Remembering our roots ~ Bill & Joyce Hagedorn

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

Bill’s great-grandfather, Ernst Hagedorn, was born in 1822 in Bloomberg Lippe, Germany. While at a young age, Ernst and his brother immigrated to North America – Ernst to Kitchener, Ont. and his brother to the southern United States. After marrying Maria Koeppler in 1849, they raised 12 children. Bill’s grandfather, William Daniel was born in 1867, in Williamsburg, Ont.
He married Catherine Bieman in 1890, and they raised seven children. One of them was Bill’s father, Wilfred John, born in 1899 in Paisley, Ont. At age 17, he left home and headed west to become a lumberjack in B.C., then a farmhand at Mossleigh.
Julia Short, Bill’s mother’s history has been traced back to 1842, when her grandfather Joseph William Short was born in New Castle, Ont. In 1884 he brought his family to Calgary by train, then on to High River by wagon. In 1885, Bill’s grandfather Elwood Short was the first ‘white’ baby born west of High River. This was a trying time as the North West Rebellion was taking place. Elwood married Edith Robinson in 1907, and they had two girls – Bill’s mother Julia and her sister Hazel (Watson). Grandfather Elwood completed his working career as the Alberta Wheat Pool elevator agent, and retired from this position in Strathmore. His mother Julia, attended Normal School in Calgary, then became a teacher in Southern Alberta for a few years, ending up at Blind Creek School, north of Mossleigh. Here she met Bill’s father Wilfred, at a country school dance, and they were married in 1938. They raised five children.
The eldest was Bill, born in 1943. He attended school in Mossleigh for 11 years, then took Grade 12 at Vulcan. He furthered his education by attending SAIT in Calgary, where he took a two-year course in Agriculture Mechanics, and a one-year course towards his ticket for Heavy Duty Diesel Mechanic. After this he chose to become a farmer, and rented half section of land from his father in 1964.
Mary ‘Joyce’ Gannon was born in Ottawa during WW2, and raised in the Tri-Town area of N.E. Ontario on the Quebec border, containing the towns of Cobalt, Haileybury, and New Liskeard.
She graduated from high school in New Liskeard in 1956, and worked as a secretary in the area until 1960, when she moved to Kelowna, B.C. and worked for two years, before moving to Calgary in 1962, where she got a job at SAIT. Coincidentally, Bill was attending SAIT as a student, and without really knowing each other, they both went on a SAIT sponsored ski trip to Mt Norquay in Banff. While toboganning, a group of them came down the hill, and unfortunately hit a tree stump. Everyone except Joyce got up, and seeing this Bill and a friend walked over, picked her up, and carried her to the bus. Bill likes to tell everyone that he fished his wife out of a snowbank on Mt. Norquay! They were married in Calgary in December 1965, and next spring moved into a rented farmhouse next door to the farm Bill grew up on. Bill and Joyce farmed at Mossleigh for the next 35 years before retiring to Strathmore.
During this time they raised three children – David, Jean Anne, and Marilynn – who have given them five grandchildren to enjoy. For 12 years they hosted off-shore agricultural trainee exchange students under the IAEA Program. Bill and Joyce were both active in the Mossleigh Community, the local Lion’s Club, and school activities.
Apart from farming, Bill also sold ‘Two-way Radio Communication Systems’ for West Can Electronics of Calgary, which led to a 12-year career as a realtor.
He began as a realtor for Century 21 New Bar, and then he and a group of realtors formed Aztec Real Estate. This led to a partnership in building the Best Western Hotel in Strathmore, where Bill worked his way up from maintenance and purchasing, to general manager. In January 2002, they sold the hotel, Bill sold his acreage, and he turned in his real estate and Commissioner of Oaths licenses. He and Joyce purchased a 34-ft fifth wheel trailer and became fulltime Rv’ers for five years. They were fortunate to have a young couple live in their house to look after it while they were on the road. As Snowbirds they spent five years wintering in Arizona. While touring the southern States, they took part in two RV Caravan Tours into Mexico, and another two into Texas. On the first one, they went south of El Paso, railed through the Copper Canyon to Mazatlan, then ferried across the Sea of Cortez to La Paz, then drove south to Cabo San Lucas, before heading north to San Diego. The following year, their second trip took them through Southern Texas to Hidalgo, then on a 45-day tour to Cancun, Mexico City and back to Texas. As they both like cruising, they have completed seven ocean cruises with Holland America, and two riverboat cruises with Uniworld. Bus tours also appeal to them, and as a result they have taken bus trips through England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland,Germany, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, China, Costa Rica, Alaska, the eastern and western U.S.
Nowadays, they spend approximately seven months living at Parksville, on Vancouver Island, and five months living in Lambert Village, Strathmore. Joyce enjoys quilting, while Bill enjoys fishing in summer, and curling in winter. They both still enjoy square dancing, year round.
The main change they have seen in Strathmore, since arriving 20 years ago, is the population growth.