Remembering our roots ~ Alfred & Marje Johansen

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

Alfred’s father, Andrew Johansen, and his forefathers were farmers in Sonder Hygum, Denmark. Andrew and his brother Jacob worked at the mines in Greenland before immigrating to Canada in 1922, and started grain farming in the Hussar/Standard area.
His mother Marie Jacobsen, also came from Sonder Hygum and followed Andrew to Canada seven years later, in 1929, marrying him later that year. Alfred and his twin sister, Elna, were born in Bassano in April 1931. Another sister Margaret (Flewelling) and brother Harry followed. Alfred started his education at Sunny Range, in the one-room school, and along with several other children rode to and from school on horseback! The school had a barn for children to leave their horses in during class! He attended Hussar and Standard Schools, before graduating at the age of 16 to go farming with his Dad. In 1947, Andrew, Marie and their children moved to Carseland to continue farming, while brother Jacob remained at Hussar.
Marje’s grandfather – Harry Groves – moved from Swainsby, England to Canada in 1894, where he worked at several jobs before he met his future wife, Jean Patterson, who had been born in Northampton, England, and came to Canada with her parents, brothers and sisters in 1886. Harry and Jean were married in 1898, and four years later moved to Strathmore where they started farming/ranching and raising their ten children. Their third oldest was James Groves (Marje’s Dad) and he was born in 1906. Her grandparents on her mother’s side, Pete and Christine Voigt had moved from Denmark to Oregon, where Mabel, (Marje’s mother) was born in 1912, as well as a sister Esther. They moved to the Carseland area in 1916, and had seven more children! In 1936, during the dirty thirties, Pete and Christine left with all their belongings and their seven youngest children on a truck, heading west, and ended up in Aldergrove, B.C. where they started a gas station/convenience store/ and orchard. Mabel had married Jim Groves in 1929, and they farmed/ranched north of Carseland, where they raised their five children. Esther was also married, so she didn’t accompany the family to Aldergrove. Marje is the third oldest and was born in 1933, and had two brothers, Jim Jr. and Roy Groves, and two sisters Edna Harriman and Joyce Hvingelby. Marje took all her schooling from Grade 1 to Grade 12, at Carseland, where she was very involved in sports and farm activities.
Alfred and Marje met in 1947, when Alfred’s family moved to Carseland. They started courting two years later, while teaching gymnastics together at Carseland School, and working on their respective family farms. Around this time, Alfred attended SAIT in Calgary, taking Agricultural Mechanics. He and Marje were married in Calgary on Jan. 31, 1953, and moved to the farm in Hussar, where they spent the next 25 years and raised their six children Don, Jack, Bruce, Dale, Connie and Guy, who have given them 14 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. All six of the children played hockey, and Alfred started and coached the girl’s team. Marje spent her springs and summers coaching girls baseball.
Alfred had always been around horses and enjoyed rodeo activities with his family. During the winter months, Alfred fed bulls from stock contractors, and it was only natural for his sons to start riding them. He converted the quonset on the farm to a bull riding arena, so that his boys and children from the surrounding area could come and ride. All the practice and support over the next six years certainly paid off, as all five boys became professional bullriders. Between hockey, rodeo and other sports Alfred and Marje spent many hours on the road.
Their community activities included Alfred being a Scout Leader and member of the Lions, and Marje being a member of Unifarm as well as enjoying curling, while they lived in Hussar. In 1978, they moved from Hussar to a farm five miles north of Carseland, where they lived for the next 30 years. From 1979 through 1991 he worked at Cominco (now Agrium), and Marje worked part-time for chiropractors and doctors in Strathmore. In 2008, they retired to Strathmore, and have enjoyed spending 20 years as snowbirds, as well as having the time to become more involved with their children, grandchildren, and most recently their first great-granddaughter. They are surrounded by many, many friends.
The biggest changes they’ve seen in this area over the years are the changes in farming technology, from horse and plow to the huge GPS machines now being used.