Remembering our roots – Betty Bolinger

Times Contributor

 

The history of the Bolinger family originates in the early 1900s, when they moved from Tennessee to Colorado, then to Gleichen.

Betty’s family name was Ticknor, and her father and mother, along with her sister Marjorie (age six), moved from Iowa to the Three Hills area of Alberta in 1918. They were like most settlers in that day and age – drawn here by the promise of cheap land. In Iowa, farms were much smaller and fields were lined with groves of trees including orchards. On arriving at Three Hills, they were met by her father’s cousins – Ira Young and Wilfred McCubbin. The Young’s were preparing to move to Florida, so Betty’s parents moved into the Young’s house, located one half mile east of Sarcee School, at Ghost Pine Creek. They farmed there for the next 13 years. When Marjorie was asked if she didn’t miss the trees of Iowa, she said, “Yes, but there are a nice lot of fence posts!” 

The Sarcee Schoolhouse was the social centre, serving the community in many ways, as did the Ghost Pine Store. It was 14 miles west to Three Hills. 

Betty was born Nov. 4, 1922. The first nine years of her life, at Ghost Pine Creek, were very precious ones for her. Her memories include communing with nature, helping her parents with the chores and generally enjoying life. This included looking after Shetland ponies from the Drumheller coal mines. These ponies were put out on farms during the summer for their health.

She found the dust storms of the Dirty Thirties very frightening. Sometimes the dust was so thick, it blotted out the sun. Her mother hung wet sheets over the windows and stuffed rags along the bottom of the doors to cut down the amount of dust entering the house. 

During those lean years they truly lived off the land. Often the only cash they had was the egg money from the sale of surplus eggs. They had plenty to eat, but it was a very monotonous diet at times. They had chickens, eggs, milk, butter, cottage cheese, buttermilk, flour and porridge ground from their own grain, home-made bread, home grown vegetables and a beef-ring.

Betty attended Sarcee Butte School through Grade 9, taught by her sister Marjorie, who was by then a qualified teacher. For Grades 10 to 12, she attended Crescent Heights High School in Calgary, followed by a year at Hepburn Business College. She then worked at Ingraham and Bell Hospital Supplies. While attending school, she lived in a boarding house in north Calgary, and it was here that she met her future husband Marcillous (Mars) W. Bolinger who was born in 1917.

Mars worked at the Ogden Shops, and prior to this had lived and worked in California while learning to be an aeronautical engineer. He had returned to Canada when WW2 broke out.

Betty and Mars were married at Three Hills in 1943, and initially lived in Calgary. In 1947, they moved to the Bolinger family farm at Gleichen, and farmed there for the next 60 years. This marriage produced five children, but they lost an 11-year-old son in a farming accident in 1958. 

On Betty’s 90th Birthday last year, her 10 grandchildren helped her celebrate.  

She was an active member of the United Church and a long-time member of the Gleichen Community Choir, and has enjoyed quilting and needlework. She took it upon herself to always ensure the church was suitably decorated with flowers for all occasions. Throughout her life, Betty has been a keen photographer and has taken countless photos of family and community events.

She advises that as a family, they have been proud custodians of the land since 1907. Betty has recently moved to Prince of Peace Manor in Calgary.