Remembering our past ~Ted & Sheila Burger

Times Contributor

 

Ted’s paternal forefathers lived in Germany, and belonged to an Anabaptist group called the Church of the Brethren. Due to religious persecution, they moved to the United States in the 1700’s, before the American Revolution. This denomination planted churches throughout the United States and Western Canada. In August 1910, Ted’s grandfather travelled from Iowa to view a farm near Sylvan Lake, and after staying the night at Lacombe, contacted the seller, who advised the farm was covered in snow. However, by the time they got there, it had all melted. His next step was to move his family from Iowa in 1911. He farmed it for a few years, but didn’t like the wet climate, so he sold the farm and moved to California. He traded the land he owned in California for land one mile north of Shouldice in 1921, eventually moving to that land in 1923. He sold this land, and purchased land and a farm just east and north of Arrowwood in 1926.

Ted’s mother’s family, who were originally from Scotland, moved to Edmonton from Ontario. 

Ted’s father (Frank) was born in Iowa in1902, and moved to Bentley, and rented a farm near Sylvan Lake in 1923. Here he met his wife to be (Leala), while she was visiting an aunt there, and they were married in 1924. Initially, they lived in Edmonton where he was a fireman, but farming was in his blood, so they moved to farm with grandfather at Arrowwood in1929. Frank and Leala rented a 3/4 section in the same district from Mr. Corey, a Gleichen lawyer, in 1931. Ted was born in May 1934, at Mrs. Lewendon’s Nursing Home in Arrowwood, the second child of three. He had an older sister, who passed away in 2012, and a brother who is 12 years his junior. He was raised and went to school at Arrowwood from this farm, then worked as an electrician’s helper in Gleichen, before he was married.

Sheila’s grandfather Richard Copithorne, moved from County Cork in Southern Ireland to Calgary in 1887, and homesteaded in the Jumping Pound district. In 1895, he married Sophia, whose family moved from Ontario to Springbank. He established the CL Ranch, on the banks of the Jumping Pound Creek. Sheila’s mother’s family had moved from Ontario to Cochrane in 1904. Sheila was born in the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary, in 1935 and was raised by her parents Percy and Edna at the CL Ranch. She was the eldest of three children, with a brother and sister following. She completed her elementary education at the Little Jumping Pound School, and took her high school at Mount Royal College where she lived in the dorm, before entering nurses training at Calgary General Hospital. She acquired a nursing position at the Vulcan Hospital, where she met Ted on a blind date, in the fall of 1956. They were married in August 1957, and had three daughters who have provided them with six lovely grandchildren and two lovely great-grandchildren. 

Following their wedding, they moved to the farm just south of Arrowwood, where they rented 1 1/2 sections of land. After purchasing this land it became their farm base. Ted’s father owned a 1/4 section nearby, and when he died at the young age of 64, Ted and Sheila purchased this property from the family. As the years passed, they continued to buy land. Their farm is predominantly grain, but they did have a small herd of beef cows. The farm was good to them and they both loved it. A highlight was when Robert and Mary Stanfield, the Conservative Leader of the Opposition in Ottawa, spent a Labour Day weekend with them, to try and get a handle on the economics of farming. Sheila ran a combine during harvest, and in 1980 Ted bought her a new Massey Ferguson combine for their 23rd Wedding Anniversary, for $47,000. As many of my readers will know, Massey Ferguson went bankrupt the following winter (1981). 

A neighbour telephoned CBC telling them that Sheila had just been given a new combine for their anniversary, and Peter Gzowski interviewed her by phone on Valentine’s Day at six in the morning for his live broadcast! They decided to retire to Strathmore in 2007, so the farm was split between two of the daughters and husbands, who live locally. The third daughter lives with her husband in Texas. The farm had been incorporated as Prairie Rose Farms Ltd, so this would be an easy transition of ownership. All three daughters, with their respective husbands, have continued in the agriculture field, very successfully.

When I asked them why they had retired to Strathmore, they said they liked the town, and Ted’s mother had moved to Wheatland Lodge. Additionally, it was close enough to where Sheila’s family lives, west of Calgary.

In Arrowwood, their community activities revolved around The Church of The Brethren, which merged with The United Church of Canada in 1968. Ted has served on the boards of The Arrowwood Co-op, and Camp Chestermere. For two years, he was President of The Alberta Association of Land Owners for the Protection of Agricultural Land – AALPAL. It was formed to protect agricultural land adjacent to The TransCanada Trail. Sheila helped with the Girl Guides, the Home and School Association, taught ESL, and volunteered at the Arrowwood School. After moving to Strathmore they became very active with the Alliance Church. The biggest change they’ve seen in this area is the growth of the town, the population boom, and demographics.