pg 623 More Big Hill Country 2009
Reg and I were both born and raised in the Springbank area. My parents, Mattie Robinson and William Cullen celebrated 100 years. Reg’s parents, Johnnie Munro and Grace Henning, had their centennial in 1994. Grace lived to 98 years and passed away in 2006. We lived on land adjacent to the airport. Johnnie’s parents Martha Hamilton and William Munro both had homesteads. My Grandparents, Lily McPherson and Joseph Robinson homesteaded in Elbow Valley.
I rode three and a half miles on my horse Paddy to Elbow River School until the school burnt down when I was in grade six. From grade seven to eleven I went to Springbank and then high school at Crescent Heights in Calgary. We went to Springbank School on the first school bus; the old bus was a wooden van with no windows on the sides and two benches on each side.
Mr. Allen (teacher) was the driver and didn’t mind making anybody walk if they misbehaved. Reg remembers boxing matches in the boys’ cloakroom at noons and recesses.
In 1966 we purchased the old Mortimer Place from Alan McMahon. Our two children, Diane and Dean, changed school from Springbank to Westbrook and later to Cochrane High. Diane went to University of Calgary and took education. She married Don Demetrick from St. Paul, Alberta. She has been teaching native children at Blue Quills and Saddle Lake for twenty-five years. Diane and Don have two children Laura and Cameron. Laura married Grant Smith from Bentley, Alberta and they have one little boy, Wacey. They own a hydrovac truck used in oil well businesses and pipelines. Cameron is at U of A taking education, 3rd year. Diane has spent many summers helping with the haying. She has seen a lot of country abroad: Australia, China, Hawaii, Alaska, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Mediterranean, and Turkey.
Dean bought a remote ranch at Quesnel, British Columbia. He was married to Joy Veselic from Cochrane and is now married to Roseanne Exshaw. Dean has two girls, Sayla and Jenny and one boy Jake. Sayla and her husband, Dean Renker, have two girls, Holly and Hanna. Sayla is in nursing. They live at Quesnel, a few miles from Dean. Jenny lives in Cochrane and has one boy, Tristan Ash. She is manager of a retail store in Cochrane. Jake is in the electrical trade in Quesnel.
We have had a commercial herd of Simmental cattle for the past 52 years and in 2008 won an award for breeder of the year. I have helped Reg with most things: baling, and stacking hay, delivering calves, fencing and whatever. Our place is called Spring Coulee and our brand is H inverted U on the Right Rib. We are cutting down on our cowherd.
We love to have our five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren visit and spend time with us. We went on a cruise to Alaska with family and neighbours in 2007, something we will always remember.
Reg and I are celebrating our 59th anniversary this year. We have seen many changes, some good and some not
