by Robin Harvie, More Big Hill Country page 492, 2009
I was born Joan Robin Williams in Calgary on February 28, 1933. My mother was born in Okotoks in December, 1904, grew up in Calgary, and won an I.O.D.E. Scholarship to attend the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She was eligible, as her father had died as a result of wounds received in W.W.I. She graduated in 1926, and worked as a laboratory technician prior to marrying in 1929. My father was born in Calgary in 1907, and became a Chartered Accountant, joining his father’s business.
I’m an only child which I never felt deprived me of anything. In fact, it had many advantages. I was always treated as their equal by my Mom and Dad. As I grew up, I lived in eleven different homes in Calgary, as Dad liked improving and redecorating houses in his spare time, and then moving on. I thought moving was fun, but I think I must have been spared all the stress and work involved.
I attended Christopher Robin Kindergarten, Cliff Bungalow and Elbow Park Schools, Rideau Park Junior High, King Edward School, and then Western Canada High School. I spent three years at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, graduating in 1953 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. I worked as an accountant during the summers and then full time in my father’s office until I married Neil Harvie in 1954. I then moved out to Bearspaw Ranch (part of Glenbow Ranch) along the Bow River west of Calgary, and began my rural education.
I had little experience with the countryside when I was growing up. All I remember of summer holidays was picnicking and fly fishing with my Dad on Alberta and British Columbia streams. During W.W.II, we saved gas coupons so we could go as far as Radium Hot Springs or Lake Windermere. We had no family living on farms. I did learn to ride horseback at a stable in Calgary so I wasn’t totally new to that when I moved to the ranch. At Bearspaw, I raised chickens, fed pigs, rode horseback for pleasure and to help with cattle work, drove a team on a hay rake one summer, and later drove tractor occasionally when needed. For forty years or so, I helped at branding and weaning time inoculating calves and keeping records.
Neil Harvie was born in Calgary, December 3, 1929, and grew up there. His father acquired the Glenbow Ranch in the early nineteen thirties, so Neil spent a lot of his childhood there, horseback riding, working and learning about the ranch. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1953 with a B.Sc. in Agriculture, moved out to the ranch to work there, and eventually took over full control. Over the years, he improved the hayfields and grain fields, and installed irrigation on the flats near the Bow River. He improved the Angus based cattle through keeping records and careful selection based on the cattle’s productivity and performance. Later he and some other ranchers developed the Beefbooster strain of cattle through cross-breeding, genetic testing and careful selection.
Neil was active and a director in the Western Stock Growers Association, Alberta Cattle Commission, Western Feedlots Ltd., Calgary Stampede, Calgary Airport Authority, and the Western Heritage Centre as well as many other organizations. He was honoured by the Cochrane Chamber of Commerce in 1996 by being named Ambassador of the Year. He also received the Cochrane Rotary Club’s Integrity Award in 1998.
Neil and I raised three daughters and a son, all of who attended Cochrane schools, have married, and have raised families of their own. Our oldest daughter Pauli ranches near Eckville, Alberta, and she and her husband Tim have two daughters. Jennifer is married and living in Edmonton, and has a one year old son. Lindsay married and is living in Sylvan Lake with her husband and their baby girl.
Our son Tim farms on the south side of the Bow River, east of Cochrane and he and Jeanne have two daughters Jordan and Kelly, and a son Ian. At this time, all three are finishing or pursuing further education. Carol and husband Terry pasture cattle on their ranch east of Cochrane, north of mghway lA. Their daughter Nadine and son Mason spent their school years in Cochrane.
Katie married and has three children, Braden, Kelsey and Curtis. They are also continuing their education. Tim and Katie continue to operate the ranch.
In the early 1960’s, Neil learned to fly an airplane and bought a Piper Super Cub which be hangared in a field close to home. The plane was very useful for keeping an eye on the cattle, fences, waterers, etc. on the ranch, as well as for recreational use. I also took lessons and enjoyed flying for several years. I found finally, that I couldn’t get enough hours in the air to stay current for my license because four young children took up most of my time. It’s like riding a bicycle – once you know how you don’t forget, but I haven’t tested it in a long time. I always felt, though, that in an emergency I could land the plane which was my reason for learning in the first place.
I joined the Glendale Women’s Institute in Cochrane in 1956, and have continued as a member to the present day. I’m an active member of All Saints’ Anglican church in Cochrane, and for fifty two years have belonged to the Samaritan Club of Calgary, which raises funds through rummage sales and other projects to help needy families in Calgary.
Neil and I built a home in GlenEagles in Cochrane in 1997 at the time when he was semi-retiring, and some of our family were becoming active in the management of our ranch. Two years later, Neil lost his battle with cancer, and I have continued to live in the home we built and settled in together. Our decision to move when we did turned out to be a very fortunate one for me as I continue to enjoy my home and my neighbours. I get great pleasure seeing my ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren grow and progress. My great-grandfather, Dr. Ritchie, and his family moved to the Jumping Pound district in 1904 (see Big Hill Country, page 735).
His daughter, my grandmother, is quoted in the original Vestry minute book of All Saints Anglican Church, and my grandfather was a visiting lay reader in All Saints. It is there where he met my grandmother. I find it interesting that a descendant of the Ritchie’s ended up living in the Cochrane area so many years later.
I feel fortunate to have been born and raised in a country where people are free and at peace. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to live in a rural area where I can appreciate the countryside, the animals, birds and wildflowers, and all the benefits of the wide open spaces.
