Remembering our roots – John and Anne Godsman

Times Contributor

 

John was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1936, and Anne was born in Edinburgh in 1939. John is the eldest of two brothers, and his younger brother lives in Arkansas. Anne is the eldest of four girls, with the next eldest living in Ontario, while the other two still live in Scotland. Both John and Anne left school at age 15, to join the work force. John became an apprentice aircraft engineer, while Anne joined the Bank of Scotland.

In 1954, John joined the Royal Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller, and spent the next 12 years serving at different airfields in the U.K., Germany and Gibraltar. He and Anne met at a dance in Edinburgh, while he was stationed at Edinburgh/Turnhouse, and they were married in 1959. This marriage has produced one son, Iain, born in Gibraltar. They now have a daughter-in-law Joanne, and two grandchildren Arizona (21) who lives and works in Burnaby, and Hunter who is in Grade 12 at Forest Lawn High School, in Calgary.

John, Anne and Iain immigrated to Vancouver, B.C. in 1967, then moved to Calgary in 1972. After 3.5 years working for CP Air in Vancouver, John joined the Life Insurance industry in 1970 where he spent the next 33.5 years, before retiring in 2002. 

Anne continued her banking career, working for Scotiabank in Vancouver and Calgary, before joining The Royal Bank of Canada Payroll Dept., which she retired from in 1999 after 26 years. During their working life, they served in various executive positions in community associations, and took up both curling and league darts. 

They started square dancing in 1986, and participated in The Opening Ceremonies for The 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. There were 960 dancers on the field at McMahon Stadium, ranging in age from eight to 92. They also danced at the opening ceremonies for the Rotary International Convention, and the World Police & Fire Games, both held in Calgary. They have square danced across Canada, in the U.S., and in Scotland. They became campers, starting with a tent, then moving to a truck/camper, and finally a fifth wheel. 

In 1998, they volunteered as campground hosts with Parks Canada, serving in Banff, Kootenay and Waterton National Parks through 2004, then continued hosting with the United States Forest Service in Montana through 2006.

After retiring to Strathmore in May 2000, they immediately became part of the community, in the fall became members of The Wheatland Whirlers Square Dance Club, and are past executive members of The Calgary & District Square & Round Dancers Association. Anne instructs at her own Strathmore Stompers Clogging club, which meets weekly at Strathmore Library. They are both active members of Strathmore United Church, where Anne enjoys quilting, serves on Pastoral Care, and is a member of the Agape Group. She has served on the Community Crisis Centre board. Is a member of the Crown Jewels, and also enjoys gardening. John plays golf in the summer, hopes to find time to go curling, works two days a week with Enterprise Car Rentals, and is really enjoying writing the seniors articles entitled “Remembering Our Roots” which he started in May 2010. They both enjoy travelling with their fifth wheel, and have been to every province in Canada and 20 – 25 states in the northern U.S.

When they moved here in 2000 the population was 6,990, and now it’s over 13,000. The biggest changes they’ve seen include all the new stores along the highway and the increase in population. What was once farmland is now residential subdivisions. The small town they moved to is now growing in leaps and bounds. It’s getting too big, but it’s far better than living in Calgary!