Oyen News Briefs, Mar. 28, 2021
By Diana Walker
All Prairie Rose Regional School Division schools (except Jenner) will be closed March 27 through April 5 for Easter break. We hope everyone has a safe and healthy break from classes.
All signs of pipeline camp life have disappeared from the west side of Oyen. The last of the mobile residences left last week.
The Oyen Division of the Highway 41 Pheasant Festival will be hosting their 5th annual Pheasant Festival this year (pending COVID-19 restrictions) on Saturday, October 23. “We will begin taking registrations on April 1,” says Charmain Snell “and we will have an Early Bird Draw for all teams that have registered and paid their registration fee by May 15. The winning team will receive a free 2022 Pheasant Festival Registration!”
Watch The Oyen Echo for more details. Their website is www.highway41pheasantfestival.com and they have a Facebook page.
Charmain goes on to say, “We are always looking for members/volunteers. Anyone interested in getting involved is welcome to attend our next meeting on Monday, April 12. The meeting will be via Google Meet. If you would like to attend please send your contact information including your email to highway41pheasantfest@gmail.com.
The Big Country Regional Recycling Society held their meeting in the Oyen United Church basement March 21 with secretary Elaine Michaels, James Walker, chairman Manfred Schroder and Diana Walker in person and treasurer Janet Lowther joining by cell phone.
Condolences
I would like to extend my personal condolences to Marcella and family on the death of her husband Herman Schwenk March 13, 2021, at the age of 90.
Herman first appeared in The Oyen Echo on page 9 of the November 9, 2004 issue when we reported the most recent inductees to the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame. Here is an excerpt from that story.
“But perhaps his greatest achievements come from the field of electrical distribution. The power companies refused to serve many parts of rural Alberta as they viewed the costs as being too great for the economic return. However, Herman worked tirelessly with the provincial government, rural electrification associations and power companies to start and keep the power flowing. Under his leadership, the Alberta Federation of Rural Electrification Associations grew to an active organization. Driving down a rural road and seeing the power lines spreading across the land, one cannot help but be reminded of Herman’s invaluable contributions, and how he helped make rural Alberta a better place to live and do business. He truly helped shine the light for and on rural Alberta.”
The earliest Prairie View column I can find in The Oyen Echo was November 11, 2014, but he may have contributed prior to that date. He always ‘shone’ his light on issues not only important to him but to many of our readers. He never backed down from what he believed but was always willing to listen to other points of view.
I will cherish his memory; I will miss his phone calls and reading his opinions. The Oyen Echo was grateful to share his last column with his readers in the February 8, 2021 issue. His wish was to stimulate discussion and debate among the public and to keep his brain active. He accomplished that and much more.
Sympathy is extended to the Barker family as well as Anderson relatives on the death of Verna Barker on March 12, 2021, in Red Deer after adversity with COVID-19. She was 97, being a widow for 25 years. Born on a hillside farm north of Excel to Ezekial and Elsie Anderson she was predeceased by her husband, daughter, son, son-in-law, parents and all her siblings except Beatrice Neidersteiner, who turned 90 in January. Raised together as a close-knit family were Lawrence, Ronald, Lamar, Irene, Gordon, Beatrice, Wesley and Floyd.
We are blessed to live in an area filled with people over the age of 90 who continue to add to the fabric of this community well beyond that marker.
March 21, 2021, at the age of 95 Elaine (Roy) Wood died at the Long Term Care Facility in Oyen. Although raised on the Hillcrest Farm south of Youngstown Elaine kept moving closer to Oyen. She married Walter in 1945 and they raised their two daughters in the Lanfine district. She became a volunteer in three communities—Cereal, Lanfine and Oyen. In 2003, after Walter’s death, she moved to a new home in Oyen, then to The Lodge in 2016 and finally the Long Term Care in 2018. Her humor and wit came a quickly as she used to drive to town for parts. She always had time not only for her family but her friends and those of her kids and grandkids. More than one community feels her loss. A remarkable lady who never said good-bye but “OK, we’re gone!”