Neilson: Chester Leroy, October 6, 1920 – June 20, 2020

Chester Leroy Neilson was born in Alsask on October 6, 1920, and died at the Oyen Extended Care Facility on June 20, 2020.

He lived his 99 years on the family farm four miles north of Acadia Valley with only a short stint in the army.

When Chester was in his late 20’s he took over the family farm and married Katherine Siewert. He grew crops and raised cattle for over 60 years and still has ownership in the farm corporation. In 2008, some farmland, the leased land and all the cattle were sold and Chester’s nephews Jim and Barry Neilson started farming the remaining land under a crop-share arrangement. As seen in the above photo Chester would still ride occasionally in the tractor.

Chester was a very active and dedicated community member. He served as councillor and reeve for the MD of Acadia for 38 years. He was on the board of the Acadia School Division for 20 years and on the board of the Big Country Hospital for three years.

During the winters Chester and Kay with their friends Anker and Inga Andersen spent many years in Apache Junction, Arizona. Their home in Arizona was always full of visitors.

More recently Chester lost most of his vision but to compensate he listened to CDs. The library commented that he had borrowed over a 1,000 CDs and had also listened to the Bible several times.

His years were filled with goofy adventures and inventions too numerous to mention. Lots of people will have stories to tell. We look forward to hearing them all.

Chester is survived by his wife Kay; his children Brenda, Randy (Sharon) and Cal; his grandchildren Beth, Phil (Erin), Cassie (Todd), Katie (Wes) and Calyn Katie plus nine great-grandchildren.

A service and celebration of Chester’s life will be held when Randy can get to Canada and it is safe to gather many people.