Remembering our roots – John & Dorie Paris

Times Contributor

 

John’s family came to Canada from France in 1910. His father, Jean Piere (Joe)was born in St Jean de Luz, and his mother Elizabeth was born in Pau. Both of these towns are in the Pyrenees, which form the border between France and Spain. They came separately to Vancouver, where they met and were married. Initially, his father was a lumberjack in Campbell River, then on the mainland. After several years, they moved to Florida because of his mother’s asthma, but it didn’t help so they moved to Alberta in 1917. Being unable to speak English at first was very hard, but they persevered. His father got a job at LK Ranches near Dalemead, because he was very good with horses. Eventually, they were able to get their own farm south of Langdon, where his father continued breaking, selling and trading horses. John was born in Calgary in 1925, and had two sisters – Martha, who married Rob Jackson, and Mary who married Ed Barlow. All are now deceased. His family moved to the Cheadle farm in 1934.

Doris’ family (Drake) came to Prince Edward Island from Britain in the late 1800’s. Her father, Angus McLean (Mac) came west to the Cheadle area, on his own in 1919, and her mother Jessie joined him in 1921, after they were married in PEI. Her family had always been farmers, and her Dad just followed the tradition. In the dirty 1930/1940’s he raised foxes to make ends meet. They farmed all their lives in the Cheadle area. 

Doris was born in Strathmore in 1923, and had one brother Robert Drake, who is now deceased. 

John and Doris met while they were both attending Fairplay School just south of Cheadle, where they completed their education through Grade 10, before moving on to Western Canada High School in Calgary.  

Doris worked for four years at the main branch of The Royal Bank of Canada  located at 8th Ave. and Centre Street, where banks occupied all four corners! She and John were married on January 25,1947 at Central United Church in Calgary, and her name changed to Dorie instead of Doris. They have a son, Guy, born in 1949, who is married to Wendy, and they had two sons, Jason and Douglas, who have provided John and Dorie with four great-grandchildren. Their daughter, Marlyn, was born in 1952, and is married to David Townsend. They have no children. 

They started farming in 1947, six miles south of Cheadle on Hwy. 24, where their children were born. They belonged to Carseland United Church, where Dorie played the organ and piano for 15 years. They were also involved with the Cheadle Community Club, 4-H, Carseland Lions, then Cheadle Lions where John was fortunate to be their first president.

Over the years, they continued leasing and buying more land, in the surrounding area. Some of the leases were 15 miles away, making the movement of machinery and cattle a slow and tedious job. John decided he would like to try real estate, so in 1970 he took a real estate course, thinking it would work well with farming. He started working with Toole & Cote in their farm and ranch division. Then in 1972 he joined Bill McGuire Real Estate making very good connections with foreign investors. These were the days of the Cold War in Europe, and a lot of French, Germans and Italians came to this area and purchased farm land. In the early 1970’s,  John, Dorie and son Guy started a farm partnership with Jens and Clara Lehmann. John and Jens had met through a real estate transaction. Those were very successful years, with good crops and prices. At this time, they had students from Germany, Denmark, and Britain, who had come to this area, to get work experience on farming in Alberta. In 1977, Bill McGuire passed away, so John and Dorie formed their own company in 1978 – Jondor Realty, with an office in Calgary, and for a short time an office in Strathmore. In the next 25 years, they had very good people working with them, some of them going on to have very successful real estate careers. For the last 10 years, they had their daughter Marlyn working with them. John was happiest when he was out dealing with farmers and ranchers.

They continued farming until 1984, when they sold their farm and moved to Red Deer, to be closer to their son Guy, wife Wendy, and their sons Jason and Douglas, who lived on their ranch, north of Rimbey. In 1986, John and Dorie bought a little farm by Bluffton where they spent many pleasant summers. They moved back to Calgary in 1991, then to Strathmore in 2000, where they still live today. John retired from his real estate business in 2003, after many years of being a farmer and a realtor, work he thoroughly enjoyed. Although officially retired, he still retains an interest in farming to this day.

Both feel they have been very fortunate to have been able to travel to places in Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, the U.S.A. and across Canada. 

Looking back, the biggest change they’ve seen over the years is the technology for farm machinery. Think back to the days of old, and compare the tractors and combines of yesteryear and today.