Western Irrigation District Memories – Rick Thiessen

By John Godsman Times Contributor

The Thiessen family has a history that is steeped in agriculture, going back several centuries and continuing into the present.
The Thiessen family name originated in northern Holland and Germany, prior to settling in the Crimea in the 1700s. After the Seven Years War, Russian Czarina Catherine the Great required the services of farmers to rehabilitate her nation’s farmland, and persuaded many Mennonites, including the Thiessen family, to move to what is now known as Ukraine.
In 1925, Rick’s grandparents, Abe and Gertrude Thiessen, immigrated to Canada with their family. Abe brought with him a large quantity of oatmeal and Rogers Syrup, so the family wouldn’t go hungry. Abe and Gertrude had six sons and two daughters. One of the sons was Jake (Rick and Ed’s father), born in 1910.
The family originally resided in Aldersyde where Abe worked with the railway, before moving to Youngstown, where he worked as a farm labourer. In 1931, the family moved to Namaka where they purchased land previously farmed by Colonel Strange, and his Military Colonization Company (MCC), where Rick and Ed Thiessen now farm.
Jake’s wife Mary (Manja) was born in 1911, in the Ukraine, the daughter of Martin George Wingerter and his wife. In 1929, the family started on the long journey to Canada, first moving to Germany, then England, and from there by boat to Halifax, arriving in 1930. The family then travelled to Winnipeg, before finally settling in Namaka. Mary and Jake met there, were married in 1940 and had three children – Ed, Rick and a daughter.
In the late 1950s, the Thiessen brothers began their involvement in irrigation by levelling their existing land to enable the use of flood methods. The family continued using flood irrigation before transitioning first to wheel moves in the 1970s, then pivots. In the 1980s, as the family acquired more land, the use of centre pivots increased their irrigating capability as well as water efficiency. In the 1990s, Rick continued the family’s involvement with irrigation, serving for consecutive terms as the WID board member representing district 3.
In 1999, Rick started his well-known feedlot operation called Strangmuir Farms, with the name being derived from a railroad siding located at mile 139 on the CPR main line.
Strangmuir Farms recognizes the crucial role that irrigation plays in their operations, as without reliable access to water, their operation would not exist.