Remembering our roots ~Yvonne and Ted Stoodley

By John Godsman Times Contributor

The Stoodley family name originates in Somerset, England in the 1800s. Ernest Stoodley was born in 1882, and as a young man apprenticed with his uncle as a printer. As there was no future in this line of work in England, he came to Canada, initially answering an advertisement for a compositor in Winnipeg. But on arrival he discovered the newspaper workers were all on strike. An American newspaper was advertising a similar position in Bismark, N.D., so he worked there for three years until his father passed away in England, requiring him to go home.
Answering a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) newspaper ad in 1909 brought Ernest back to Alberta where he purchased irrigated land in the Berta Vale Area. After building a house there in 1910, a severe drought in 1911 resulted in no crops, forcing him to return to the newspaper business with the Strathmore Standard. He met and married Millicent Greene in 1913, and they moved to the house at Berta Vale. However, because the land was so sandy, the CPR built them another house and barn in a new location: SW 1-26-25-4.
Millicent was a registered nurse and found her services were often required in the Nightingale area. The family raised five children – three sons and two daughters. School was 3.5 miles away and was reached on foot, horseback, buggy or sleigh depending on the weather.
The three sons worked with their dad on the farm, and it was during these years that Ernest and one son, Ted, designed a “hay boat” for harvest time. It was constructed of a 14-foot wide platform, built so an overbalance of weight on the one sturdy axle would tip it backward for ease of loading and unloading. Mounted on rubber tires, it carried 200 stacked bales of hay and could be operated by one person.
In 1918, Ernest began a lifelong work in planting trees. Over 20,000 trees including pine, fir and fruit trees such as apple, pear, cherry, etc. and fruit bushes including red currant, black currant, gooseberry, etc. were planted. The first apple trees were almost killed off due to severe below zero temperatures following chinooks lasting two to three weeks. But he persevered and the fruits of his labour can still be seen today. To get adequate water for his trees, he built windmills for pumping the water.
Yvonne’s family also originated from England. Her mother (Henrietta) Leona Gow was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and her father Bill Mansfield was born in Cambridge. They came separately to Alberta in 1928 where Bill attended the Claresholm Ag College, whilst Leona worked as a dressmaker and chambermaid at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary (now known as the Fairmont Palliser). Leona was a close friend of Audrey and Leonard Hilton, and Bill worked as a farm labourer with Leonard. Having met here, Leona and Bill returned to England in 1929 to get married and remained there until after the Second World War. They had three children: Joan born 1929, Yvonne born 1936 and Godfrey born 1938.
During the war years, they lived in Cherry Hinton, a small village outside Cambridge, where her parents ran a family grocery that had been in business since the early 1800s. They sold essentials like hams, bacon, sausages, butter, cheese, tea and candies. In 2017, the store and building and the 10-room house are still standing and in use, but with new owners.
Yvonne attended school in Cambridge through Grade 7, but after her parents returned to Strathmore in 1948, she attended Grade 8 at Strathmore High School before returning to Cambridge with Godfrey to complete their education. She attended technical school where she took a three-year apprenticeship in hairdressing, returning to Strathmore in 1956 where she met and married Ted Stoodley on July 24. They had four children: Mark, John, Sylvia and Gwen (who passed away in 2004), 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Ted was president of the Strathmore Lions in 1975, when they purchased an old Savannah Van in Innisfail and it was modified to serve as the first ambulance. Ted also served as the last president of Strathmore Co-op before it amalgamated with Calgary Co-op.
Ted and Yvonne were original members of the Wheatland Whirlers square dance club in 1974.
Mark took over the ranch in 2003, and regretfully Ted passed away in 2006. Originally, they raised Hereford cattle, but now have a Red Angus cow/calf operation. In 2007, they celebrated 100 years of farming. Now in 2018, grandson Mark and his wife Pat have been joined by their son Shadow who is gradually taking over.
Ernest Stoodley spent the last 25 years of his life living with Ted and Yvonne on the farm, passing away at the ripe old age of 97.
Yvonne remembers when the boardwalks along Main Street were replaced, the lumber yard was across from the old Co-op building, Thurston’s Drug Store and Spence Hughes Service Station on Main Street. She notes all the new schools, the indoor swimming pool and all the stores moving away from downtown.