Page 471 More Big Hill Country 2009
The Griffin brothers , Harold and Lloyd (Ike), arrived in the Cochrane area in 1946. They were the sons of homesteading parents, Helen and Al Griffin of Retlaw, Alberta, (near Vulcan). Harold had been a schoolteacher married to Alice Oseen of Sundial, and Ike was managing his mother’s farm, and married to Ann Brown of Vauxhall, when they decided to buy a Caterpillar tractor and go into the earth-moving business.
They began their enterprise in High River in 1945, clearing land in the area, and soon acquired a second Caterpillar. The families moved into two cook cars, which were pulled by the cats from job site to job site. When they arrived in the Springbank area, Ike’s family consisted of Clayton, Jean and Floyd. Clayton and Jean attended Jumping Pound School for a time. Harold’s family at that time was made up of Jeanette, Al and Rod. Jeanette went to Drummond School at Carter’s Comer. When the weather got really cold, the families would rent accommodations in Cochrane, and the children would enroll there until it was warm enough to go back to the cook cars. Wherever they moved to, they always had their herd of horses pastured out nearby.
Finally in 1948 Harold moved his family to Calgary, where daughters Valerie and Jackie were born. Ike later bought the Moore farm on the east side of Cochrane, NE Sec 25 Twp 25 Rge 4 W5M, Griffin Road. Ike moved his family here, which now included their new daughter, Barbara.
About this time, they started racing their Griffin and Griffin Chuckwagon, which they ran for many years on the Alberta circuit. They also started buying Shetland ponies and soon had a good-sized herd. Over the next few years, many of the Cochrane children learned to ride on these ponies and horses. Lunch time on weekends would always find Ann with a table full of hungry young people making short work of her good cooking and famous chocolate cake.
Ike and Clayton started running pony chuckwagons on the western Canada Circuit. The Calgary Stampede parade morning was always a busy and exciting time, harnessing the pony wagons and getting all the younger Griffins mounted in their matching outrider outfits.
Over the years, we all participated in the local gymkhanas and the boys and their friends soon got interested in rodeo. They built bucking chutes and had a seemingly endless supply of young horses and steers to practice on. Al, cousins Floyd Rod and their friends started in Little Britches rodeos and soon graduated to novice bronc riding, where Floyd won the Alberta Novice Championship saddle.
In 1953, Harold and Ike bought a ranch in the Wildcat Hills from Jim Storey and Tim Nowlin Sec 19 & Sec 30 Twp 27 Rge 5 W5M. By this time their construction company had expanded and they were working in the Spray Valley, clearing land for Calgary Power for the Spray Lakes Dam.
Eventually, the children grew up and struck out on their own. Of Ike and Ann’s family, Clayton went into the trucking business. He married Joan Munro of Springbank and they have two sons, Duane and Lee. Duane lives in Springbank and Lee lives in Redwood Meadows. Lee is married to Karen Duggan.
Jean married Howard Mitchell, who also was in the trucking business and they had two sons, Corey and Gregg. Corey, a paramedic, was married to Mary Ashton on June 3, 1995, and they had two children, Shainnalea and Hunter. They divorced and he is now married to Bruinella (Joksimovic) Brown on June 8, 2000. Corey and Bruinella have three children: Ty, twins Sierra and Payton, and Brooke (deceased). Gregg lives on the home place and is married to Roxanne Robinson. Their children are: Shelby, Colton, and Kyra. Howard passed away on August 3, 2007. Jean is a long-time employee of Rexall Drugs in Cochrane, and now with Mainstreet Drugs.
Floyd is a heavy-duty mechanic, married Kathy MacLean of Fort St. John, and they have three sons: Craig, Kyle and Jason. Floyd and Kathy now reside at Eagle Hill near Sundre. Craig, a heavy-duty mechanic, is married to Jody Fenton and they have three children, twins Justin and Joshua and Carson. Floyd and Kathy now reside at Eagle Hill near Sundre.
Barb married Neil McCrie of Swift Current, where she teaches school and helps out on their farm. They also have three sons: Byron, Grant and Calvin. Byron is a welder and is married to Anna Marie Chabros of Chestermere. Grant is a chartered accountant in Medicine Hat and Calvin is an aviation technician with the Canadian Armed Forces in Ottawa.
Of Harold and Alice’s family, Jeannette married Tom Cahoon, a geophysist, and they have two children Jeff and Lea-Anne. Jeff is married to Heather Ridge and both are computer scientists living in Superior, Colorado with their three sons: Connor, Devin and Ryan. Lea-Anne is a pharmacist, married to Russell Kinney a graphic artist, and living in Liberty Lake, Washington with their son, Lucas.
Al was originally married to Joan Prestwick with whom he had three children: Laurel in Calgary, Colleen who is a chiropractor and lives in Cochrane, and Dean. Dean, an equipment operator, was married to Dawn Hackman and they had two daughters Jordyn and Hayley. Dean also has a son, Christopher. Al is now married to Sheila McQuarrie and they have three children: Pat currently wrangling on movie sets), Susan and Alison. They live on Griffin Valley Ranch where they run a riding operation and spend their weekends going to rodeos to watch their kids compete.
Rod is a retired medical doctor, married to Sally McDougall and they live in Edmonton, where they raised a family of four: Sean, Travis, Theresa and Rona. Sean, working with computers, is married to Christy who works in the travel industry, and they have two children, Jacob and Abigail. Travis is a school teacher and is married to Debi Green. Theresa works in nursing and is married to Gerry Stead and they have two children, Spencer and Madison. Rhona is married to Ed Riep, who is in the construction industry, and they have a daughter, Sophia.
Valerie is a kindergarten teacher, married Greg Owens, an engineer, and they have five children: Scott, James, John, David, and Michelle. Scott, a teacher, is married to Cindy Perault also a teacher, and they have one son, Davis. James works in the oil industry. John and David are attending Mount Royal College and spend their summers working at the ranch, team roping and working on local movies with their cousin Pat. Michelle is in nursing.
Jackie is a librarian, married Doug Kinley, a pallet company manager, and they live in Calgary. They had two sons. Tyler is an electrician and horse trainer. Jesse was enrolled in business Administration when he passed away in 2005.
Ann and Ike lived out their years on the farm east of town where their door was always open for their many friends. They were a popular couple at the local Legion and Ike really enjoyed shuffleboard and cribbage. One year he represented Cochrane in the cribbage division of the Alberta Senior Olympics. Ike passed in 1988 and Ann in 1994.
Harold returned to the teaching profession. He taught at Shaughessy School in Calgary for many years, where he initiated a riding program as part of the Lifetime Activities Curriculum. Soon, other schools were signing up and he eventually retired from teaching to run the riding program at the Griffin Valley. In 1982. he and Alice moved to the ranch full-time, where they spent their remaining years. Harold passed away in 1997 and Alice in 2007.
