Remembering our roots ~ Cec Watt

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

Cecilia Madsen’s paternal grandfather Niels Peter Madsen and family which included her father Charles, arrived in Standard from Denmark on July 1, 1920.
Her maternal grandparents, the Reiffensteins, were married in Denmark, traveled to Iowa on their honeymoon and never went back. Cec’s mother Esther was born in 1912, the second youngest of 13 children, all born in Iowa but moved to the Standard area in 1916. Charles and Esther were married on Aug. 2, 1934, in the Nazareth Lutheran Church in Standard.
Cecilia was born in Calgary in 1938, the eldest of four children, and lived in Standard through age four.
In 1942, when her father became a grain buyer for Alberta Pacific Grain at Iddesleigh, Alta. the family moved. The following year they moved to Chancellor, following her father’s transfer. By this time Cecilia was eligible to go to school, but as she was to be the only student in Grade 1, the school superintendent arranged for her to take a crash course in Grade 1 subjects between April and June. This way, when she returned to school in the fall, she could join other Grade 2 students. In March 1948, the family rented a farm south and east of Standard, where they stayed for a year. This was the only time in her life that Cecilia traveled to school on a school bus, and it was around this time that her classmates changed her name from ‘Cecilia’ to ‘Celia’, and a short time later to ‘Cec’.
In 1949, her father Charles and friend Sigurd Nielsen bought the former JP Hansen General store (built in 1912), and it became the Nielsen and Madsen General Store. This was a two-story building with an outside staircase, and Eastern Star and Masonic Lodge monthly meetings were held upstairs. It was sold to Standard Co-op in 1974, and moved to Heritage Park in 1976 as a Heritage Building, and is now used as the bakery. Dad was still alive when this happened, and was he ever proud! He passed away in January 1982, at the age of 74.
Cec graduated from Standard School in 1955, and following an eight-month teacher training course taught school for two years, and after meeting her future husband at a dance in 1956, married Jim Watt of Rosebud in 1958. This marriage produced five children, 13 grandchildren and one great grand-daughter.
Jim worked on the rigs for several years, while Cec became a substitute-teacher in Standard. During this time, Jim worked at the gas plant east of Chancellor until 1991, when he retired. Jim was a very active participant in sports, and in particular hockey and baseball. Jim played baseball all his life, following in his father’s footsteps along with many other family members, and in the winter months played Old Timer Hockey within Wheatland County. Sadly, Jim passed away from ALS in 2003.
Their community activities include Cec being a 59-year member of The Order of The Eastern Star, member of Nazareth Lutheran Church, a current member of Standard Seniors, and a past member of Standard Lionettes. Jim was a member of the Standard Lions Club, the Masonic Lodge and the Fire Department.
There have been many changes in and around Standard since Cec was born, for example the population increase, fresh water being piped into town, all the new houses being built, and the roads throughout town being paved, acreages replacing farm land. Nowadays, senior citizens and other residents have better access to Health Care in both Strathmore and Drumheller, although they still have to provide their own transport.
Cec is proud to state that she has lived all but three years within a 10-mile radius of Standard. Life has been great!