball in the summer on the diamond north of the Catholic Church. A good ball game was always a feature attraction at the church picnics held on Sunday afternoons. In the winter, Cheri played hockey on the river and was a goal-tender on the local team. On warm winter afternoons he and his friends would often sleigh ride down the hill from the Roman Catholic Church to as far south as the St. Albert and District Arena. Cheri’s homemade bobsled carried about six people, and once they were down the hill a friend, Dan Maloney, who owned a coupe car, would tow the sled back to the top of the hill ready for another ride.

When Cheri was a boy, he was given a bear cub by some trappers who had stabled their horses overnight in his father’s barn (currently the south-west corner of St. Vital Ave. and Highway #2). When the bear, named Betty, grew older, it had to be tied up because on several occasions it went by itself to Joe Lambert’s store on the corner of Perron and Ste. Anne Streets where it had previously been given candies. Luckily Cheri’s older brother, Godfrey, worked at the store and would bring Betty home. Eventually he had to give his pet bear to the Borden Park Zoo.

When Cheri completed school in St. Albert he attended Jesuit College in Edmonton where he studied commerce and law in both French and English. He walked back and forth from St. Albert to college with his friends, Marcel Lambert and Gene Perron. Sometimes they were fortunate and Nick Perrott would give them a ride in his Model T Ford. In Cheri’s last year of college, his father bought a 1927 Chevrolet car which he drove to school, and then asafamilycaruntil1949.

In May 1927 Vera Perrott moved to St. Albert with her parents, Bill and Rose. Vera was 13 years old and a granddaughter to the aforementioned Nick Perrott, who lived in St. Albert. Cheri and Vera met at a school dance. They both had attended classes at Father Mérèr School (brick school). As a teenager Vera played hockey on a girl’s team.

Occasionally, on Sunday afternoons, the girl’s team would play against the men on the skating rink on Ste. Anne Street across from the Bruin Inn.

Cheri and Vera married on June 8, 1937. They farmed approximately 400acresnorthofSt.AlbertandlivedontheChevignyhomesteadintheNW16-54-25-W4.Theweatherwasnotalwayskindtothemandforsevenconsecutive years, after they had bought the farm from Octave (Cheri’s fa-ther), their crop was frozen or hailed out. Cheri owned his own threshing machineandinthefallofeachyearduringthe1940’s,hewouldhireap-proximately 12 local men for a harvesting crew. They would move from neighbour to neighbour, working long hours until all the crops were in. The threshing crew was provided with room and board, which meant Vera had to provide clean bedding and prepare three full meals, plus an afternoon lunch, eachday.Thiswasespeciallydifficultsincetheydidnothaverunningwateror electricity.

Cheri and Vera farmed until his death on June 8, 1973. They had three

Enjoying the Sturgeon, c. 1925

Cheri and Betty

22

children: twin girls, June and Joan, born three days apart on July 20 and 23, 1939, and a third daughter, Mavis, bornon July18,1947.Familynow living inSt.Albertare: June and Frank Campbell and sons Darrell and Brad Liptak (from a previous marriage); Joan and David Lewis and son Brent; and Mavis and Wallace Olsen and children Cheri Ann and Wade.

Cheri and threshing machine, c. 1940

Vera and Cheri with the twins

23

George Joseph Kluthe

by Raymond Kluthe

George Joseph Kluthe was born on November 2, 1905, the youngest child of Joseph and Elizabeth Kluthe. He attended the Boulais School for one year, walk-ing the three mile distance with his older brothers and sisters. He then went to the Guilbault School which was only two and a half miles away.

While in his early 20’s, George left the farm to work on threshing crews in southern Alberta, Montana and North Dakota. In Montana, healsoworkedintheoilfields.Whenhisfatherleftthefarmin1928andretiredinEdmonton,George returned to St. Albert to work the farm which consisted of three quarters: the home quar-ter(SW21-.54-25-W4),andtwoothers(NW21-54-25-W4andNW27-54-25-W4).

On August 26, 1929, he married Marie Dorée Chevigny, daughter of Octave and Julie Chevi-gny who owned an adjacent farm. Their only son, Wesley George, was born June 26, 1930.

During the early 1930’s George did mixed farming with a full line of horse machinery, trac-tor and livestock. About 1935, he began to raise Belgian draft horses and during his years as a horse breeder, he shipped many horses to Ontario. He was a director of the Canadian Belgian Horse Association. He showed horses in Edmonton and at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair where one horse. “Water Cress Lorraine” took a second prize.

The depression years were a struggle. George recalled that in 1929, he sold his wheat for $1.28-$1.32 a bushel. In 1930he threshed4,000bushels, stored it for thewinter and in the

spring, after paying storage costs, received 30¢ a bushel for it.Heoncetook14pigs,weighingabout200poundseach,tomarketandwasabletogetonly$4eachforthem.Hisfatherassisted by paying the taxes for a couple of years to avoid losing the farm.

By1945however,hewasabletopurchaseanotherquar-ter-section (SE28-54-25-W4)bringinghis holdings to 640acres. By this time though, the market for draft horses had declinedandin1947,hesoldthelastofhisstock.

In 1957 he began to raise purebred registered Hereford cattle and became very well-known and respected in cattle-men’s circles. His farm was the site of Hereford breeders’ tours and played host to a delegation of Russian cattle buyers looking for breeding stock to ship back to the U.S.S.R. In 1959,GeorgewonfirstprizefortheGrandChampiontwo-year old bull at the Edmonton Stock Show.

George was a founding member and director of the St. Albert Community League in the early 1940’s andwas acharter member of the St. Albert Lions Club. He also took an active interest in politics and was scrutineer at many local elections.

At the time of his death on April 27, 1981, George was raisinghisprizecattleononly40acresofhisoriginalfarm.His wife, Dorée, pre-deceased him on September 9, 1979.George and Dorée - 1929

Combines harvesting on the Kluthe farm - 1945

24

The Bocock Family

by Geoff Bocock

We were born in the village of Gazeley in the County of Suffolk inEngland.Myfatherandmotherhadfivechildren:myself, Geoff; my brothers Jack, Cecil and Bruce; and my sister Marjorie. My grandfather, William Bocock and his two sons, my father Ernest and my uncle Percy, farmed most of the land round the village as tenants of the Rhodes estate, which was then owned by the widow of Ernest Rhodes; she was the sister-in-law of Cecil Rhodes, the colonizer of Rhodesia.

Mother had a brother, W.L. Wilkin, who had come to Al-berta in the 1890’s and was in the real estate business in Ed-monton. He had come to England with the Strathcona Horse, tofightintheBoerWarandwhilerecoveringinEnglandfromwounds, he had planted in my parents’ mind the idea of emi-grating to Canada. With four sons and a daughter, they were persuaded that their children might have a brighter future there than if they stayed in England.

In the fall of 1911, dad gave up the lease on the Gazeley farm, sold the livestock and equipment and in April of 1912 our family set sail in the S.S. Manitoba for Canada. We had

been in Liverpool waiting to sail when the news had come in of the sinking of the Titanic, and the terrible loss of life in that tragedy.

Our voyage over was smooth and uneventful and as the Manitoba was a slow old tub, we children had lots of time to recover from seasickness and enjoy the games on deck and the good food. The voyage took over ten days; onewholedaywasspentoffLabradorsteamingthroughheavyicefloes;wewereonlythesecondboatuptheSt.LawrenceRiverthatspring.Irememberwewereamazedtoseethefieldsalongthebanksstillcoveredwithsnow;when we had left England it had been warm and summery, with the fruit trees all in bloom. My parents wondered what kind of a country we were coming to!

We stayed with Uncle Will in Edmonton for three-weeks before moving out to the three river lots we had bought just immediately west of the Town of Fort Saskatchewan near the farm of Thomas J. Carscadden. He had brought his family out from Ontario about 1900. They were wonderful neighbours and were very kind to us.

In the spring of 1921, dad bought a house and acreage within the townsite of St. Albert; heavily wooded land situated on both sides of the trail to Edmonton. This 176 acres had all been subdivided into town lots and sold by promoters during the real estate boom in Edmonton in 1911 and 1912. It had been repossessed for delinquent taxes bytheTownofSt.Albertanddadboughtitfor$34anacre.Thestreetsandavenueshadallbeenclearedoftrees,and we were able to plow them and grow feed on them for our livestock while we got more of the heavy bush cleared and broken. Our main source of income during those years was the sale of pit props and cordwood, which we hauled into the coal mines in Edmonton.

The responsibility for this was carried by dad and my youngest brother Bruce, as I was working out during the summer. I then rented the farm where I had been working when the owners moved out to the coast. My brother Jack was studying mining engineering at university and Cecil, the third boy, was up North doing a variety of jobs to make a living. He did not make much money but he gained a lot of experience loading cordwood, trapping muskrats, cookingandpackingfish.Then,throughafriendofthefamily,hegotajobwithPriceBrothers,thebigpulpandpaper company in Quebec and was put to work by them ‘scaling’ the cords of pulpwood cut by their small contrac-tors in the bush. Cecil’s job was to check the piled cordwood to make sure the contractors were giving the company good measure.

Helivedallwinterinthecamps,hearingandspeakingnothingbutFrenchandbyspringwassufficientlyfluentinthelanguagethathewassentoutbythecompanytolectureonfirepreventioninthetownsandvillagesofthe

Molly and Geoff Bocock, 50th wedding anniversary

25

region.He enrolled in the University of New Brunswick in a Forestry course, and after graduating, joined the

Bedauxorganizationwhichintroducedhimtothefieldofefficiencyengineering,workhehasremainedinfortherestofhisprofessionallife.HefinallyretiredasadirectorofalargeBritishfirm.

His wife was the daughter of the late Judge Wainwright of Fredericton, New Brunswick and they had two children. He is now a widower and is retired in England.

WhenBruce,theyoungestbrother,finishedhighschool,heboughtanantiqueInternationalTractorandused it for two summers doing custom breaking of raw land around St. Albert and district as well as help-ing father on the home place. In 1927 he went to work for the Cockshutt Plow Company as a salesman out oftheirEdmontonoffice,risinginthecompanytomanagerinEdmontonbeforetakingearlyretirementtofarm with his son Terry at Horse Hills, just east of Edmonton. In the meantime, he married Emily, fourth daughter of the late Richard Kingston of Volmer, a lively Irish girl and mother of their two sons, Terry and Rob. Terry married Kathleen Goebeil and they have three children: Gordon, Linda and Bruce Jr.. Rob, a pilot, is married with one young son and lives with his wife Michelle on their acreage outside Toronto.

Our sister Marjorie grew up in St. Albert and attended high school there. She married Tom Boag, son of a pioneer family in the Bremner district and they have four children. They sold their farm at Bremner and movedtoanacreageoutsideVictoriain1937,whereTomdiedin1949,agreatgrieftoallofus.Marjoriestill lives near Victoria, as do their two daughters, Joyce and Brenda and younger son, Brian, all married with families of their own. The oldest son, David, lives in Edmonton with his wife Sophia and children Tom and Franca, where he teaches zoology at the University of Alberta.

Our second brother Jack graduated from the University of Alberta in Mining Engineering. He married Helen Chisholm, daughter of Harry Chisholm, who was then legal counsel for the C.N.R.. That was in the summer of 1930, the early days of the great depression, with jobs just about non-existent, so Jack bought an old Chrysler car and a tent, and they went placer mining for gold along the Saskatchewan River near North Clover Bar. While a degree in Mining Engineering did not help much for shovelling gravel, it did help a bit infindingthemorelikelyplacestodig,andbybothworkinghard,usingahomemaderockerandapump,they were able to make a living. Also, when applying for a job, ‘placer mining’ looked a lot better on his work record than ‘unemployed’.

That fall Jack got a job taking a French millionaire, Charles E. Bedaux, big game hunting in the Rock-ies. Bedaux took a liking to him and hired him to organize an expedition from the Peace River to the Pa-cific,totestatypeofhalftracktruckbuiltbytheCitroenCompanyofFrance.Thisexpeditionwastobeona grand scale, with luxurious accommodation for Mme. Bedaux and her friend, the Countess Chiesa, and the ladies’ maid. They even had a big sorrel gelding, Old Blaze, to carry a full-sized kitchen range. When Blaze came to a tight spot in the bush, he would back up and take a run at it; they said you could hear the crash for half a mile! They got through as far as Telegraph Creek in northern B.C. before the approach of winterforcedabandonmentoftheexpedition.OnebenefitfromtheBedauxenterprisewastheinfusionofcash money it provided through a section of the north where cash, at that time, was an exceedingly scarce commodity.

Subsequently, Bedaux hired Jack to join the South African branch of his company, and though he did not remain long with Bedaux, Jack lived in South Africa and practiced his profession there for the rest of his working life. He died there in 1982. In March of 1926, I, Geoff, the eldest Bocock son, married Mollie, the second daughter of Richard Kingston of Volmer. I gave up the farm I had been renting at Fort Saskatch-ewan and came to work for her father at Volmer.

The Kingstons were Protestants from County Cork in the south of Ireland. They had emigrated to Can-ada to escape the troubles being created there at that time by the Sinn Fein. Richard Kingston had been a successful dairy farmer in Ireland, but he sold his farm and came to Alberta where he bought a half-section of land six miles north of St. Albert. As a point of interest, he acquired the 320 acres fully equipped and house with all the household furnishings for $25,000. It was a large house for those days, with plumbing anditsownlightingplant.AstherewerefivegirlsintheKingstonfamily,besidesfatherandmotherandMrs. Kingston’s brother, Bob, they needed the space. The Coopers, previous owners of the farm, had called it Kilmagar, an Irish name meaning “hills and trees,” and the Kingstons saw no need to change it.

The passing years brought their changes. Lily, the eldest daughter married John Wilkinson, a young

26

farmer from Poplar Lake and Bruce married Emily Kingston.

The farm and dairy business has expanded over the years with the help and good management of my two sons. They both at-tended the Vermilion School of Agriculture and John went on to take his degree in Agriculture at the University of Alberta. When they both decided to farm, we in-corporated as a family business andtheyhavebuiltupagoodeffi-cient enterprise. With faith in God and in His care and guidance, and through the help and friendship of good neighbours, we have won, as a family, as much security as this uncertain life can offer.

A Comedy of ErrorsA well-known truck driver of this area relates a tale of hu-

mourous interest.While driving a load of stock to the packing plant one winter

day in the 1930’s, along the narrow rutted and icy St. Albert Trail, he and his companion noticed a car approaching them. The driver of the vehicle, in his anxiety to get out of the icy rut so that the vehicles could pass each other, lost control and his car flipped over on its side in the shallow ditch. The driver of the car was able to crawl out of his door, but his well-proportioned wife, on the lower side of the car, over-wrought and weeping, could not get out. At the urging of the truck driver, she was convinced to stay in the car while he hooked a chain onto the undercarriage of the car and uprighted it on the road. This was accomplished but when the car was being righted, it did so with a sudden jarring, landing on its wheels, causing the vehicle to shudder and rattle to the point where the occupant of the car was thrust out of the opening door, into the snow-filled ditch, large hat, purse and all, head first. She was not seriously hurt, but her worried husband rushed to aid her. He was met head-on with the flailing purse of his irate wife and was knocked unconscious momentarily. The lady then became worried and remorseful, bursting into tears fearing she had done him harm. However, he soon recovered with only a bit of a cut over his eye. He was able to drive his car home and the good Samaritan truck driver and companion carried on with their journey to the stockyards. They could not keep from laughing to the point of tears over their good deed and its reper-cussions.

Dorothy Chartrand

C h a u t a u q u a came to St. Albert in 1922. The company, owned by Mr. Eric-son of Calgary, had to be guaranteed a certain amount of money before he would visit any town and it was up to the citizens of

these towns to sell tickets.Miss Helen McCarthy (Elvin), of Edmon-

ton, served as supervisor for the company for two years and says she enjoyed the work immensely. She is shown here in St. Albert in front of the ticket booth. The Chautau-qua was shown in a huge tent. There were two performances each day for the five days they spent in each town.

Miss McCarthy also taught school at Rose Ridge.

Mary Wilson

27

Volmer

A History by Tony Iseke

The tiny hamlet of Volmer had its beginning when the Canadian Northern Railroad pushed north of St. Albert to Athabasca in 1908, and a group of farmers petitioned the railroad company to have a siding established east of the Ray Settlement. In compliance with this request, the C.N.R. purchased the necessary landonSW4-55-25-W4fromJosephVollmer and named the siding Volmer’. Local farmers pooled their resources to purchase an additional adjacent six acres for a station and stockyards. These services were a great aid for the farmers at that time: cream could be delivered to the sta-tion platform to be picked up by train for shipment to creameries in Edmonton. Livestock buyers bought cattle and hogs from the farmers who delivered them to the stockyards at the siding and then loaded them onto railroad cars to be transported to markets.

Within a few years, the Gillespie Grain Company built an el-evator to facilitate the shipping of grain. As all produce had to be hauled by horse and wagon, the new elevator saved both time and horse power. In fact, the service was so well used that ten years later, in 1928, a second elevator was constructed on the site.

Seeing the possibility of serving the farmers using the stock-yards and elevators, Emile Maims opened a store next to the sta-tion. A postofficeopenedin the store on November 1, 1913, and Mr.Makusbecamethefirstpostmaster.Later, the store was moved to its present location on the correction line (NW32-54-25-W4).When his wife died in 1916, Mr. Makus resigned as postmaster. The area was then served by a mail route from St. Albert with Mr. Chevigny delivering mail by horse and buggy until December 1,1921, when the post officereopened. William S. Beggs served as postmaster until July 24,1923when he resigned to become grain buyer for the Gillespie Grain Company at Volmer. The post officewas then moved to the home of Mrs. Joseph Vollmer, who operated it for about six months.

Then, in 1924,having purchased the Volmer Store, William Wood relocatedthepostofficeandtook it over. He expanded the grocery and hardware business to include a farm machinery agency and also established the firsttrucking business in the area, using a Model-T Ford. About the same time, Harry Judge opened a black-smith shop on the hill next to the store.

The children of the district had been served by the Boulais Catholic Public School, which had been formed on June 30, 1897 with Joseph Kluthe,ElzearSevignyandFritzGeneasfirst trust-ees. The original school had been built on the farm of Henry lseke, one mile south. In July 1927, approval was given to build a new school on two acres, located 358 feet west of the northeast corner ofNE31-54-25-W4.Fourmonths later approval was given to bor-row $2300 for the construction of a teacherage and site improve-ment. The name was changed at that time to Volmer Catholic Pub-

Delivering grain

Volmer grain elevator

Emil Makus

28

lic School District No.47andNeil Ross of St. Albert, was treasurer. The Volmer School was the focal point of the district and we gathered there for entertainment and sports.

Meeting at the store was quite common too. Customers exchanged gossip or played horseshoes while they waited for their grocery orderstobefilledbythestorekeeper. During the winter months, the men of the district con-gregated at the Volmer Store for quite a dif-ferent pastime - regular poker playing nights. I recall one cold winter night when my dad, Henry Iseke, drove with horse and cutter to join in one ofthesesessions,andstayed̓til the wee small hours of the morning. The horse, tired of waiting for his driver, released himself from the hitching post, leaving my dad to walk home. When he reached the farmstead, he found the horse patiently standing at the barn door waiting to be put in for the night.

When William Wood died in June 1933, his wife Martha, became postmistress and held the position until her resignation on June 5, 1941.LeonardMeyers, who took over the operation of the store and Imperial Oil agency at that time, was installed as postmaster. Ed and Dorinda Borle then bought the business in November 1945andDorinda tookoverthepostoffice.

Ironically Volmer suffered its greatest disaster on themorningofV-EDay,May1945,when the Gillespie elevator burned to the ground. It marked the demise of the small village, as soon after the railroad was abandoned and the remaining elevator was closed and dismantled. The school, which had been constituted within the Sturgeon School Division No.24, in Janu-ary1939,closedinmid-term,1953-54,resultinginthe decline of social activities in the com-munity. In June 1957, approval was given for the sale of the school property and in December of that year, a portion of the former district was transferred to the St. Albert School District No 3. Today the Volmer School District remains as a part of the Sturgeon School District No.24in name only.

The general store, now owned and operated by Stan and Evelyn Walker continues to serve the area, however, the post office closed on April 8, 1968, and Volmer patrons were added to the rural mail delivery route. Mrs. Ann Bambush, who was postmistress from June 1948when her husband, Peter, purchased the Volmer Store, was the last to serve in this capacity.

The Volmer Store, 1941 - 1945

Volmer elevator after the fire

29

Heart Power

A friend and neighbor passed awayMakesonereflectandwanttosayWords of comfort to her kin To ease the pain that’s felt within.

Lois was always reaching out Plants and ideas from her would sproutFarm and school boards prioritized Then greater honors realized.

At home with boys and husband, Ted I recall your kitchen table spreadGood food and lively conversation On issues vital to our nation.

Like Fr. Lacombe at St. Albert’s startLois won with her “Good Heart.”

With our sympathyJohn BocockJanuary 7, 2005

Volmer School - c.1929

Standing: Helen Kingston, Elisabeth Bokenfohr, Kate (Bellerose) lseke, Annie Bokenfohr,

Yvonne Sevigny, Urbine Verlinde, Simone Sevigny, Billy & Helen Woods, Joe & Bud lseke,

Joe & Ben Kluthe Seated: Johnny Kluthe, Johnnie Woods, Alois & Katrina Schaefers, Lassie

Verlinde, Cecilia LafleurNeighbors

Looking back to days long past To highlight memories that lastI look across the road and see A yellow tractor next to me.

Behind the wheel, Bill waves his hand As he cultivates his landTo grow the very best of crops A job that really never stops.

Beyond the farm he had more chores Meeting with fellow councillorsHe worked so hard, I do believe That’s why he soon became our reeve.

Now eighty harvests have slipped byYou look so young, please tell us why!

Happy 80th birthday, BillJohn Dec. 31, 1997.Bill Flynn farmed east and south of SE 28.

His son, Tom is now our County Councilor.

31

Agriculture in His BloodRoy T. Berg (1927 - )

by Geoff McMasterFolio Staff

The scene is familiar to every western Canadi-an - endless pas-tures full of cattle, wheat fields dis-appearing into the horizon under the biggest sky any-where on earth. But something on the Alberta prairie has changed radi-cally in the last 30 years, owing in no small measure to

Dr. Roy Berg’s pioneering research in animal genetics. Look more closely, and you’ll see the cows that today dot the landscape are a kaleidoscope of color rather than the uniform hues of yesterday. Put simply, this changing palette has meant better beef, and more of it.

You might say Berg, who was raised on a farm near Millicent, Alta., has agriculture in his blood. He was the third of four brothers to study agriculture at the Uni-versityofAlberta.SinceBerg’sgraduationin1950,14more family members from two generations have fol-lowed in his footsteps. Counting siblings, spouses and offspring,a totalof34BergshavedegreesfromtheUof A; at this year’s Alumni Association celebration of U of A families, the Berg family had the most members in attendance at 29.

Berg’s strong ties with the rural community have, he admits, helped greatly in building bridges between the ivory tower and the farming industry. “You have to have some friends out there, because if there’s no one listen-ing to you, you have no impact,” he says. “You could do your research and demonstrate some things, but if you haven’t got an audience then nothing will happen. It’ll getinthescientificliterature,andthat’swhereit’llstay.”

Convincing a “conservative industry” to adopt his methods, however, was anything but easy. After com-pleting his master’s and doctoral degrees in animal ge-netics at the University of Minnesota, Berg returned to the U of A as an assistant professor in 1955. In 1960 he

Dr. Roy Berg

established the university’s Kinsella Ranch in eastcentral Alberta and went on to show how selective crossbreed-ing - passing on the superior traits from a large number of breeds - could improve production by 30 to 40 percent.

Despite the success of research at Kinsella, however, traditional pure-breeders remained steadfastly opposed to the idea of mixing breeds to produce synthetic strains. It took Berg a good 10 to 15 years of carefully controlled crossbreeding to sway industry insiders.

“At that time when he started, everyone was laugh-ing at him,” says Dr. Mac Makarechian, who worked with Berg at Kinsella. “And many producers opposed him really furiously. The pure-breeders were so strong, and believed in their breed so enthusiastically, that they thought if they mixed [breeds], everything would be de-stroyed.”

Most of Berg’s crossbreeding techniques gradually became the norm in commercial breeding, winning him induction into the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame and the International Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Houston, Tex. At Kinsella he managed to produce doublemuscled steers with 50 per cent lean muscle tissue by live weight, compared to the average 35 per cent in the standard breeds.

What sets Berg apart from many in his line of work is an ability to communicate with persuasive force. He was known as a maverick who took risks, refused to be intimidated and told it “like it was.” In a 1989 Folio arti-cle, he was described as “a fearless critic of conservative thought in teaching and research at the university, and in agricultural practice outside.”

“I had colleagues in other institutions saying, ‘You shouldn’t be spouting off like that or you’re going to get in trouble.’ But I couldn’t help it,” says Berg. “I never had sense enough to realize this was a danger.”

If you ask Berg, he’ll tell you he made his greatest impact on Alberta agriculture in the classroom, espe-cially through extension courses that disseminated new research quickly through the agricultural community. From his earliest days as a sessional instructor, Berg always put independent research and critical thinking ahead of simply absorbing information. He graded stu-dents on presentations and extensive takehome papers, dispensing with sitdown exams. It was a controversial approach in those days, but his students thrived on it.

As chair of the Department of Animal Science (1977-1982) and dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry (1983-1988), he promoted the development of an entrepreneurial spirit in students: .”.. that desire to be one who does things rather than having someone else tell you what to do all the time.”

32

Practical Application

As Roy Berg’s animal genetics student, I was exposed to the dairy cattle crossbreeding experiments carried out at the Beltsville, Maryland research station. These demonstrated that, although the crossbred cows gave slightly less milk than the purebred Holstein parents, hybrid vigour expressed itself in superior milk fat and protein content, fertility, calving ease, health and longevity. In the 1950s, the dairies encouraged farmers to produce milk with higher butterfat content. Dad achieved this by crossbreeding our Holstein cows to a Guernsey bull.

When frozen semen became available in the early 1960s, we started backcrossing to Brown Swiss. One result was that in 1969, 1970 and 1971 we won the Dept. of Agriculture “Greater. Average Butterfat” trophy for herds on DHI (Dairy Herd Improvement) testing. Theonlyannoyancewasthatthecrossbredcalvesweremoredifficulttoteach to pail feed so Norwegian Red has replaced Brown Swiss in our crossbreeding program with Holstein. Google “crossbreeding dairy cattle” to see pictures of this cross and others in North America and Europe. Twenty percent of New Zealand dairy cattle are now crossbred, mostly Jersey-Holstein. They are proventobemoreprofitableperacre- the bottom line. We have had a Wisconsin, USA dairy farmer in our yard buying replacement heifers. This signals that longevity, of which calving ease is a major component, is making crossbreeding more popular. A dairy-man has enough chores without being a midwife at all hours.

Dairymen have been even more convention bound than beef, sheep, swine and poultry farmers concerning crossbreeding. Roy can rejoice that his bravery and persistence is rewarded at last!

Kilmagar Holstein - Norwegian Red crossbred heifers, March 26, 2012

Since retiring in 1988, Berg, who lives in the park-land area east of Edmonton, has turned his efforts to environmental preservation. He is currently chair of the Beaverhill Lake Stakeholders Advisory Council, as well as a member of the advisory committee of the Ministik Lake Bird Sanctuary, and has been chair of the Beaver-hillLakeNatureCentre inTofield.Hehasalsobeenatrustee of the Western Heritage Centre in Cochrane and currentlyservesontheTownofTofieldEconomicDe-velopment Committee.

http://www.folio.ualberta.ca/36/10/08.html

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Student Memories of Professor E. H. Strickland

A presentation by John Bocock at the 13th Annual Strickland Lecture, March 20, 2009.

I am grateful to be able to speak on behalf of the students of Colonel Strickland. My class of 1957 has the dis-tinction of receiving the concluding lecture of his career. As it was one of the most memorable moments of our four years of lectures, it is a good starting point. That day, Colonel Strickland marched briskly into the classroom with his usual erect stance and gave no indication that this was an historic day in his life. At the conclusion of the lecture he picked up his notes, and said words to the effect that, “This is the last lecture of my career.” Without hesitation, he strode out, before we could muster a cheer, a salute or some other appropriate recognition of the great moment. I think we all passed the course, but we felt that we failed to adequately express appreciation for the unique contribu-tiontheColonelmadetoouruniversityexperience.Wefeltquitemortified.

I hope that speaking to you today will help compensate for our negligence over 50 years ago.The other two Strickland lectures that made the most lasting impression on both me and the classmates I con-

ferredwithrecentlywerehisexposesonbedbugsandthecommonhousefly. Our classmate who had personal experience with bed bugs was somewhat traumatized by the graphic reliving of the experience. We had all lived withhousefliesbutonlyaprivilegedfewhaveexperiencedStrickland’sdepiction, with hand and facial expression, ofthehouseflymovingfromonegermpiletothenext,andhencetoourkitchens, thus exposing us to a variety of unpleasant epidemics.

There were 30 students in our class and I must confess that none of us went on to a career in entomology. I want you to be very clear that this is not because Colonel Strickland’s lectures lacked challenge or pizzazz. It is more likely because he was very honest. He admitted that Alberta crops faced less risk from insects than crops in any other agricultural area in the world. We enjoy an entomological oasis. This may explain why, in our minds, entomol-ogy was trumped by the more obvious challenges of crop, soil or animal science.

Looking around today, it occurs to me that we should pay more attention to bees and ants, and learn how indi-viduals can work in community for the common good.

Young Aggies arrive at the University to equip themselves to, “Feed the World.” In conclusion, I pay tribute to Colonel Strickland and all his colleagues, past and present, who have given their best to prepare us for the task.

Brother Bill checking his bee hive (about 1952)

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St. Albert

A school bus, capably and patiently driven by Remi Lafranchise took Bill and me to high school in St. Albert. Children of neighbours Chevigny, Hesse and Terrault were among the fellow passengers. Remiwasalsothefirstvolunteerfirechiefandwithwife, Lena, ran St. Albert Produce (egg grading station). The few minutes before class-es started were often spent appreciating classmate Chester Cunningham’s passionate account of his last baseball or hockey game. Standing behind him at recess, it was amazing to watch his curve ball and sinker. Chester is a great communicator. I encourage everyone to go online and watch him in action, post baseball.

When we arrived to start grade 12, it was discovered that grades 10, 11and12werenotgoingtofitasexpectedin the upper south room of the old brick school house. The solution was to convert the girls' coat room in the base-ment into the grade 12 home room. It was refreshingly chilly on cold days. When I hear folk complaining about present day education I inform them that I graduated out of the girls coatroom. The previous year brother Bill gradu-ated from the “chicken coup,” aportablebroughtinfromthewestendofBigLaketoaccommodatetheoverflow.During my last year we watched progress on the new school under construction at the bottom of the hill.

Sr. Cote, of the Grey Nuns, was one of our dedicated teachers. She came to our 10th anniversary reunion, having “kicked the habit.” She was very amused to see who would recognize her and who would not. Later she came to the reunion of all the 1950s graduates. Her comments on every one who graduated in those 10 years were good fun and a testament to her care for each one of us.

When Jenny and I built our home we included a Granny suite for my parents, Molly and Geoff. This worked well until their disabilities became more than we could manage. We are extremely grateful for the welcome and care they received at the Youville Home in St. Albert from the Sisters and staff. We were honoured to have Sr. Majeau read scripture at the memorial services for Geoff, Molly and more recently Bill’s late wife, Phyllis.

Following Mollie’s passing, we received a letter from the board of the Youville Home, inviting Bill or me to become a member of the board. It included a list of the current members, three Sisters plus a number of Catholic gentlemen. Family consensus was that we reply with the offer of Phyllis serving instead of Bill or me. This was ac-ceptedsoPhyllisbecamethefirstladywhowasnotaSisterandthefirstProtestanttoserveontheboard.

Shortly after the University announcement Bill and I were invited to lunch in St. Albert by Mayor Nolan Crouse and Counsellor Len Bracko. They wanted to express their appreciation and also invited any ideas we might have on how the city could compliment the long term viability of the St. Albert Research Station. We were most grateful for the expression of support and the lunch.

We are grateful for all the other expressions of appreciation we received.

The upper left building is the Roman Catholic Public School where very caring teachers got me through grades 9 to 12, 1948 to 1952. A cairn now marks the spot. Christmas concerts were held in the Parish Hall, the basement of the Church, centre of photo. My grade 11 contribution was a recitation of “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service. I have since seen a much more dramatic presentation of this Canadian classic, complete with slouch hat and coat. If you are deprived, just Google it and watch a video!

The Town - 1923

Provincial Archives of Alberta: Oblate Collection

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Dr. Chester R. Cunningham CM, LLD

Inducted: 2000

Dr. Chester Cunningham is a humanitarian and educator whose personal convictions about justice and equality have improved the quality of life for Aboriginal Peoples in Alberta, across Canada and around the world.

Chester Raymond Cunningham was born in Slave Lake, Alberta in 1933, the third child in a fourth generation Métis family. Chester credits his parents for instilling in him the character and strength that helped him to em-brace life in a non-aboriginal society. He attended school in Wayne and St. Albert, where he excelled in sports. In 1952, he left high school to play semi-professional baseball.

After retiring from his baseball career, Chester worked briefly in the Wayne coal mines and then spent sev-eral years working in the construction industry throughout northern Alberta. In 1964, he was hired by the Ca-nadian Native Friendship Centre as a courtworker and program director, helping native peoples deal with the justice system. He immediately demonstrated leadership qualities that promoted him to executive director by 1965, setting in motion a long list of achievements.

In 1970, Chester launched his own personal mission to bring about change, communication and cultural understanding among the judicial and native communities. He was founder and executive director of Native Courtworker Services, later to be called Native Counselling Services of Alberta. From 1970 to 1997, this agency grew from four courtworkers to more than 150 employees serving all of Alberta. Within its first five years, the organization set new standards when the number of aboriginal provincial inmates dropped from 56 per cent to 28 per cent.

To create this remarkable success, he relied on traditional ways of the native community and involved el-ders whenever possible. A strong communicator, he negotiated fairly with both government bodies and native agencies, while maintaining the best interests of each group.

Under Native Counselling Services of Alberta, the pioneering programs of Chester changed the lives of thousands. He was the first in Canada to set up such programs as the Alcohol Education Program, Liaison Pro-grams in both provincial and federal prisons, Family and Juvenile Courtwork Program, Family Life Improvement Program and many others in the criminal justice systems. The organization made history for a second time when it became the first non-government agency in the world to administer a correctional institution, the Stan Dan-iels Centre.

Chester is a founding member of the St. Albert Lion’s Breakfast Club and the Native Credit Union. He has shared his knowledge and spirit with the community by sitting on numerous boards and committees. Some of these include: National Parole Board, Boyle Street Co-op, John Howard Society, Alberta Native Communica-tion Society, Canadian Native Friendship Centre, Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission, Consulting Committee on Young Offender’s Act, Canadian Advisory Committee – Justice and Corrections, and a committee for the Ministry of Children’s Services.

He was appointed a member of the Carson Committee examining management and operation of prisons

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and corrections in Canada and a delegate to the 7th United Nations Conference on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of the Offender in Milan, Italy. The governments of Australia, Japan and the Soviet Union, as well as many other countries around the world have benefited from his expertise and insight. Currently, Dr. Cunningham serves on the Provincial Court Nominating Committee; the Law Enforcement Review Board; and as treasurer and board member of the Aborigi-nal Multimedia Society.

In recognition of his devotion and deter-mination, Chester Cunningham has received many awards and honours. A few of these include a Queen’s Medal for Achievement, Honourary Chief of the Peigan Tribe, the Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Alberta Achievement Award, a medallion from Prince Charles at Treaty 7 celebrations, and a lifetime membership for the Canadian Native Friend-ship Centre. The Aboriginal Students Council at the University of Alberta also recognized Dr. Cunningham for his contributions to the Native community and for his influence as a strong role model.

In 1989, he received an honourary doctor of laws degree from the University of Alberta recognizing his contributions to the correctional system. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1993.

A belief in humankind and the value placed on family and community is reflected throughout Dr. Cunning-ham’s outstanding career. Members of his staff and the aboriginal community have gone on to become lawyers, social workers, police officers and doctoral candidates, as a result of his encouragement and faith in their abili-ties.

Chester and his wife Elzaida raised a family of seven — David, Calvin, Carola, Bill, Mark, Rosalie and Frank, along with countless unofficial foster children.

http://www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca/aoe/community-service/chester-cunningham/index.html

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In 2011 we added 8 more panels for a total

of 24 with a 5.1 Kilowatt capacity.

The talk that follows, Contented Cows - Concerned Consumers, is taken from Proceedings of the 1991 High Technology and Animal Welfare Symposium, November 13 to 15, 1991, The Lodge at Kananaskis, Jerome Martin, Editor. Published by: University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension. The issue is still controversial.

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Rant Wagon

The book cover, opposite, is worth 1000 words. We farmers have made mistakes. Using technology (the plow) to break up the bold prairie, we left the soil exposed to erosion. During the dry years of the 1930s dust storms black-ened the sky. Highway 2 past our farm was one of the routes taken by dried-out farmers from the southern prairies moving to the parkland north of us. It was a move to higher rainfall and trees, wood to build a home and heat it.

IamastonishedtoseeinprintthestatementthatglobalwarmingwillbenefitCanadianagriculturebecauseitwill expand our area farmed to the north. The area north of our present farms features rock and muskeg, not condu-cive to farming whatever the temperature. We are already occupying the “last frontier.” I highly recommend Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Mongomery, published by University of California Press.

We are told to expect unusual weather events resulting from climate change. For us the winter of 2010-11 dumpedasnowloadof42poundspersquarefootonourbuildings.Anoldbarnofourswasoneofseveralinthearea to collapse. I used scrap steel from the rafters to convert our hay ride wagon into a dual purpose “rant” wagon.

Rat Free. This is to celebrate the fact that the province of Alberta remains the only major agricultural area in the world which does not suffer rat damage to crops and stored grain. Provincialgovernmentpestcontrolofficersworkwith the farmers on our eastern border to make it rat unfriendly. The Rocky Mountains provide a natural barrier to our west. If a rat arrives by train or other means, policeandfiremenarecommittedtogettheirrat.Thisistestimonyto what can be achieved when government and citizens join forces in a common cause!

No Litter?Theendofourdrivewayprovidesaconvenientpull-overpointforHighway37traffic. All too often picking up the mail from the mailbox also involves picking up garbage around the mailbox. It is not good advertis-ing for MacDonald’s, Tim Horton’s, etc.OnadesignatedSaturdayeveryspring,theprovincialgovernmentpays4Hmembers to pick up garbage from highway ditches. If I have my tractor radio on that day I have to endure repeated appealstomotoriststodrivecarefullywhilepassing4Hcrews.Notonceisthesuggestionmadetostopthedisgust-ing habit of throwing garbage in the ditches so that our young people would not have the dirty duty to pick up other peoplestrash.Therearemoreinspiringwaystoraise4Hfunds.

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Clean Air? This line is to honour the days spent by Jenny representing the farm women of Alberta on the board of CASA, The Clean Air Strategic Alliance, and Bill on the Animal HealthCommitteeofCASA.Jennycommentsthatduringher8years,flaringwasreduced.Shespeculates on whether their efforts or the higher price of natural gas had the greater effect. Bill valuedmeetingotherconcernedAlbertansbutisstilllookingforwardtosignificantchangeinpolicy and performance.

Oil wells have been drilled on our land since the 1950s. The health effects on humans andlivestockonourfarmfromflaringnumberusamongthesacrificiallambsfor the sake of the cheap petroleum which we all use and some abuse. Add-ing insult to injury is the ridiculously low royalties which our government collects on petroleum. The January 15, 2011 60 Minutes program fea-tured Qatar, where there are no taxes for citizens from birth to death while enjoying the very best health, educa-tion and other services. We are also oilrichbutstruggletofinancehealth,education and other services used by both oil workers and the rest of us. If higher royalties slowed down oil ex-traction, so be it. Oil is non renewable and stores well for future genera-tions. I admire former Premier, Peter Lougheed for speaking out on the need to slow down approval of oil sands development to ease the pres-ent social and infrastructure pain. If the price of oil included the environ-mental cost it would encourage al-ternative energy production.

For some years, I have shared with oil folk my hope that before I die I will see a better relationship between farmers and the petroleum industry. We have suffered some bad experiences. However, in 2011 Phoenix Resources informed us they had sold the oil rights on our east quarter to One Earth Oil & Gas Inc. This fall One Earth pro-posed directional drilling a new well from the existing well site on LSD 15 to LSD 16. Thus no extra landwas required and no flaringwas necessary as a pipelinewas onsite. The well was drilled in December. One Earth responded to all our concerns with more information than we asked for, including a letter stating that fracking would not be done on the well. They invited us to visit on site during drilling -afirst.Thankyou.Prospectsarealittlebrighter that I may die happy!

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ERCB 0 93-3 Clearing the Air?

The application of Simon and Michael Skinner to receive relief from the effects of petroleum extraction adjacent to their dairy barns resulted in an En-ergyResourcesConservationBoardhearingatProvost,Alberta.Itlasted24days,betweenJanuaryl3and May 6, 1992. The board decision was released March 3, 1993, almost nine months later.

There is a longstanding concern about the effects of the petroleum industry on animal and human health.Given thehighqualificationsof theexpert intervenerswho testifiedbefore thishearing, thedecision deserves a thorough review from a health standpoint. The decision calls for the removal of the battery closest to the buildings within one year and the abandoning of the nine closest wells within four years. The Board also denied license applications for 16 new wells submitted by Arnax, the oil companyinvolved.TheSkinnerfamilyisgratefulthattheERCBhasmadethisruling,confirmingthatthey had a problem.

The ERCB is to be commended for rejecting the contention made by Arnax in section 2.3.1.2 of the decisionthattheSkinnermanurelagooncouldbeasignificantsourceofHydrogensulfide.“FindingsofotherstudieshavefoundconcentrationsofHydrogensulfideinexcessof1000ppmtobeoccasionallyassociated with manure gases.” In fact, the study quoted found these readings in a pit below a slatted floordairybarn.TheSkinnerbarndoesnothaveslattedfloorsorapitsotoquotethisstatisticcanbestbe described as deliberately misleading.

The Skinner’s reported that the period when they were experiencing the strongest odours from fugitiveemissionscoincidedwiththehighincidenceofhealthproblemsintheirherd.In2.3.4.4theboard states, “This would suggest a linkage does exist between herd health and Amax’s operations.” “Suggest” is as close as the board came to acknowledging a linkage. In the next paragraph they state, “Withoutcleardata,however,theboardisunabletoconfirmthatalinkagedoesordoesnotexist,muchless determine the actual risks or which actions need to be taken to address these risks.” The Skinner’s herd records indicated higher levels of corneal opacities, downer cows and abortions during the period of high fugitive emissions. Evidently the board does not accept a sick cow to be “clear data.” Why? Is not what actually happens to a cow exposed to emissions a better gauge of what happens to a cow exposedtoemissionsthanalaboratorysimulationofacowexposedtoemissions?Itisdifficulttoac-curatelyduplicatefieldconditionsinalaboratoryortodefinitivelydeclarewhatwastroublingaliveanimal by doing an autopsy on it.

Thelackof“cleardata”isfurtherclarifiedifweread“EffectsofAcidFormingEmissionsinLive-stock,” Proceedings of an International Workshop, held November 18-19, 1986 in Edmonton, Alberta. The Lodgepole blowout had occurred on October l7, 1982, killing cattle and affecting the performance of many others. Commenting on this event, veterinarian and livestock grower, Dr. J. D. Round told the workshop(answer4,page87),“Thereisnotestthatcangiveconclusiveproofthatsourgasproducedtoxicity. At this meeting, we have scientists and those of us who observed the effects of the gas by being subjected to it. There were no machines which measured the complex mixture of chemicals we were exposed to and gave us a printout of so many parts per million of this or that. We used sensitive biologi-cal assay; our eyes and noses burned. An important point is that our own bodies and our livestock were the test animals. Why do you not rely on people in the area? Persons in the area during the blowout, with burning eyes, upper respiratory problems, would go to their family doctor. A common - too com-mon-diagnosiswasthatyouhadtheflu.Whenthewellwascapped,thebloody'flu'wentaway.This'flu'was,infact,thetoxiceffectsofthewellemissionsandmakenomistakeaboutit.Ifwewereratsinan exposure chamber being examined by scientists, we would have been diagnosed as being poisoned by the blowout emissions, a full scale chemical disaster.” Sadly, the Government of Alberta did not takeadvantageofthisreadymade“fieldexperiment”tostudyanddocumentthedataavailable.TheproceedingsoftheworkshopwerenotpublisheduntilFebruary5,1992,overfiveyearslater,andthen

Brother Bill was an intervener at the Skinner ERCB hearing. I wrote the following review of the decision and presented it to “Sour Gas Safety and You,” the Advisory Committee To The ERCB ...Reviewing Public Safety and Sour Gas, June 15, 1993.

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only as a result of persistent lobbying. This gives a clue to the reason for the lack of “clear data.”Given the Lodgepole experience and a wide variety of other exposures, it is interesting to note that

the ERCB made six attempts to convince readers that the Skinner experience was unique: 1.3.2. - a very unusual situation - - is uncommon and relatively unique - 2.3.4.4. -uniqueandunusualcombination- 3.4.2.3. -uniqueforanumberofreasons- 4.2. -particularlyunique-

- unique circumstances -While every farm is unique, and the Skinners are to be commended for their unique achievements,

the ERCB has a short memory if it cannot recall other farmers who have had similar experiences with fugitive emissions.

Faced with poor dairy performance and increased abortions, the Skinners had to increase their cullingratetomaintainproduction.Section2.3.4.2.states,“Amaxarguedthatahighcullratecouldbeindicative of good dairy herd management practice.” It is very helpful for a farmer whose cows abort and stop giving milk to be told by an oil company that it is good management to replace them! Amax continues, “Thus, with the large number of genetically superior replacement heifers available, cows could be culled with no economic hardship.” Dairy Herd Improvement records indicate that the peak milkproductioninacow’slifecomesduringherfifthlactation.Thehigherthecullingrate,thefewercows survive to reach their maximum production potential. Amax needs to think again.

Theviewsoftheboardonthissubjectarefoundinsection2.3.4.4.“Itisarguablethatanysup-pressed improvements in milk production during the time of higher than normal culling rates will be compensated for in the future because of the overall improvement in herd genetics.” The board would have an arguable case only if the culling was done on the basis of genetic selection for improved milk production. Sadly, the Skinner culling was done on the basis of selection for cows who could stay on their feet and not abort during a period of high fugitive emissions. Since the high producing cows are under the most stress, they are more susceptible to outside factors and are more likely to be culled than lower producing cows. The result is replacement heifers coming from lower producing cows, not “im-provement in herd genetics” as claimed by the board.

The next paragraph continues, “As to the causes for lower production, the board believes it is possible that this may have been due to a direct response by the animals to the impacts (e.g. noise, dust,odours)fromthenearbyoilfieldoperations.However,thisseemsunlikelygiventhatthemilk-producing dairy cattle, particularly during the winter months, remain indoors and so would be isolated toaconsiderabledegreefromoutsidedisturbance.”Thisconclusiondefieslogic,andevidencegivenin Section 2.3.1.1. “December 1990, black smoke, resulting from a VRU upset was sucked into the milking barn by its ventilation system.” A dairy barn is not a sealed unit! During 1990-91 there were 71 odour occurrences in the vicinity of the cow barn and the area where dry cows and heifers were kept. We have also learned from experience that human and animal health are affected by emission mixes which are below the detection threshold of human smell.

Farming, petroleum extraction and other industries all need to be accountable for their health and environmental impact. Why did Amax and the board try to promote conclusions which defy the evi-dence? Although not mentioned in the 60 pages of the decision, the need to be politically correct is evident. ERCB-AE (Alberta Environment) Publication 88-AA, “Sulfur Recovery Guidelines for Sour Gas Plants in Alberta,” states in the executive summary, “AE and the ERCB agree that generally, the sour gas industry operates well within Alberta’s stringent standards for ambient air sulfur dioxide con-centrations, and that there is no evidence to date that demonstrates that sulfur emissions from the sour gas industry have had a deleterious effect on local health or the environment within Alberta.” If sick animals,aswellassickpeople,couldvote,whatispoliticallycorrectmightbeinfluencedmorequicklyby the facts.

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Birthday Boy

Milestones of life need to be noted

By all of us who are devotedTo brother Bill, our birthday boy Whose birthday bashes we enjoy.

As Bill turns seventy six today We also think of the U. of A.100 years old this very week In tune with Bill in what they seek.

Seminars on sustainability Graphs show their proven ability

To save on natural gas and power

Plus Bentley lectures to match the hour.

Life in tune, future to enjoyHappy birthday to our birthday boy.

Brother John Sept. 23, 2008

Fall ExpectationsGenerous rainfall, relief from drought Adequate growth was not in doubtBut when it rained most every day It was a challenge to make hay.

Plugging the combine, we cannot say neverCanolapluggeditthefirsttimeeverClint came to help get done on time His green machine was just sublime.A traditional event again this fall Tom is ready to take the callTo have just one more overhaul New knees will make him straight and tall.

We wish you well with your operationAnd a super rapid recuperation.

John Bocock Nov. 10, 2010 farm supper

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Tirley Garth, England

Notes prepared for a talk given at Tirley Garth, Cheshire, March 18, 1999Widening Horizons - A Canadian Farmer’s Experience

In 1912 my grandfather Bocock took a gamble on wider horizons. He was a tenant farmer near Bury St. Ed-monds,Suffolk,whenheandmygrandmotherpackeduptheirfivechildrenandsailedtoCanada.Whilewaitingin Liverpool to board the old “Lake Manitoba” they received the shocking news of the sinking of the brand new, unsinkable“Titanic.”Theirvoyagetooktwoweeks,longerthannormalbecauseoficeflows.

My mother’s family emigrated from County Cork in Southern Ireland in 1921, because of what they called “the troubles.” It is ironic that they settled on the farm we are now farming, surrounded by Catholic neighbours. Brother Bill and I were the only Protestant students in our grade school. Catechism was the last class of the day so Bill and I were allowed to go home early. Our daughter, Rachel did attend the catechism class in her early school years. The church, six miles east of us, is now shared by the local Catholic and Protestant congregations. On our last visit to Ireland, Mother’s cousin, Ken Kingston, took us to the farm from which Grandfather Kingston had emigrated. Ken’s family had farmed the adjoining farm and had sold out at the same time. They moved to Bandon, to be near the British garrison. We were invited into the old stone farmhouse by the descendants of the family that had bought it. The sharing of local folklore was joyful and very moving for me.

In 1929 my father bore the full force of another world tragedy, the great depression. He and my mother had just been married and had borrowed money to buy their own farm. In a situation where the value of an animal was often less than the cost of shipping it to market, they were forced to give up the farm. Dad then worked for mother’s father to pay off the loan. That done, he bought the farm from Grandfather and mother’s four sisters. Today, many farmers, particularlyhogproducers,faceafinancialcrisisreminiscentofthe1930s.IdosympathizewiththeBritishfarmerswho face similar hardship because of “mad cow disease.”

One focus of this visit to England is to visit my wife Jenny’s father, Bunny Austin. He is 92 and lives south of London. He was also a man who sought widening horizons all through his life. As a young man he wrote a book about birds. When he visited us on the farm, he loved to go for walks so he could take in the full glory of our sunsets. He would comment that in Alberta, when the weather is good, there is a lot of it, and when it is bad, there is a lot of that too. In July 1997, Bunny was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in Newport, Rhode Island. As Bunny can no longer travel, Jenny and her brother John were invited to represent him and I was allowed to tag along. Jenny and her brother John were invited to represent him and I was allowed to tag along, The presentation ofthecitationstookplacejustbeforethefinalmatchofthetournament.Weweremarchedontothecentrecourt,preceded by a navy honour guard and a band playing, “When the Saints Come Marching In.” Our neighbours in the US of A know how to give expression to the word “pizzazz.” We had two meals with Don Budge, who beat Bunny intheWimbledonfinalof1938,thelasttimeanEnglishplayerreachedthemen’sfinal.Hesaid,“TheremayhavebeenbetterplayersthanBunny,butthatBunnyandVonCramweredefinitelythetopsportsmen.”Headded,“IfBunny was here, I would give him a big hug.” During the threatening days before the Second World War, Bunny ventured beyond tennis to the world-wide work of the Oxford Group and Moral Rearmament.

In the spring of 1958, I had an experience which dramatically widened my horizons. An international group brought theMoralRearmamentfilm“Freedom” toEdmonton.Among thegroupwere farmers fromAfricaandScotland.Wehostedthematourfarmandattendedashowingofthefilm.Itgaveavividportrayaloftheextraor-dinary beauty and the challenges of Africa. At the conclusion of the showing, members of the group came on stage and shared experiences of change in their own lives, as a result of applying the principles of Moral Rearmament. They shared how these changes had resulted in changes in their families and in the wider community around them. Question: if it worked for them, would it work for me? I was intrigued enough to try the experiment. I sat quietly to listen to the still small voice, asking God to show me where my life fell short of his absolute standards of honesty, purity,unselfishnessandlove.Thesearethebasicstandardsgiveninthe10commandments,intheSermonontheMount and in other faiths. They are tough and we need help with them. As with those addicted to alcohol or other habits, no change is likely until we admit defeat and ask for help. In my case, my relationship with my brother Bill came into focus in a new way. I needed to have a good relationship with him because my ambition was to have themostefficientdairyfarminAlberta,andaone-mandairyfarmisself-inflictedslavery.Thosecowsthriveon

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continuous tender loving care. My father didn’t miss a milking for close to 10 years, until he broke his leg. I had no desire to break his record. We all make mistakes. When I made a mistake, if no one was looking, I was inclined to sweep it under the carpet, out of sight. If Bill made a mistake, I gave him hell with great indignation. I expected him to change but was quite prepared to remain a self-righteous rascal for the rest of my life. Not a sparkling case of absolute honesty. I had the further conviction to apologize to Bill for my self-righteous attitude and ask for his help to be different. This was not easy. It meant being humble enough to crucify my pride.

I have friends who talk about “being saved” or “being changed” as though it is a one shot deal, a “fait ac-compli” so to speak. I concur with the need for an experience of “spiritual rebirth” and the need for a “surrender of selfwill.”IalsofindthatIamthekindofguywhoneedsperiodicdosesof“renewedhumility.”Onefruitofthatexperience is that Bill and I and our wives are still farming together today. Another spin off is that our three full-time employees have an average of 18 years working with us. This is unusual in Canada, where many consider a farm jobafill-inuntiltheycanfindsomethingbetter.

I must confess that we farmers do not have a natural inclination to share our deepest emotions. The story is told of a farm couple who had been married for some years and the sparkle seemed to be fading from their relationship. After considerable coaxing, the husband consented to go to a marriage counsellor with his wife. The counsellor’s firstquestionwas,“Whenwasthelasttimeyoutoldyourwifethatyoulovedher?”Hethoughtforafewmomentsand replied, “Ten years ago, and I haven’t changed my mind!” At a farm management seminar, the speaker had this advice for us macho types. “Take as good care of your wives as you do of your tractor, because you cannot afford down time on either.” I recounted this wisdom to one farm wife and her retort was, “Yes John, but you haven’t seen our tractor!” A real estate agent told us that 70 percent of his farm sales are as a result of family break up. That is a sad statistic, and is the reason why relationship issues now compete with technical issues at farm meetings. Our district home economist asked Jenny and Phyllis, Bill’s wife, to speak on “The Two Family Farm” at a seminar. For monthsafter,neighbourscameuptousandexpressedtheirappreciation.Ladiesseemtofinditeasiertotalkaboutthe embarrassing nitty-gritty of human nature.

I have an Alberta Wheat Pool sweatshirt which proudly proclaims their motto, “Helping Farmers Feed The World.” If we are to feed the hungry, we have to learn to cope better with our relationship with each other and also with our relationship with technology. Advancing technology has freed farmers from much backbreaking manual labour. We are grateful for that but must not get carried away. If we bought every high tech gadget offered by sales-menandtheinternet,wemightquicklyfindourselvesslavesofthebankmanager.

Biotechnologypromisesbothproductionefficienciesinagricultureandexcitingbreakthroughsinmedicine.Thefirstgene-alteredcropvarietieswereapprovedin1996.TheWashingtonPostreportsthatthisyear,abouthalfof the 72 million acre US soybean crop will be genetically engineered to tolerate Roundup, Monsanto’s patented herbicide. More than half of the 13 million acres of US cotton and about 25 percent of the 80 million acres of corn will be engineered as well. We do not grow canola, the crop we used to call rape, on our farm, but the majority of our neighbours now grow genetically engineered varieties. The big incentive is that being able to spray them with Rounduplowersthecostofherbicides.However,allisnotwellwiththefarmer,outstandinginhisfield.Hundredsof Canadian and US farmers stand accused by Monsanto of “seed piracy,” replanting the company’s patented, gene altered seeds in violation of a three-year-old company rule requiring that farmers buy the seeds fresh every year. The big winner in this case will be the lawyers. (Illustrate with full page, Edmonton Journal)

In January of this year, Canada’s Health Protection Agency ended years of controversy by refusing to license rBST, the synthetic growth hormone, for use in Canada. Monsanto spent millions on development and promotion, claimingtheirproductincreasedmilkproductionefficiency.Sadly,theystubbornlyrefusetoaccepttheevidenceofincreased mastitis, infertility and lameness which a dairyman cannot afford. The health risk undermines consumer confidence.ItisinterestingtonotethatUSbuyersarenowcomingtoCanadatobuyreplacementheiferstoreplen-ish a shortage in the US, where they have been using rBST for several years. It is also an interesting case study in the ability of individuals, along with producer and consumer groups to effectively lobby government to withstand the pressure from a large multinational corporate interest. (Illustrate with full page, St. Albert Gazette)

I am not opposed to all biotechnology, but do believe that it should pass rigorous testing for long-term envi-ronmental and economic viability before being licensed.

Our cows have had to face a different serious threat. Ten years ago a sour gas plant was built two miles east ofustoremovepoisonoushydrogensulfidefromnaturalgas.Thisresultedinthetestflaringofasourgaswelllessthan a mile south of our farmyard to see if it was worth building a pipeline to the plant. For part of a week a gentle

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southwindputusrightinthefalloutzone.Welostfouranimalsthatweek,hadthefirstcaseofmid-lactationmilkfever in the history of our herd and other health problems. The following two years our twinning rate rose to six and seven percent and then gradually returned to the normal one percent. The petroleum industry and government regu-latoryagencieshavebeenreluctanttoevenadmitthepossibilitythattheflaringcouldendangerlivestockandhumanhealth. It is a real challenge in a situation like this to apply the best ideals of MRA. Our efforts have had some effect locally. We had the vice-president of the oil company to our home to meet with our neighbours and subsequently met with the president in a hotel. Our tough and honest stand convinced our local politicians to force the company to install a scrubber in the plant, to extract over a tonne of sulfur a day which otherwise would have gone up the flarestack.Wearetreatedasa“sensitivearea”andwellsthatusedtoflarehavebeenupdatedsothattheynolongerflare.Itcanbedone.Sadly,furthernorth,governmentandindustryintransigencehasresultedinbombingsofoil-fieldfacilities.TwofarmerswillstandtrialinMay.(Illustratewithfullpage,Globe&MailandCanadianBusiness)

A Southern Alberta farmer is in jail for the shooting of an oil company executive, while he was checking a pol-lution site. It is sad that lives must be lost before industry reacts. I recently saw a TV program with footage of indus-tryspokespersonsconfidentlypleadinginnocenceintheearlystagesinthecasesofthalidomide,siliconeimplantsand tobacco. When millions of dollars are at stake, honesty can be a casualty. Criteria for research and publication of research can be compromised.

Farmers have made mistakes also. Farmers used summer fallow to kill every weed, in their zeal for maximum yields. The result during the drought of the 1930s was devastating dust storms which blackened the sky with pre-cious topsoil. When rains did come, the unprotected soil was washed away. Today, farmers are investing heavily in “minimum tillage” equipment, to ensure the long-term viability of the soil. When I was younger and thought I knew all the answers, I was convinced that if only the rest of the world would follow Alberta’s example, the hungry would be fed and all people would be happy neighbours. Today I hope I am less self righteous and more humble. My mil-lennium vision is that all our industries may be motivated, not by the quick and easy dollar, but by the long-term health of people and our environment.

If you come to Alberta to attend the world renowned Calgary Stampede, you may well drive along the Crow-child Trail, named after the late Chief David Crowchild. In 1975 his son Arnold saw the Moral Rearmament revue “Song of Asia” in Switzerland. He had the compelling conviction that their message was exactly what was needed by his people. He mobilized an invitation to Canada, signed by the seven Chiefs of the Treaty 7 area of Alberta. Our LieutenantGovernoratthetimewastheHonourableRalphSteinhauer,thefirstaboriginaltreatypersontobetheQueen’s representative in our province. It was an historic moment when the cast of “Song of Asia,” in their national dress,filedintoaspeciallycordonedoffareaofCalgaryairport.TheyweregreetedbyMrSteinhauer,infullregalia,withthescarletcoatedofficeroftheRoyalCanadianMountedPoliceathisside.NextinlinewerethesevenChiefs,alsoinfullregalia.ltissafetosaythatthecastwerethefirstevervisitorstoarriveinCanadawithaproperinvita-tion from the First Nations people.

During the stay of “Song of Asia” in Canada, we were all shocked by the suicide of Nelson Small Legs Jr. In his suicide note he called for the resignation of Hon. Judd Buchanan, Federal Minister of Indian Affairs and changes to the way his people were treated. The American Indian Movement was active at the time and the siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, was fresh on people’s minds. Nelson Jr’s father saw “Song of Asia” and was deeply affected, particularly by a sequence called “The Three Sons.” It is the true story of how a series of killings was stopped by a costly apology, “breaking the chain of hate.” After his son’s suicide, and before the funeral, Nelson Sr. made a statement on the radio saying that the tragedy of his son’s death was not meant to lead to more violence. His wish wasrespected.ThecasketwascoveredwiththeCanadianflagandtheNagashawlofNiketuIralufromNagaland,Northeast India, one of the “Song of Asia” cast.

Afterthefuneral,NelsonSr.flewtoOttawawiththecast.Isatbesidehimontheplaneandroomedwithhimin Ottawa. Even though I was a young “non-Indian” who he had never met before, he poured out to me all that was on his heart about losing his son. He said, “He wasn’t just my son, he was my friend.” At a parliamentary dinner in the House of Commons, Nelson sat beside The Hon. Judd Buchanan. At the conclusion of his speech, Nelson asked Judd to rise and said, “I do not want what has happened to bring division between your family and my family, and I want to shake hands on that.” This was a precious moment in Canadian history.

Sincethen,atNiketu’sinvitation,twofirstnationsladieswithextensiveexperienceindrugaddictionreha-bilitation attended a drug rehabilitation conference in North East India. It was in their best tradition of sharing and helping their friends in need.

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At a meeting some years ago, a distinguished Canadian senior citizen expressed her wonderment at being re-ferred to as a “non-lndian.” She said, “I have never thought of myself as a non-lndian before.” It was a whole new outlook on life. It brings to mind the profound Indian prayer, “Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my brother until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.”

Nelson, Arnold and our friend Bruce Starlight were guests at our wedding in St. Michaels, Chester Square, London, in full regalia. It was a wedding at which the bride had to share a bit of the spotlight! In his speech at the reception after our wedding, Bruce shared the advice that Indian Elders give to newlyweds, “Never let the sun go down on a quarrel.” Very sound advice!

I would like to conclude by presenting our hosts at Tirley Garth with an Alberta calendar. It features mountains, rainbows,andasunsetoverabarleyfieldnearourfarm.

Update: in 2001, the charity “Moral Rearmament” changed it’s name to “Initiatives of Change.” The web site is” www.iofc.org

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Chief David Crowchild with Chief Walter Watso of the Abenaki enjoy a moment from the presentationat Odanak, Quebec

Alvin Manitopyes, President of the Calgary Urban Treaty Alliance, a social help orga-nization for Indian people living in the city.

Niketu Iralu

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Breakfast in the home of Arnold Crowchild, one of the many homes made available to SONG OF

ASIA on the tour

Phyllis Bocock (Ellett) and Phyllis Austin (Jenny’s mother) unveiling the portrait of Chief Walking Buffalo (George McLean), Chief of the Bearspaw Band of the Stoney Indians, Morley, Alberta, at the Westminster Theatre, London, England in 1969.

A permanent photographic exhibit is now on display at the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum in Banff of the 1960 around the world journey of Chief Walking Buffalo, Chief David Crowchild and others.

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Lewis Cardinal, Rajmohan Gandhi and Bill McLean at the Annual Mahatma Gandhi Foundation Dinner, Edmonton, AB, Oct. 2/02. Rajmohan, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, was guest speaker.

Bill, with East Indian Stetson, visiting neighbours and admiring their water buffalo, producers of 45 percent of India’s milk. It averages 8.0 percent fat and 4.5 percent protein.

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A five-day dialogue on Making Democracy Real (Jan 8-12, 2012) held at Asia Plateau, the Initiatives of Change centre in Panchgani, India, opened on Sunday with a video message from Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s leading democracy campaigner.

Suu Kyi said her country was ‘on the verge of a breakthrough’ in its quest for democracy. ‘When people of a na-tion can shape their own destinies it’s a great thing.’ However, she warned, there was no ‘point of no return’ in the process of democratization. ‘One can always turn back at any time.’

‘Democracy is to do with society; it is not just to do with government,’ she continued. ‘So we need to take all kinds of steps in all kinds of directions, politically, socially, educationally. And, of course, civil society must be involved and also the international community.’

There is never an end to the road of democracy. Once we have achieved political democracy, we have to achieve

Burma 'on the Verge' of Democracy - Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi

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Rajmohan Gandhi welcomes South Sudan Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny and members of the South Sudan delegation

Left to right: Rajmohan Gandhi, General Joseph Lagu and Wadiaa Khoury at the opening session of Making Democracy Real conference

social democracy’, said Suu Kyi. ‘It is in fact a march towards several doors at the same time.’ Burma’s long years under a military regime, she said, came about as a result of weaknesses in the whole country. ‘We need to be independent from our own weaknesses.’

In keeping with this idea of continual progress, the Nobel Laureate stressed the importance of responsibilities and duties. ‘When people think of democratization in Burma, they think of the rights that they are going to get but not the responsibilities that they will have to assume. So in this Dialogue of Democracy, I would appreciate very much if you would concentrate as much on the responsibilities as on the rights. How do we develop a sense of democratic responsibility? Where does it start? … I believe that it starts in the family. From the

family, outwards into society we should understand what democracy entails not just in the matter of rights but also in terms of responsibilities.’

The Burmese leader also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, calling him the ‘father of non-violent politics’ and a role model for Burma. She expressed great admiration for his common sense, noting that although many pre-fer to speak of him as wise, being fully grounded in common sense is the most important thing in politics. She called upon his heirs, by which she meant not only his family but all those who believe in democracy and non-violence, to help Burma follow the right path in the right way.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s words were well received by the Dialogue participants and the announcement of her video message brought gasps from the audience. It was an encouraging opening for the event, which runs for the next four days. The Dialogue is organized by Initiatives of Change, India and IC Centre for Governance.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s message was followed by many speeches and welcoming words delivered by speakers representing different par-ties. Among them, the president of I of C International, Omnia Mar-zouk, the grandson of the Mahatma Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, and the renowned veteran South Sudanese leader General Joseph Lagu, who is looked upon as a father-figure of the country.

General Lagu, expressed his pleasure at representing the world’s youngest democracy, South Sudan, in the world’s largest one, India. The Dialogue aims at bringing together participants of democratic practices and activists from across the globe, both governmental and non-governmental, to share their experiences and practices, in the hope that this would enable all participants to learn from one another and return to their home-countries with clear plans for implementing real democracy.

Delegations have come from over 30 countries at last count, the largest coming from the newly founded state of South Sudan, whose Vice President, H.E. Dr Riek Machar Teny, delivered his keynote address on Monday morn-ing.

The original artical and video of Aung San Suun Kyi:http://www.iofc.org/burma-on-verge-of-democracy-says-aung-san-suu-kyi

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Canada Geese enjoying the view from the top of the silo. Jenny and Megumi enjoying the viewfrom the bottom of the silo.

View from the centre silo, looking west through the frame of the Christmas Star

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Jenny and Rachel

On June 22, 1974, at Knox Metropolitan United Church, Jenny was Maid of Honour for Phyllis. I was brother Bill’s best man, so I walked Jenny down the aisle, part of the job description! That was provocative! When I decided to try for an encore, Jenny was in London, England so I phoned fellow Albertan, Dr. Paul Campbell, also living in London, to tell him I was coming for a visit. He invited me to stay and also invited me to accompany him and his wife, Annejet, to Nigeria. I said an enthusiastic yes. If Jenny said no, then my time in London became just a stopover on the way to Nigeria except for the few who were aware of the real reason for the high stakes visit to London. In some circles that is called a “cover.”

Joy to the World, Jenny said yes! It was November 11, 1976, Remembrance Day.TwodaysafterourengagementIflewtoNigeria.WewereguestsofDr.AdoBayero,

EmirofKano,fortheFeastoftheSacrifice, commemorating Abraham’s obedience to God as recorded in the Old Testament and shared in Jewish and Christian tradition. At dinner in his home the Emir seated Bishop Kali, retired Anglican Bishop of Lagos, at the opposite end of the table and asked him to say grace. At breakfast the following morning, Bishop KaliwasdelightedasheexplainedthesignificanceintheNigeriancontextofaNorthernEmir asking a Southern Bishop to say grace at his table. The need for that spirit remains.

That afternoon we had a rooftop vantage point just behind the military governor to wit-ness the celebration. The Emir rode into the huge parade square on his white horse shaded by a white umbrella. Thousands cheered and blew long horns. The Grey Cup and Olympics could take lessons for enthusiasm. Aboutfivetribalchiefsatatimecamegallopingacrossthe square and came to a rearing halt in front of the Emir as a sign of loyalty.

IgotbacktoLondonintimetoflytoCork, Ireland with Jenny for the Christening of my Ottawa born Godson, Arthur Weeks. That afternoon mother’s cousin hosted a tea for 26 relatives to meet Jenny. I think she passed muster! Jenny came to Kilmagar that February to ensure that she could cope with both Alberta winter and my family. Sister Mary hosted a tea party to meet the cousins. When Terry arrived he marched up to Jenny, sitting on the couch and commanded, “Stand up — turn around” and concluded, “Oh, I guess you’ll do.” Great welcome!

Our marriage took place in St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Chester Square, London, on April 16, 1977, my birthday. I have yet to forget our engagement or wedding anniver-sary! Arranging a trans-Atlantic wedding, pre-email, hadsomechallenges.Wedidnotfindtime to go over the service together so Jenny had not realized that in the Anglican order of service she would repeat after the minister “ Love, honour and OBEY.” She often recounts having to make a snap decision on whether or not to call a time out to consider a revision.

Jenny had a tinge of concern that by taking out Canadian citizenship she would be for-saking her country of birth. It was a pleasant surprise when the judge asked the applicants to raise their righthandandpledgeallegiancetotheQueen.Thiswasthefirsttimeinherlife she had done so. We have not yet got around to discussing any subtle distinctions there may be between pledging allegiance to your husband or your Queen!

Another Joy to the World, Rachel blessed our marriage and is a continuing blessing. Whenshecameofagetojoina4HclubImentionedthepossibilityofherjoiningthedairyclub. She was quite clear that she should join the light horse club. I must confess that it was a good experience for us all. Jennystilljudges4HpublicspeakingattheclublevelandRachel at the district level.

When it was time to decide what she should study at university I gently put forward the possibility of agriculture. Rachel opted for political science and again I must confess that it has opened doors to vital and enjoyable challenges. Confession # 3; I am a proud father!

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St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Chester Square, London, England, April 16, 1977Left to right: Arnold Crowchild, Bruce Starlight, John, Jenny, Chief Nelson Small Legs Sr., Christopher Baynard

Smith (Jenny’s Godson), Diana Ward (Mrs. Richard Scott), HRH The Princess Helen of Romania (Mrs. Alexander Nixon), Brian Hamlin, Susan McLaren

Kano Nigeria, November 1976. Left to right: Member of the Emir’s family, John Bocock, Bishop Kali, Lagos, Richard Brown, USA, Dr. Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano, Paul and Annejet Campbell, UK, member

of the Emir’s family

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Perspective On 31

Shirley gave a sharp directive

Reduce the work so we can live

A life so we can care for others

A hint for workaholic brothers.

First the cows and then the land

Indicated we take a stand

To free the future for the best

Plus we can have a needed rest.

To top this I would like to say

As we mark this special day

Our anniversary, a blessing to celebrate

Thirty one years from that great date.

Jennifer Jane, my one true love

A perfect gift from up above.

Love from hubby

April 16, 2008.

Changes For The Better

As the price of oil goes through the roof lt gives us ample concrete proofThat a change in focus is a must To have a future we can trust.

Bigger is no longer better Today to be a real trend setterWe must appraise what we really need In contrast to being run by greed.

Another issue that needs solution Is the problem of pollutionSo when one has to choose a car A hybrid is the best by far.

Rachel, Daddy’s precious girlGives a better world a whirl.

Happy birthday July 28, 2008.

Our home, built in 1977, the first built by our contractor with six inch walls for extra insulation, south over-hang for shade in summer and passive solar heating in winter and triple glazed windows on east, west and

north. Mother and dad’s “granny suite” was on the west side.

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Henry Kancs

During the 1970s, lockouts. strikes and public inquiries defined the relationship between the 550membersoflocal333oftheGrainWorkersUnionandtheiremployers,thefiveVancouvergrainterminalsowned cooperatively by Western Canadian farmers. It was painful for farmers to contemplate the demurrage charges that came off their grain cheques for ocean freighters anchored in harbour waiting to be loaded. The fact that the employees of individual farmers are exempt from labour standards and that Workman’s Compensationisvoluntaryreflectsprevailingattitudes.Thefocusoffarmerfrustration,pickedupfrompress coverage, was the late Henry Kancs, outspoken business agent for the union.

While Bill Jaeger, a friend from Britain with a trade union background, was visiting Canada, we met HenryforthefirsttimeataBCFederationofLabourConvention.Attheconclusionofalivelydiscussion,I invited Henry to spend a weekend at our farm and meet some of our neighbours. To my delight, he accepted the invitation. We discovered later that he had yet to set foot on a prairie farm even though for years he had been a vital link in exporting our grain. En route from the airport to our farm, I asked Henry if there was anyone he would particularly like to see. To my astonishment, he replied that the one person he knewandwouldliketoseeinEdmontonwasBettyYorath.Bettywasmyfather’sfirstcousin!Sheinvitedus to Sunday afternoon tea. When I went to the kitchen to carry in the tea tray, Betty exclaimed, “John, howonearthdidyougettomeetHenry?’’IwasamazedtolearnthatwhenHenryandhisfiancé,Aina,arrived as refugees from Latvia, Aina lived with Betty and her husband, Dennis, in Calgary. They acted as family for Henry and Aina’s wedding and waved them off for a honeymoon in Banff. It is a small world. Henry and Aina survived both the Nazi and Communist occupations of Latvia.

On the Saturday morning we were invited for coffee at the home of Elwood Galloway, Alberta Wheat Pooldelegate.HenrylaunchedintoavigorousexposeofthedeficienciesofPoollabourpolicy.Havingoverheard this from the kitchen, when Mrs. Galloway came into the living room the coffee cups were vibrating on the tray. She exclaimed, “I am sorry but I am having trouble controlling my emotions.” She had never heard her revered Pool denigrated in this way. It was a moving and instructive moment for us all. That afternoon, Walter Vanderwalle, United Grain Growers delegate and Dobson Lea, then president of Unifarm, Alberta’s general farm organization, came to our farm to meet with Henry.

Henry later accepted my invitation to be guest speaker at our District Unifarm meeting.At the January 13, 1994,

meeting of the Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association, Henry’s speech included the statement, “The grain workers are central to the port’s operations and we are determined to provide the best, most efficient servicewe can for the farmers. We can only provide the quality of service farmers need when there is open, on-going dialog between us.”

I was grateful that he sent me a copy of his notes for the speech.

Anne and Chris Hartnell from Vancouver accompanied Jenny and me to Henry’s retirement banquet. The report I wrote of the event follows.Henry Kancs (centre) chatting with grain farmer, John Rebus at Unifarm meeting.

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No Ordinary Union Leader

Forty-nine years have passed since Henry Kancs started work as a weigh man for prairie grain as it passed through Vancouver grain terminals. His retirement as leader of the Grainwork-ers Union was commemorated at a dinner January 31, 1998, at Vancouver’s Italian Cultural Cen-tre. A full hall heard tributes from some 20 friends and colleagues, interspersed with messages from those who couldn’t attend.

Lawyer Eric Harris, who represented the Terminal Operators Association was often inter-rupted by laughter as he recalled twenty-six years of negotiation across the table from Henry. He likened the challenge to “how to hold on to the tail end of a whirlwind.” He admitted he failed everytimehetriedtofigureoutHenry.

“He was a consummate actor who never lost his temper, unless he wanted to! He led by the force of his character; fair and honourable.”

EricconcludedthatHenryis“notatypicalunionleader.”Afteratoughpatch,Ericwouldfindthat Henry had put his case personally to a federal cabinet minister, if not to the prime minister.

Retired Federal Justice Minister, Hon. Ron Bassford said Henry contributed to a stronger country.

Messages of congratulations were read from both Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

In years past, prairie farmers have been frustrated by work stoppages in the port of Vancou-ver which held up grain shipments and cost millions in demurrage charges and lost markets. Hen-ry’seffortstoremedytheseproblemswerehighlightedbythethreeprairiefarmerswhoflewtoVancouver to speak at the dinner. Art Macklin and Roy Atkinson are both elected members of the Canadian Wheat Board advisory committee. John Bocock had hosted Henry on his farm, to meet his neighbours and speak at a meeting of Unifarm, formerly Alberta’s general farm organization.

The RCMP sergeant responsible for liaison with trade unions presented Henry with a plaque and an RCMP cap. He paid tribute to Henry’s efforts to combat crime in the port.

A member of the union struggled to contain his emotions as he recounted Henry’s care for him in his time of need. Also in atten-dance was the doc-tor who has worked with Henry on the health problems re-sulting from grain dust.

Climax of the evening was Henry’s heartfelt tribute to his wife, Aina, for her 50 years of help and patience. “She is close to being an angel.” He con-fessed to being “A little choked - but will recover!” Rachel, harvesting the staff of life

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The Staff of LifeThe rolls that grace our plates each day Made with barley, oats and wheatGrown on grain farms far away Baked with care for us to eat.

From farm to table, a long haul Truck and train to terminalVital links that bind us all Work to make us all stand tall.Changes prompted o’er the years By men like Justice Emmett HallToday, we salute one of our peers As he accepts retirement call.

Henry and Aina, to you GodspeedFor further service you are freed.

John Bocock Kilmagar FarmJan. 31, 1998

The Sin of Blame2001, the eleventh of September A day of infamy we will rememberLoss of life that tests belief Untold millions share the grief.

Moments of silence, time to pause And contemplate, what is the causeOf hatred, fanned to escalate Resulting in a deadly fate.Ifweforsakeourownsinfirst Self righteous bubbles would be burst

Then, instead of blaming others All neighbours could become like brothers.When we renounce the sin of blameThe future will not be the same.

John BocockSept.14,2001

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Jenny’s parents co-wrote “A Mixed Double.”Phyll’s last line was, “As I thought of these things there came back into my mind a poemBunny wrote me for an anniversary:”

Many the lines of love that men have sung,And many the lives lie wrecked upon its shore.Many the tears and pains that it has wrungFrom those who once had murmured ʻI adore.ʼFor love is not a surge of shallow wavesNor storm of passion beating at your door.Love is not lust of getting, no nor cravesIts satisfaction in desire for more.Love is the sea itself, an endless tide,Forever flowing in a heart at peace;Now ebbing, now in flood, as deep as wideAs the wide earth, its rhythms cannot cease.For in the heart of loving man and wifeGod is enthroned and He gives love its life.

Phyllis Bocock and Phyllis Austin were both the middle of three sisters and both had parents named Alfred and Esther.

St. Alberta Tennis Club, 1916

s

Phyllis (Bocock)

Your birthday comes, your birthday goes It really keeps me on my toesTo write a really worthwhile rhyme And see it reaches you on time.

To do you justice, Phyllis dear I'd have to be like Will ShakespeareBut the likes of him I'll wage Come only once in every age.

And yet I only need to say In the very simplest wayThat you are someone very rare And who's quite beyond compare.

So bright of eye, so warm of heart Alert always to play your partIf there should ever be a need A heart to mend, a mouth to feed.

So may you live for many a year To bless all people far and nearAnd may the date November seven Bring you one step nearer heaven.

With my fond love always, Bunny

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Acknowledgements and gratitude for articles and photographs:

University of AlbertaEdmonton JournalCalgary HeraldICRISAT Happenings In-house Newsletter, IndiaSt. Albert Historical SocietySt. Albert GazetteDavid R. MontgomeryInitiatives of ChangeFamily and friends.

Graphic Design: Vanessa Cordery, University of Alberta Bookstores

Printing: Capital Colour

Thank you, John

John Bocock1 25323 Hwy 37Sturgeon County, AB T8T 0G5

Phone: 780.458.1290Email:[email protected]

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Common Folks

These were the pioneers; too soon forgot;

The common folk, who trod these trails before;

Braved the unknown, strong, surmounted all

Of hardship and of desperate toil, they got

A frugal living in a dwelling small.

Great soldiers and wise statesmen we acclaim,

Which is their due; but let us now confess,

'Twas not their lives alone that fed their

fame,But courage in those many tiny h

omes,

That built a nation from a wilderness.

W. G. B. Dec. 7-79.

Concluding Quotes

From John Kenneth Galbraith who grew up on a small Ontario farm and became a professor of economics at Harvard University and was a speech writer for United States presidents:

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of the oldest exercises in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

Giventhepresentworldfinancialcrisis,onecouldconcludethatideologiesofboththeleftandtherighthavebeen found lacking. Too often our evening news includes starving children. The key to a brighter future is a change of ATTITUDE and BEHAVIOR by individual citizens; not left or right, but straight.

From Mahatma Gandhi: “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” I dare say that copyright on Gandhi’s words of wisdom would be most un-Gandhian! We have had his grandson,

Rajmohan and wife Usha as guests and they spoke to daughter Rachel’s high school social studies class.

From my brother Bill, who spent most of November 2011 visiting friends in India:“As in Canada, Indian agriculture has had phenomenal economic growth, but the farmer's share shrinks. As I write there is a court case to try to maintain the Canadian Wheat Board. There is heated debate. I believe a basic element is that too many farmers choose to com-pete rather that co-operate.”

Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental SciencesUniversity of Alberta2-14 Agriculture-Forestry CentreEdmonton, Alberta T6G 2P5

Website: www.ales.ualberta.caGiving: www.giving.ualberta.ca

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780.492.4931780.492.8524

preserving the future

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university land

stony land

university of alberta

bocock family

future of dirt

future generations

futurethe story

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