Remembering our roots ~ Niels Bach

Times Contributor

 

Niels was born in Denmark, in a farming area known as Kjemtrup, on January 19, 1932. This area consisted of a few farms and a school. Niels started school at age 7, and remembers being at school in April 1940, when the Germans invaded and took over Denmark. He says there was a very loud roar over the school that morning, and when the teacher and students ran outside, all they could see were German planes filling the sky. Niels left school at the age of 14 to work on his father’s farm for a couple of years, before going to work at an experimental farm.

He immigrated to Standard, Alberta in 1950 to work on an uncle’s farm, thus becoming the first settler with this family name, here in Alberta. 

In 1956, he leased his uncle’s farm, and here started 35 years of operating this mixed farm.

During the winter of 1958, while bowling in Calgary, he met Mariane Christensen who worked for the Calgary School Board. She was born in Dickson, Alberta and went to school in Dickson and Red Deer. One winter she attended Camrose Lutheran Bible Institute. Niels and Mariane were married on November 28, 1959 and this marriage produced a daughter and a son, who between them have given two grandsons, and three grand-daughters.

Both Niels and Mariane were very involved with the Nazareth Lutheran Church in Standard, where Mariane taught Sunday School, was Church Secretary, and ran Ceramic Classes, for a number of years. As a farm wife she took it upon herself to learn how to be a bookkeeper, so that she could do the payroll and accounting for their farm.

Niels served on the Church Board, and Standard Co-op Board, overseeing construction of the new store. He served on the Rosebud Gas Co-op board for 10 years, and was a member of the F.U.A. – Farmers Union of Alberta.

They returned to Denmark a number of times to visit family and friends, and enjoyed camping trips here in Western Canada. In 1989, they retired to Strathmore, and moved into the house that Mariane had designed. Regretfully, Mariane passed away on July 28, 2008. But, Niels continues to live in their house, enjoying visits from his grandchildren and family and friends.

He advised that to give full credit to the changes he’s seen in Strathmore and Area in the past 62 years would fill a book, but here are some of them.

Travel by horse and buggy has been replaced by planes, trains and automobiles, so that one can travel worldwide. Dirt roads that were impossible to use when wet, have been replaced by paved roads, and elevated gravel roads. Coal oil lamps for lighting, and coal furnaces for heating and cooking have been replaced by electricity and natural gas.

Squeaky battery operated radios are also powered by electricity. We now have HD television, computers and Internet. How many of you remember the old crank telephone with 10 or more farms all on the same line? Now there are cell phones and satellite phones one can carry in their pocket or purse. And, one can call people all over the world.

The farming world has changed too – where he used to drive a team of horses pulling a bottom plough, they now use 400 – 500 hp tractors, equipped with GPS, power steering, and all kinds of comfort for the operator. The list of changes he’s seen, goes on and on.

Since retiring to Strathmore in 1989, there have been many changes to the town itself. Population has increased, and with this growth, has come many improvements – new stores, restaurants, public facilities, and elder care facilities. He said Strathmore is a great place to live.