Remembering our past – Harry & Eileen Muller
John Godsman
Times Contributor
Harry’s father was born in Czechoslovakia in 1883, and moved to New York before WW1 started. This was followed by living and working in the office of a coffee plantation in Cuba, for five years. He brought his family to the Camrose area in 1913. After his younger brother passed away from asthma in 1918, the family moved in 1920, to the Tide Lake area (south of Iddesleigh, between Patricia and Jenner) in the centre of what was known as the great “Prairie Dry Area.”
This area was basically a triangle with its apex at Hanna, and base along the border between Bassano and Swift Current. In 1910, a group of German Colonists, mostly former army personnel, came to Southern Alberta and bought 20 sections of land for The German-Canadian Farming Company. Its town was named “Hussar.”
After surveying the land, they ploughed and planted over 5,000 acres, and in 1912 had their first really big crop. However, in 1914, with the onset of WW1, the Federal Government interned all the men in Vernon, B.C. but permitted their families to remain on the farms. In 1925, Harry’s grandfather and father took the train to Cluny, to see the land they had purchased from Chris Bartsch. Father walked the 12 miles from Cluny to the Gervais Farm who lent him a horse, to inspect his purchase north of Crowfoot Creek. This had been a part of the original German farming community.
Harry was born on the road to Bassano in 1928, and Eileen was born at her home in Gleichen in 1926. Her family came to the Gleichen and Cluny districts in 1908 from England and Australia. She started school at Living Springs, but moved to Cluny for high school in 1939. She lived at the dormitory of Bow Valley High School in 1943 & 1944, hardly aware that her future husband was also living there.
After the war ended, in both Europe and the Pacific, she and Harry met again, and were married on November 5, 1949. This marriage has provided them with son sons, one daughter and six grandchildren. During the in between years, Eileen took nurses training at the early Calgary General Hospital, and after graduation as a Registered Nurse, continued to work there for $165 per month. Meanwhile Harry spent a year at Olds Agricultural School from 1944 to 1945, and took related courses at S.A.I.T., before working at Alberta Sheet Metal for 65 cents an hour, that first winter after they were married.
As his father’s health was ailing, Harry went home to look after the farm. After his father passed away suddenly in 1950, Harry and Eileen with little experience, knowledge or resources, were left to take on a labour intensive mixed farm containing cattle, hogs, chickens, etc. In 1958, they made the decision to become grain farmers, and began acquiring more land.
Eileen began to work with the Hussar Ladies Aid in 1953 and the Jubilee Local, Women of Unifarm in 1955. She enjoyed the worthwhile community involvement of these groups. In the late seventies, Hussar was the first town to be awarded The First Responders designation for Strathmore Ambulance.
Harry joined the Hussar Lion’s Club soon after its inception in 1955, served as President in 1960, and is now a Life Member. The Lion’s Club promoted the formation of The Hussar Credit Union, which opened on October 14, 1960. It also developed and opened branches in Strathmore and Drumheller. It is now known as The Chinook Credit Union, and Harry became a Director.
In 1942, the Oil and Gas Conservation Board was formed. In 1979, the Hussar and Dalum Surface Rights Board was formed, and Harry served as a director of the Gas and Surface Rights Board.
In 1981, The Alberta Surface Rights Federation was formed. This federation was greatly aided by The Farmer’s Advocate’s Office of Alberta, who provided invaluable assistance. Harry served on the board of the Seed Cleaning Plant, Bow Valley Propane Association, and on the Municipal Planning Board for Wheatland County from 1989 to 1992.
They joined the Sundowners Senior’s Club in Hussar, where they enjoyed socializing with their contemporaries. Harry was President in 1990 & 1991, and Eileen became the secretary. She remained in that position until they retired to Strathmore in 1995.
Their son, Glenn, took over the farm from his parents, although Harry retains an interest, and has continued to assist with the harvest. He worked his 67th harvest in 2010. When they moved to Strathmore in 1995, the population was 6,000, and after living on the prairie for over 60 years, they enjoy the parks, trees and green spaces.
They enjoy being closer to family members, the excellent care provided by Strathmore Hospital and were patients of Dr. Wickson for 30 years. They also enjoy Heritage Days, the Civic Centre and Family Centre. To this day, they meet for coffee with old and new neighbours in Strathmore. Eileen is a member of a Retired Nurses Group, formed by a nursing classmate, Laura Edwards, who meet every second month for lunch.