By Nelda (Nowlin) Sharp
My parents, Thomas Harvie (Tim) Nowlin and Louise Cox were first-generation Canadians, their parents having emigrated from the United States, and their grandparents from England and Ireland.
The Nowlins were married in 1935, and the next year moved from Fort Macleod to what is now called Griffin Valley Ranch. I was born in 1938, and Tommy in 1943. Our life in the country was relatively primitive, with no electricity and no running water. We were always well fed, however, as Mom picked and canned berries and preserved wild meat. She baked her bread in a wood stove and planted the first vegetable garden in the area. As I approached my sixth year, my parents had to decide whether to teach me at home or move from the ranch. The closest school, Beaupre, was seven miles away. The roads, just deep ruts in the dirt, were often impassable except by horseback and seven miles was too far for me to ride to school. So in 1944, we moved to Cochrane and bought a house on Pope Avenue. My sister, Gail, was born two years later, in 1946, and our family was complete.
Life in town was different. We had next-door neighbours, and I had playmates. I also had “chores.” The hardest one was walking downtown every day, after school, to get the milk. There was always a long lineup at Ernie Andison’s meat market. One day, just in front of St. Andrew’s church, I stumbled and broke the bottle of milk on the sidewalk. A man, driving by, stopped his car and asked why I was crying. When he saw the spilled milk, he told me to go home, and everything would be okay. Soon, he was at our door with milk from his farm. Henry Whitfield was a wonderful man, and I remembered his kindness every time I saw him.
Tommy was mentally challenged and at the age of 10 went to live in Red Deer. He died in June 2007, having spent more than half a century at Michener Centre.
After graduation, I took some special teacher’s courses and taught school for three years in Condor. There I met Malcolm Sharp who was an Industrial Arts teacher at David Thompson High School. I had probably known only two or three men named “Malcolm”.
One was a boy several years my junior. Malcolm Broatch was everyone’s big brother, thoughtful, kind and liked by all (this was the boy who once invited the whole class to his birthday party because he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings). As a rash teenager, I vowed to his father, that the man I married would have to be a “Malcolm.”
Malcolm Sharp and I were married in Cochrane, in St. Andrew’s United Church, on August 20, 1958. Our three daughters , Debra Michele, Cynthia Lee, and Susan Anne were born at Rocky Mountain House. We lived in Condor, Calgary, and finally, Cochrane.
Soon after we were married, Malcolm gassed up at Cochrane Auto. As he was about to leave, Graeme Broatch came trotting out. “Have to meet the man Nelda married,” he told my husband, as he shook his hand and recalled my prophecy.
In 1973 we built our house at 58 Chinook Drive close to the High School and Manachaban. The girls had after school jobs. Debby worked at McKays, and Cindy at the Al Drive-In and Cochrane Foodmaster.
Sue worked at the Big Hill Lodge and figure skated every morning before she went to school. Debby (Michele) earned her Canada Cord in Guide in 1976, the first Cochrane girl to have this honour. (Melva Blood was her leader and the late Sheila Wigton was District Commissioner of Guides).
Michele lives in Toronto where she works in the Non Profit Voluntary sector. In 2000 while working for the Migraine Society, she published The Migraine Cook Book. She is currently studying the Non Profit Volunteer Management program at Ryerson University, and is also consulting for several non-profit organizations.
Cindy married Jamie Undenbach . They live in Calgary with their three children: Marc (20) Cole (17) and Hana (14) . Cindy works with Jamie at their software company.
Sue lives with her husband , Sean O’Neill – Whitehead and daughter, Morgan (13) in the Millarville area. Sue graduated with distinction from Alberta College of Art & Design and currently work from her home.
