Remembering Our Roots – Ralph Mackenzie

Times Contributor

 

Ralph’s parents moved from Ohio to Southern Alberta in the early 1900’s. He was

born in Calgary in 1915, the second child of four. He had an elder sister and two younger brothers. Ralph attended Balmoral School in Calgary until he completed Grade 8. 

Farm animals were always a part of his life, from the very beginning. His favourite was the horse, and he remembers driving a pair of horses attached to a dray (farm delivery cart), when he was just six years old. He had a special way with horses, and had no problem training them. Learning to drive teams of horses stood him well in later years. As he grew up, he worked on many farms in the Lyalta, Carseland and Vulcan areas. In these areas, he worked for eight different farmers, and noted that three of them didn’t even know how to start a tractor! But, all his knowledge for repairing items came from watching, listening and doing day-by-day work. He was willing to try fixing anything big or small. Whenever a neighbour had a broken appliance, you would hear the call “Call Ralph” or “Take it to Ralph, he can fix anything!”

Around 1934, when he was 19 years old, he and his brother Harry drove two teams of horses from Vulcan to Edson, a distance of over 380 miles! When they got to the Bowden area, they had problems with one of the wheels on a cart, when the rim came loose. Remember, these were the days long before there were workshops, etc to drop into and fix the problem. They were able to acquire a new rim for the wheel, but it was too big. At the side of the trail, Ralph started shortening the spokes, while Harry lit a number of small fires at different points under the under the wheel, which was lying on the ground. He had to heat the metal rim to reduce the rim size, so that it would fit the wheel. Eventually, they completed the job and moved on. Ralph doesn’t remember how long the trip took. The original intention was to build a new log house, and move there. But, Ralph soon returned to this area, where he could continue working as a farm labourer. He spent the next 12.5 years living in the foreman’s house, whilst working for Ben Cool, father of John Cool. The foreman’s house was later moved to Carseland, where it still stands, owned and occupied by a Carseland resident. Around the same time, using an old style, one jack, he removed the top of a two-storey house, leaving the  ground floor as a shop!

In 1940, he married Helen (Hellevang) who was born in Medicine Hat in 1920. This marriage produced a son, Ed, and a daughter, Alma Mae. (Alma was Hal Lust’s first wife, and as we know she passed away from cancer in 1979). Ralph and Helen’s son and daughter’s families have provided six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren. 

Ralph and Helen celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary in 1965, and their 50th in 1990. They lived all their lives in the Carseland area, until Helen passed away in October 2005. Ralph moved into Wheatland Lodge, following his hip replacement surgery in 2010, at the age of 94.

They were both very active and contributing members of the community for all those years. Helen received a Lifetime Membership of The Public Benefit Club, after over 50 years of service. She wrote the Carseland news for the local paper, and was a member of The Jetsetters.

Ralph’s achievements through his life include using a horse and slip to move earth for landscaping on Prospect Avenue in Calgary, helping to build the first Curling Rink in Carseland in 1947. He notes that by 1948, up to 48 teams from the surrounding areas were using the rink. It stood until 1976, when he assisted in tearing it down, and helped build the new one. Ralph then took over as caretaker, and kept the building and ice in good shape, and completed all the maintenance. He was an avid curler and skipped in many bonspiels. Shortly after becoming a Life Member on his 80th birthday, he reluctantly retired from curling. He worked in a logging camp, drove a school bus for 10 years, and was a trouble shooter for the Carseland Mutual Telephone Company for 16 years. 

This required him to climb telephone poles in all weathers, including a 45 foot pole to effect repairs in a snow storm. He tore down a barn, and replaced it with a granary, which was still standing 50 years later! He’s been a member of Carseland Lions Club since 1956, and is now a Life Member.

He retired from Wheatland County in 1991, after 20 years of dedicated service. Ralph now lives in Extended Care at Strathmore Hospital, and celebrated his 97th birthday on May 18, 2012.

(With grateful acknowledgement to Sharon Alce, for her contribution).