2003 Obituaries

Robert Stanley Howe of Red Deer, beloved husband for 58 years to Doris Howe, passed away at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre on June 12, 2003 at the age of 81 years.

Stan was born at Castor on June 18, 1921 and came to Consort on February 4, 1957 to work for Alberta Pacific Grain Co. Len Day was manager then. Stan lived in the office at the elevator while Doris and family stayed in Castor until the middle of March, as they did not want to move the children in the middle of the school term. To quote from The Sunny Side of the Neutrals: “We found a little house beside the Full Gospel Church with no water nor gas, three small bedrooms and a little kitchen – this for seven people! Mr. Cross had a fire going, the house was warm and there was a big pot of soup on the back of the old kitchen stove. It was a welcome treat at the end of a long day”.

Stan and Doris fitted right in to Consort, becoming active in sports, church and various organizations. They made many friends and were sorely missed when they retired to Red Deer some years ago.

Besides his wife, Stanley Howe is survived by: five sons and four daughters-in-law, one daughter and one son-in-law: Earl (Karen) of Brooks, Russell of Lac- ombe, Glenna (Larry) Mack of Grande Prairie, James (Marline) of Leduc, Lee (Brenda) of Medicine Hat, & Gordon (Lianne) of Cold Lake; 10 grandchildren: Tamara, Candace, Carla, Tabitha, Travis, Bradley, Curtis, Robert, Sierra, & Colton; 2 great-grandchildren: Alex & Alyssa; one brother, Bill of Castor; and many nieces & nephews.

Stanley was predeceased by his father, William Howe, his mother, Christina Howe & 3 sisters, Dorothy, Elsie and Edith.

A Memorial Service was held in the chapel of the Red Deer Funeral Home, 6150 – 67th Street, Red Deer, on June 16, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. Leanne Hall of the Gaetz United Church officiated. Tributes were given by Tamara Robbins, Curtis Howe and Earle Howe.

. Cremation has taken place. E-mail condolences may be sent to: condolences @reddeerfuneralhome.com and will be forwarded directly to the family.

Robert Malcolm McNeill (1913 – 2003)

Thelma Ovedia Bogen (1910 – 2003)

Laury “Bud” Scott was born in Consort Hospital on January 29, 1923. He was a big baby and grew to be a big man. He was the second child of Harold and Dora Scott, having an older brother, Charlie. Eleven years after Bud was born, a little sister, Mary, completed the family.

They spent their growing up years on the farm north of Consort in the Neutral Valley district, but when the Second World War was on, both boys joined up. After basic training, Bud went overseas and trained in the Devil’s Punch Bowl, near Godalming and Hazelmeer in England where he learned to ride motorcycle as a dispatch rider behind the lines. From there he was sent to Belgium going by boat both in and out of Oostend. He also served in Holland and was five miles out of Nijmegen when the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Along with others, he signed up for the Japanese theatre, but the war finally ended there in August of 1945. Bud came home on the Ile de France and started guarding Prisoners of War in Lethbridge and Kananaskis. He (along with other soldiers including Jack Sumner, also of Consort) escorted train loads of German prisoners to eastern Canada where they boarded ship for home. On one of these winter trips, they were in a serious train wreck in Ontario, but managed to complete their mission.

After Bud was discharged, he returned to Consort where he worked with several local people – worked and drove truck for Lorence Robinson, skinned Cat for Ralph Denney and also helped with Denney’s Cafe, then set up a shoe repair and leather working business with his friend, Oswald Wiest. He worked as a climber and helped string telephone, and telegraph lines on the Edmonton/Calgary corridor for CPR. He worked with Consort Electric for many years helping Pat wire buildings around here or wherever needed. He also sold trees for Prairie Nurseries and tried his hand at other different things. For some years he worked at Dome Petroleum when the plant was first built east of Gooseberry Lake and went to such places as Fort St. John when they needed someone to test wells. When he moved into Consort, from his cabin at Gooseberry Lake, he set up a honey business and extracted large quantities of honey into barrels for export.

Bud was always ready to help out wherever he could and had the ability to figure out how to fix most anything. In the years immediately after the war, he lifeguarded and instructed swimming clas- ses at Gooseberry Lake for the government-run School of Community Life. Later, after he contracted polio in the summer of 1953, he remained in Banff following his treatment at the Banff Springs Hospital, and became a lifeguard and maintenance man for the Banff Cave & Basin. This training put him in good stead when Consort opened their swimming pool twenty-five years ago. Bud had useful knowledge and assisted at the pool right up to this year.

He loved kids and enjoyed working with the young people at the pool. He was always pleased when they included him in their year-end party. He helped out with some of the field trips and campouts with the Consort Boy Scouts. When the first arena was built he was the maintenance man, sharpening (and tightening) many skates. For his work with young people, he was given the Volunteer of the Year award from the Minor Sports Association.

His nieces and nephews filled a spot in his heart and they liked being around him, as well. Although he never married, he had the pleasure of watching these young people grow up and take their place in the world.

Bud loved sports of all kinds. As a kid he played ball and hockey, but his great love was skiing in winter and swimming in summer. When they couldn’t get to Gooseberry Lake, Bud, Charlie and Mary would walk half a mile to the grade on a hot summer’s night to swim and dive in that murky water. Skis were expensive, so Bud’s dad made them by planing down and shaping the wood, then boiling it in water until it was soft enough to put in the home-made press to turn up the tip. If there wasn’t money for bindings, Bud made them from old pieces of leather and fashioned what metal fittings were needed at Dad’s forge in his blacksmith shop. Necessity was a fine teacher. (It’s interesting to note that Elwood Williams still has his skis built by Dad).

When the first old 6-hole golf course at Gooseberry Lake was laid out, Bud helped and was a pretty good golfer driving the ball just like he handled his life – straight down the middle. He bowled the same way.

In the years when he lived at the lake, many kids were taught how to water ski as Bud patiently pulled them, even going so far as to mount a special pole for a hand-hold on the side of his boat until they gained confidence. Young folk migrated to his cabin every Sunday for fun and food.

Bud enjoyed the outdoors; he was a bird and big game hunter, as well as having a trap line when he was young and could get around. Fishing provided hours of pleasure for him as he would go with the Kropinskes to northern lakes and in the winter, Bud, Harold Shannon and others seine fished through the ice at Wabamun and other lakes.

As the years slowed him down, he took up other hobbies such as looking for coins at old rodeo or sports grounds and spent many happy years accompanying Oz and Annette Wiest on their Sunday outings. In the cooler days of the winter, he learned to carve decoys, mainly from instruction books, which showed feathering and color blending and he used knowledge gained from his years of studying nature. His carved birds can be found in many homes and he had a table at the Lions Gun & Hobby Show right up until this past year.

Bud passed away August 31st at his home in Consort from congestive heart failure. His health was also compromised with diabetes and for some years he had been suffering post polio syndrome. Life was getting increasingly difficult for him, although he had enjoyed getting around on his electric scooter and used it to go downtown for coffee with his friends every day.

At Bud’s request, there will be no funeral. His ashes will be scattered somewhere in the hills where he spent so many happy hours picking berries and studying wildlife. Although there will be no monument in a cemetery to record his passing, there are countless stone cairns that he built around the country, that will bear mute testimony to his life.

Left to remember him are his brother, Charlie (Mavis) of White Rock, B.C., sister Mary Readman of Consort, nieces and nephews, Carol (Dave) Bruha, Consort, Sharron Scott, Greg (Shirley) Scott of Calgary, Gael (Bob) Lehman, Alberta Beach, Jackie (Arthur) Chin, Ono-way, Janice (Larry) Lewsaw, Camrose; Charleen Weston, Gary (Shelly) Scott, Paul (Caroline) Scott and Donna (Len) Miller in B.C., one sister-in-law, Kaye Scott, Edmonton, a number of great nieces and nephews and a host of friends whose lives he touched along the way. He was predeceased by his parents and one niece, Lorraine Scott.

If friends desire, memorial donations may be made to the Consort Swimming Pool, c/o The Village of Consort, P.O. Box 490, or to the charity of ones choice.

Myrtle Gertrude Glasier passed away July 25, 2003 in Peace River at the age of 89.

Myrtle was born in Consort on March 25, 1914, the third daughter of Ernest and Annie Glasier. Her parents came from Chatham, Ont- ario in 1908 to farm and settle in the Consort area where they raised twelve children. In 1934, in the years of the depression and severe drought conditions in central Alberta, they sought greener lands and moved to Peace River and began farming in Three Creeks.

Myrtle did not move with the family, however and remained in Consort where she worked as a nurse at the Consort Hospital. In the war years, she moved to Edmonton and for a while worked as a manager/receptionist at the Guest Hotel. From there she moved on to become an assistant in an Edmonton dental office. Then, in 1956 she began working as a nurse and caregiver at the School for Deaf children in Edmonton and remained there until her retirement in 1979. She then moved north to Peace River to reside in the house in town which had been the retirement home of her parents.

Myrtle is survived by brothers Lloyd and Wendell (Penny), Three Creeks, Neil (Olga), San Diego, California, Allen, Prince George, B.C., sisters Helen Robin- son, Edmonton and Edith Tucker, Mexico City and more recently Peace River.

She was predeceased by her parents; brothers Gomer (Consort), Forest (Brownvale area), Ivan (Peace River) and sisters Verlyn Hruby (Chicago) and Muriel Twiner (Toronto).

A celebration of Myrtle’s life was held at St. Paul’s United Church in Peace River on July 28 conducted by Betty Lou Munro, followed by interment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Peace River.

Brent Hugh Dempsey (1961 – 2003)

Catherine Kropinske passed away on December 4, 2003 at the Consort Hospital at the age of 78 years.

Catherine was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on October 14, 1925 to Stephen and Barbara Miller. She took her schooling at the Blarney School near their home at Altario. She lived and worked in Castor for about ten years at the Castor Hospital and Lodge.

In 1966, Catherine went to Edmonton and earned her certificate in hairdressing, and opened a business in Consort. On April 8, 1972, she married Merritt Kropinske and they lived and farmed south of Consort where she also ran her salon.

Catherine loved her family and friends and made sure she was always in touch, never forgetting an important date or event. She had a ready wit and enjoyed playing cards, gardening and cooking, along with visiting. Whenever anyone was in need of help she was always there. Her religion and her church were a very important focal point in her life.

Catherine was predeceased by her parents, Stephen and Barbara Miller, her sister, Mary Dolan and her brothers John, Edward and Steve Miller; her brothers-in-law, Barney Dolan and F. Leo Schulmeister. She is survived by her husband, Merritt; her sister, Barbara Schulmeister; her brother, Andrew Miller; and sister-in-law Annette Miller. Many nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews will remember her fondly.

As a young person, Catherine could be found milking cows, gardening, canning, sewing, baking or helping neighbours. She found pleasure in her work. My mom, who boarded at her home, remembers her as slipping over to Barbara’s across the pasture, half a mile away to help with her nieces and nephews, baking bread, scrubbing floors, helping with wash (scrub board style) or making sausage. The little ones looked forward to her coming with excitement as her pockets could hold anything from a newly sewn dress, to freshly baked cookies or some darned socks. Their smiling faces were the highlight of her life.

On many a Sunday afternoon, my mom and Catherine would walk a couple of miles to visit Mary Sieben, a shut-in. She would invariably have saved a dollar for stamps so Mary could continue her letter writing.

Travelling by horse and buggy she would never miss a choir practice at Albert Vogel’s. The little church of Mount Carmel would ring each Sunday morning with the beautiful hymns which had been well prepared.

After leaving home she did what she liked best, visiting at the hospital as she worked in the hospital and nursing home in Castor for 10 years. She was always interested in a person’s physical welfare.

Merritt and Catherine were married in April of 1972 and lived in Consort where Catherine had her hair styling shop in their home. After building a new house, complete with a hair salon and moving to the farm, she and Merritt had a large garden. She was always one to give her best and friends and relatives would leave the farm laden down with quality produce.

Children had a special place in her heart. She was always excited when the school students would come on tour to hear the “bee” story and carry home a sample jar of fresh honey.

For a number of years, Merritt and Catherine would host a pot luck supper for the neighbours when they finished harvesting. This was a special time as they prepared for this event.

Her love of travel took her to Nashville, Tennessee, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Alaska and the Fort McMurray Oil Sands, with many visiting trips in between. Merritt accompanied her to Disneyland for their 20th anniversary and on trips to the United States to meet relatives. Her last major trip was her first by air, to Toronto.

She was friendly to all and took a great interest in family relationships. She had few close relatives in Canada, but when she travelled, she always wanted to stop and visit a second or third cousin, leaving a small remembrance and a promise to phone.

Church was of utmost importance to her and she was especially pleased to see the completion of the new church.

Her tremendous memory for dates, names and events was evident. She did not need a history book to relate some incident or give a run-down of families and the part they played in her life and the community.

She may have missed her vocation as a meteorologist as, after her daily phone salutation, you would have a detailed weather run-down for the day, as well as road conditions.

She was also a reporter, not needing any files. In three minutes after being introduced to an individual, she would have memorized their birthdate, family, medical history, station in life and given her best recipe for making cabbage rolls.

She loved playing games. If you were not acquainted with all the rules, you could be assured that you would be by the end of the game.

Until recently she visited with her neighbours while cutting their hair. She was always interested in what one was doing – the newlyweds – the new baby – the graduate – how grandmother was doing – what was planned for an anniversary – the price received for crafts, or where everyone was going for holidays.

Early morning, late evening or anytime-of-the day visits, with her bubbly conversation and smiles, will be greatly missed.

Funeral Mass was held Tuesday, December 9th in the Corpus Christi Catholic Parish Church with Father Paul Kavanagh as celebrant.

Jim Marr Barber (1917 – 2003)