Remembering our roots ~ Arthur and Gladys Yerex

John Godsman
Times Contributor

 

Relatives of the Yerex family name have been traced back to 1793, when a William Yerex served with the United Empire Loyalists, prior to The Civil War in America. Art’s father Samuel James Yerex was born in Minden, Ont. in 1865, and his mother, Annie Olsen, was born in Norway in 1878, and immigrated to Minnesota in 1908, before moving to Bellingham, Wash. where she worked as a housemaid.
She met Samuel Yerex here, and they were married in 1911. This marriage produced three daughters, and their son Arthur born on Nov. 16, 1916 at La Connor, near Anacortes Island, Washington State. Samuel moved his family to the Gull Lake area of Central Alberta in 1918, and their youngest son Henry was born here in 1918. They moved to Joffre in 1923 where Art started school. After Samuel had a stroke in 1927, his brother Ed moved them first to Okotoks, then to the Manchester area of Calgary, where Art attended Parkhill School for Grades 5 and 6, then Rideau Park School for Grade 7.
Of note here is the fact that when they moved to the small farm in the Manchester district, they took with them two cows, two horses, a hay rake, a mower and a plow. Dad had a stroke in May 1928, which proved fatal soon after, so it was up to Art to work as a farm labourer, earning income to support the family. To ensure that Art returned to school in the fall of 1928, his mother sold all the farm equipment! He did leave school after Grade 8 and his first job was digging holes, so that trees could be planted. Then he got a job in a box factory, 10 hours a day, at nine cents per hour, waxing the inside of butter boxes!
He joined the Canadian Army in April 1931 and served with the 91st Field Battery until Dec 1936. He attended a Full Gospel church in Calgary in 1937, then attended bible school in Grenfell, Sask. in 1938/1939, before moving to Craigmyle, Alta. in April, where he worked as an auto mechanic for Norman McRae at Craigmyle Motors.
On Dec. 20, 1939 Art married Norman’s daughter, Reta McRae (born 1923), and this marriage produced a son Darcy. They adopted a daughter Retalee, and there are now eight grand-children and 11 great- grandchildren.
Following Art and Reta’s wedding they moved to the Fundamental Bible School in Port Coquitlam, B.C. before becoming a teacher at Miller Memorial Bible Institute, located 67 kms S.E. of Swift Current, Sask. and where he taught for the next 10 years. In 1958, Art and Reta moved their family from Pambrun, Sask. to Surrey, B.C. where he spent the next two years as pastor at Langley Evangelical Free Church, before becoming an agent for Mutual Life of Canada for two years.
In 1963, Art joined Modern Building Movers in New Westminster, B.C. and in 1966, formed Apex Industrial Movers, which became known as the incredible movers because nothing was too heavy or large that they couldn’t move. Oversize and overweight loads that are normally unable to be moved by road or rail could be moved with ease by APEX, with their specialized equipment. In November 1978, after three years of careful planning and almost $1M spent on specially designed equipment, APEX delivered four 220 ton Hydro Electric Turbine Runners (32 ft in diameter and 19 ft high) to B.C.Hydro’s Peace Canyon Project. These turbines had been manufactured in Russia. The 1,300 km route from Vancouver to Northern B.C. included transportation by barge from Vancouver 400 miles north to Kamano, 110 miles south of Prince Rupert, B.C. then on a specially built 150 ft long trailer towed by a special truck, equipped with 170 wheels and two driving cabs, across lakes, rivers, and two mountain ranges. Using logging roads, it took two months of skillful transport maneuvering to reach the W.A.C. Bennett Dam! Other moves included a 160 ft high 600 ton container crane at St John, N.B. harbour without dismantling!
Art, now President and CEO of the company, retired in 1980, after spending almost 15 years there, and retired with Reta. They moved to Strathmore in 1993, then following a long battle with cancer Reta passed away in 1997.
In February 2000, Art married Gladys Klassen whom he had first met when he was teaching at Miller Memorial Bible Institute in Sask. She was born just north of Swift Current, and worked as a nurse’s aide at the local hospital. She attended Miller Memorial for three years before graduating in 1954. Then went to India for five years as a missionary, where she devloped Rheumatoid Arthritis that now affects her entire body.
Art has been an avid golfer all his life, and still plays a round or two per week at Oxbow Golf Club. He originally held papers with The Evangelical Free Church of America, and following Reta’s passing in 1997, became Pastor of Visitations with Strathmore Alliance Church until 2002.
A long life well lived!