KREW KUTS: A Crossroads Museum Story - Part 4
By Bernie Krewski
The year 1937 began with the customary New Year’s Eve dance in Oyen - music provided by the Excel Orchestra while the OK Orchestra was entertaining at Cereal – and where Mr. W. Byler was the proud possessor of a new set of drums! Mr. and Mrs. E.E. Vanstone spent New Year’s Day at the home of Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Bishop at Excel.
The Hanna Herald reported that “Salt is being mined on a farm near Oyen.” D.W. Bohannon leased the land previously farmed by the Abbott Brothers south of town and was shipping salt to many parts of Alberta.
Meanwhile, Gerard and Annie Peck, continued their active social life here although hinting they may be departing from Oyen soon. Their son, an entomologist, received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from McGill University on October 6, 1936, and married Miss Virginia Gardiner of Point Claire, Quebec, the next day. His life enters this story in more detail later.
The residents of Oyen celebrated “Coronation Day” on May 18, beginning with an impressive march by the Scouts and Guides. The program began with a service in the Anglican Church conducted by Rev. A. Patterson who spoke briefly on the significance of the Coronation ceremonies. He was assisted in the service by Mr. G.S. Peck. A sports program followed in the afternoon. It included “an exciting bicycle race won my Walter Krewski with Howard Tilley (the son of CNR station agent) second.” Later, the Scouts held a dance in the theatre with music by the Gullekson Orchestra.
On July 7, Scoutmaster Patterson took a group of Scouts and Cubs to Alsask to welcome the Governor General of Canada who was visiting a school friend from years ago. A report on this event was previously published in this newspaper. The Pecks were at the Calgary Stampede which likely explains their absence from such a significant gathering.
In early September Mr. and Mrs. Peck had as their guest Miss Sibbitt of London, England who was a niece of Mrs. Archie Johnson, formerly of Oyen but then residing in Melbourne, Australia. Miss Sibbitt was on the last lap of her trip around the world. Several families with the surname “Johnson” settled in this district, but I found only one reference to Archie Johnson in The Oyen News on August 5, 1925.
Two major developments distinguished the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Peck in 1938. They received a cable from their son Edward on March 17 indicating he would be arriving in Oyen to visit them on April 1st. He was at that time a government veterinarian and agriculturalist in Northern Africa and on vacation in England. His career also enters this story in more detail later.
The Oyen News ceased publishing in 1935. Fortunately, we have this story from the Calgary Daily Herald (name changed to the Calgary Herald in 1939) on October 21, 1938 - “Pioneer
Residents Move To Calgary.” Last week Mr. and Mrs. Gerard S. Peck, pioneer residents of the Oyen district, left to make their new home in Calgary, where they are now living on Sunnyside Boulevard. They played a prominent part in community affairs there. Mr. Peck took great interest in the agricultural society and fair association and Mrs. Peck served several terms as president of the Anglican Women’s Auxiliary. One son Edward is in Somalia, Africa; another Oswald is at Ottawa; a third, Hubert, is at Cochrane; and a fourth, David, farms at Lacombe.
Seven years later, Gerald Septimus Peck, 77, died in a Calgary hospital on September 28, 1945, following a lengthy illness. His obituary noted he was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England, and moved to Oyen in 1921 where he became a police magistrate and served in that capacity for 17 years – farming until moving to Calgary in 1938.
Surviving were his widow Annie and four sons. Two of them had military status – Corporal Hubert Peck of Cochrane, Alberta and Major Edward Peck then serving in Tanganyika, Africa. Also surviving him were three sisters in England – Mrs. Arthur Burns, Mrs. Sidney Stephenson, and Mrs. Campbell Meyer, and nine grandchildren. Services were held at St. Barnabas Church with interment at Queen’s Park Cemetery in Calgary.
Annie Peck, Gerard’s wife, died four years later, on December 1st, 1949, under very tragic circumstances. She was in a small vehicle driven by her eldest son Hubert on Saturday afternoon November 19 when it was struck by a truck on a Calgary street. His vehicle was totally wrecked. Annie, age 81, had a fractured pelvis, Hubert had a collarbone and four ribs broken. She died from her injuries twelve days later. An inquest determined that Hubert had made an illegal U-turn while the truck was passing another vehicle, causing the collision.
Information in Mrs. Peck’s obituary not reported previously is that she was born in Bolton, England in 1868 and moved to Oyen in 1921. She was past president of the Oyen Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. In Calgary she was a member of the Women’s Canadian Club and St. Barnabus Anglican Church. Her second son Edward at that moment was living in Somaliland, British East Africa. She was survived by a brother Edward in England and ten grandchildren.
Thus ends the news coverage when Mr. and Mrs. Peck were residing in Oyen and Calgary. What follows in the next half-century – the next stage or denouement of their generation – are some surprising revelations. These will be described in several forthcoming articles.