by Cyril Camden pg 207 Big Hill Country
My father, William Camden, was born in England and came to Canada at an early age, residing in Winnipeg. He returned to England for a short time and then, accompanied by his wife Ellen, returned to Canada, this time to Calgary in 1912.
Dad was a stonemason and a stonecutter by profession. He helped in the building of several sandstone buildings in Calgary including the King George School. In 1915, at the request of Charles Fisher, Dad came to Cochrane to work on the large sandstone home that Charles Fisher
was building. This home is now being used by the Franciscan Order.
The family moved to a farm presently owned by Bob Beynon Jr., just west of Cochrane. While there Dad had a dairy business and supplied milk to the residents of Cochrane. He sold his dairy to George Bunney and went back to carpenter work, and the family moved into town. There were four children, George, Elsie, Cyril and Doris.
Dad helped to construct many buildings in the Cochrane area, and being an expert stonemason, also built many fireplaces in homes around Cochrane, Exshaw and Banff. He helped to build Andison’s Store after the Fisher Block burned. At the request of the Kerfoot family, Dad built a memorial in the Wildcat Hills for a member of the family lost in World War II. For some time Dad was employed at the Exshaw Cement Plant.
We children all attended school in Cochrane. Doris became a teacher and taught school at Beaupre and Cochrane. She is Mrs. Estabrooks and she and her husband have two children, Ross and Beverly. Elsie never married. She was employed by the Federal Government for many years.
George and his wife Iris live in Calgary, where George has been a salesman since moving to the city. Prior to leaving Cochrane, he worked at the Chapman Garage. They have two children, Bud and Carol. I enlisted in the Armed
Services in World War II and after completing war duty became postmaster at Cochrane, a position I held for ten years. I married Mildred Wallace and we have two children, a son Cam and a daughter Wendy. We now farm north of Cochrane.
Dad was keenly interested in sports of all kinds, but he especially enjoyed curling. He was a member of the Oddfellows and the Masonic Lodges in Cochrane. Mother and Dad were members of All Saints Anglican Church.
Elsie and Mother both passed away in 1957 and Dad in 1971.
Interesting how our attitudes towards craftsmen and ‘permanence’ have changed. Mr Camden built sturdy buildings using his skill and craft and many of those still remain today. This must be a great source of pride for his descendants when they see these structures and marvel at the workmanship of their ancestor.
We now spend hundreds of millions on giant edifices, like the Saddledome, and think nothing of tearing it down after a few decades. Such a shortsighted shame!