Remembering our roots ~ Dick & Jerri Schindeler

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

Dick’s family name originated in Liege, Belgium in the mid-1800’s.
His grandparents, Albert Schindeler and Laurence Schindeler (Douffet) came to Canada on their honeymoon in 1892, and liked what they saw so much, that they never returned to Belgium. Instead, they became homesteaders in what, in those days, was called Lewisville, N.W.T. – but is now known as the Battle River area in Central Alberta.
Grandpa Albert had been a banker in Liege, but these were the days when the Canadian Government and CPR were advertising Canada as the ‘land of gold.’
Unfortunately, the only gold was found when the evening sun shone on gold coloured leaves on trees! So, grandpa and grandma Schindeler bought land to be farmers. However, this was not to be, because the land they purchased was all muskeg, which caused all kinds of problems for farming. Cattle would sink into the muskeg, and it could take hours to free them. One could not grow hay or grain on muskeg, so there was no feed for cattle.
Dick’s father ‘Albert Paul’ Schindeler was born in Lewisville in 1901, and moved to Duchess in 1922, to become a farm labourer. He married Ada Agnes Ward, who had travelled by train from Bridgewater, N.S. to visit her aunt who lived in Bassano. As her father worked as a brakeman for CPR, family members could travel across Canada inexpensively!
Dick was born at Bassano hospital, on Nov. 6, 1929. This was the closest hospital to the family farm at Duchess. He was the eldest of five brothers. He attended country school at Clancy, initially a one-room school, but they had to add another room due to the large families in the area. Even then, the classrooms were overcrowded, so to alleviate the problem children, who were six years old by September got to go to school. Dick’s birthday was in November, and along with other children whose birthdays were after September, they were not allowed to start school until the following year, thereby, missing a full year of school! Dick remained at Clancy School through Grade 9, then attended high school in Brooks. He worked on the farm with his dad until he was 20 years old, then started a career in welding and plumbing. He took courses at SAIT, four weeks the first year, and four weeks the second year, (1952/53) for his Welding ticket, and similar four-week courses over the next two years at NAIT (1961/62) for his Gas Fitting and Plumbing Certificates. In 1952, he opened Dick’s Welding in Brooks, which was in operation through 1978. He then joined the Eastern Irrigation District in Brooks, where he became a stores supervisor for the next 16 years, retiring in 1994 at the age of 65
Jerri’s family originated in Czechoslovakia. She was born in October 1936, the eldest of three children, and christened ‘Jarmila Valerian’, and is now known as Jerri. Her sister and brother were born in Canada, after Jerri’s parents Bohumil (known as Ben) and Anna, with Jerri emigrated to Duchess in 1938, just before Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. All they had were the clothes on their backs, and what they could carry. They came to Duchess, because they had been sponsored by Anna’s Aunt Marie and Uncle Frank Husty.
Following their first winter, her father walked cross-country to Tilley, a distance of about 60 miles, seeking work. There were other farmers in the Tilley area who spoke the Slavic language, and as he loved horses, he quickly got a job. The family then moved to Tilley, where Jerri took all her education thru’ Grade 12, followed by a secretarial course at Mount Royal College (now a university), then working for the Eastern Irrigation District in Brooks.
Dick and Jerri met at a Halloween party in 1957, and were married in 1958. They have a son, two grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. They lived in Brooks following their marriage in 1958 until 2004, when they moved to Strathmore to be closer to their son and his family.
Jerri’s community activities include serving on the St. Alban’s Anglican Church board in Brooks, being a member of Beta Sigma Phi, a member of the Brooks Library Board, and a volunteer at the Brooks Hospital Tuck Shop. Dick was a member of the vestry at St. Alban’s, has been very involved with the Scandia Museum, and is a lifetime member (over 40 years) of Pioneer Acres at Irricana. Readers will remember this used to be located at Langdon Corner, which was much easier to travel to.
When they moved to Strathmore in 2004, there was no Walmart, Co-op was the biggest store downtown, and Home Hardware was located on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Lakeside Blvd.