Frank Walker and Fairy Masters' Ancestors and Family

By John Walker with Fairy Walker and Ken Walker's notes

Frank and Fairy's Parents

George Walker of Yorkshire, England came to Kingston, Upper Canada, about 1825 to serve in the garrison at Fort Henry.  After he was discharged from the service he was provided with good farmland in nearby Cataraqui.  He married Hannah Bryant and they had 9 children: Samuel; Edward; Frank; William (Billy); Thomas; George; Jane; Joshua and John.  George developed a shop for making fanning mills which he sold to farmers around York.  George Jr. married Mary Tilden.  Mary's father was responsible for smuggling Dr. Charles Duncombe out of the country after his failed part in leading one faction of the rebellion of 1837 in Canada resulted in a price of 500 pounds on his head.  Mary’s cousin, Samuel Tilden, was senator of New York.  He was a Democrat and elected president of the U.S.A. in 1876 by 264,000 votes over Republican R. B. Hayes whose party challenged the votes in several states.  An electoral commission chosen by Congress and some chicanery by a Supreme Court appointed by Lincoln gave the election to loser Hayes by a single vote.  Samuel Tilden was a lawyer and a self made man and expected his kin to do the same.  When he visited Kingston he would parade around town in the finest rig available.  They did not have any offspring so Samuel Tilden bequeathed his fortune to set up an education foundation.  This fund with that from Rockefeller and another philanthropist established the New York City library.

George and Mary Walker had eight children: Charlie; Arthur; Laura; Gertie; Frank; Harry; Maude and Stella.  Frank moved to Toronto and learned telegraphy; and then to Newkirk, Oklahoma in 1896 where he was an agent for the Santa Fe railway.  Harry also moved to Newkirk in 1896.  George Walker died in 1901 in Kansas and Mary Walker died in 1926 in Seattle, Washington.  George and Hannah Walker and other family members are resting in the Cataraqui cemetery in section m.

Tom Masters, U.S. Civil Army Ohio, left his family to lead a platoon of neighbours for the North (Abe Lincoln) as a Flag Bearer during the American Civil War, and was wounded.  After the war (~1866) he moved to a farm near Sedan in Southeast Kansas, possibly a land grant to veterans of the North Army.  He married Phoebe Titus from Rhode Island about 1870.

Phoebe Titus was college educated in literature and music, which was much better than most girls of her time.  She married Tom Masters, probably from Ireland, and they moved to the then new country of Grandview, Ohio.  Here, she had a family of four girls and raised then well on the farm.  The eldest was Flo (Masters), then Nell (Tighe), Fairy (Walker) and Etta (Christian).  Fairy Lyle Masters was born at Grandview Ohio Jan. 22, 1876. Fairy (Ken Walker's mother) was about ten years old when they moved to Sedan.

Phoebe spent time with her daughters developing a love of good literature and music.  Fairy sang the Star Spangled Banner as a solo in Arkansas City, Kansas, when she was 12.  She eventually learned to play 14 musical instruments.  Tom Masters died May 24, 1890 at Sedan, Kansas, age 45-50 and in a few years Phoebe also passed on.

The girls had to do the farming to live but had good basic education from their mother.  Fairy was present at the famed Kansas "strip" for the actual horse race to determine land rights.  Flo helped her younger sisters get training and qualifications for more ladylike jobs: Nell and Fairy (mother) for teaching and Etta for nursing.  She used to send us a big box of Christmas goodies, which Lyn and Ken enjoyed very much.  The girls were better educated than most of the time and married well: Nell to Joe Tighe, a highly paid train dispatcher; Fairy to Frank Walker (Jan. 1^st 1901, Sedan, Kansas), a telegrapher and farmer; Etta to Pope Christian, manager of the food floor in a large store in Dallas.  Patricia Tighe is about Kens age; also Hilda Christian, a ballet dancer.  She gave me (Ken Walker) her picture in costume and balanced on the tip of one toe, which I displayed in his room at varsity.  Frank had a job on the Santa Fe railroad and they moved to the station at Colorado Springs, Co. where Kenneth Harold Walker was born on Roswell St., Oct. 1^st, 1902.

The Cayley Homestead ...Fairy Walker

In 1902 two brothers of Frank's came west to file on homesteads.  At that time, the Calgary Land Office was directing settlers north so they took homesteads near Stettler, which was then forty miles from the railway.  Frank wrote and asked them to settle nearer a railway and town - thinking I would like that better.  Arthur had liked the south country so he changed to the Cayley district the next spring, building west of Cayley. Frank came that summer and I followed soon after although I was concerned about living in a stern law abiding country.  Our homestead was located about one-half mile north of town.  It was on the southwest quarter of section 30 of township 17 - range 28 W4 and had a creek in the northeast corner.

We lived in a granary on Arts farm until our house was built.  Frank brought two carloads of stock, implements and household effects, which included my piano, a Chickering, which had been a wedding present, and which I still prefer in looks and tone to any other.

The settling of the Cayley district marked the change from ranching to farming.  The big ranchers felt it was a mistake, but they were glad to have Frank fix up a crude sort of telegraph office to bill out their stock.  He had been a railroad agent at Colorado Springs, Colorado before coming to Cayley.  George Lane, Pat Burns and others would come to our farm and sometimes take over Frank's work, ploughing or whatever he was doing, while he went to get their shipment out.  At that time Cayley was at the end of the southern rail line and the stockyards were the largest in the world.  They would sometimes ship 10,000 head after long drives from the south.

We dug a well but could not use the water, so we had to haul water from a spring at Widdup's until we got a well drilled.  For several years Webb Longacre came out with barrels on a dray and filled them at our well to supply the Cayley residents.

One day Frank took his son Ken into town to get some groceries and Geo Lane, owner of the big U ranch 30 miles west of Cayley, was shipping cattle.  They drove by the corral and Frank, being use to tamer cattle, thoughtlessly climbed the corral fence to look at the cattle, which stamped, as they were wild range ones.  Geo Lane rode over and loudly scolded Frank.  By evening they had loaded the cattle on the train, but the engineer would not budge without the train orders.  Frank was the only telegrapher for miles, so Mr. Lane sent one of his riders to get Frank who told him that if Mr. lane came and apologized for his excessive behaviour he would get the train out.  Mr. Lane did apologize and Frank sent the trainload of cattle on their way to Chicago that night.

The Wickens General Store, Post Office and home was a social centre.  The first Christmas party was held there and everyone around the country came.  Daddy Bauer with his accordion and I on the organ supplied music for dancing.  My first recorded date is a program of a concert in High River in which I took part.  It is dated November 5, 1903.  Dr. Stanley was chairman, and Rev. Price was also on the program.  I remember that concert well.  Rev. Price used to hold church services in our house, before the church was built.  We had a Sunday school that first year led by Mrs. Lin Farrell.

The first winter I did not see an egg until our hens started laying in the spring, nor a bit of fresh fruit or other things we feel so necessary now.  Frank had brought dried fruit in the car and Wickens' sold dried apples from Ontario that I think were the best ever.  We got vegetables from Brown Brothers that fall and there was plenty of meat and wild duck.

Edith Walker (Arthur's wife) had taken osteopathy and had several cases of birth, one at Wicksons.  Dr. Reinhardt was our first doctor and lived at the hotel, which was built after we came. He was with me when Lyn was born Jan 4th, 1906. Nellie Gardner took care of me.

The first wedding, was when Miss Backus married Pete Sims, by her father who was a minister.  The first death was Mrs. Fetterman's twins who died soon after birth.  Mr. and Mrs. Wickens made a pretty coffin and they were buried at Cayley.  It was the first cold spell of winter.  Mrs. Wickens and I sat up with Mrs. Fetterman and water froze in the room.  Mrs. Wickens fixed paper over my chest and in my hood before I walked home at five o'clock in the morning.  It was twenty below zero then.

The three Walker boys were Kenneth, Lynwood and Paul (born 1910).  Paul lost his life (1921) as a young boy when a racehorse struck him at the Cayley sports day.  The people of the community were so shocked and saddened by the tragedy that there was never another sports day held.

The Tuxis and Trail Ranger Groups of Cayley were the first organization of the Canadian Standard Efficiency Tests in the Dominion of Canada.  This movement stress four phases of development of the growing boy, namely, physical, mental, social and spiritual.  Awards were given to the boys as they made progress along these four lines.  They held weekly meetings, generally after a "Bean Feed" and summer camps at the foot of the mountain.

One of the early organizations formed in Cayley was the Canadian Red Cross Society.  It was in 191 4 that Mrs. Bert Widdup as President, Mrs. Fairy Walker as Vice-President, Mrs. G. Wickens as Secretary and Mrs. L. Beaton as Treasurer that the executive committee of this group was formed.  Many sewing bees were held to make dressings and quilts for the Calgary headquarters.  The Cayley Red Cross had 140 members in 1918 and had raised over $3000.  When the young men returned from service after the First World War a celebration was held with the late R. B. Bennett as quest speaker.  Odette deForas sang and Mrs. F. Walker played the cornet.

For several years Cayley had an orchestra and a male quartet which were very popular and much in demand both at home and the surrounding towns for concerts.  Fairy Walker played the guitar for the orchestra for many years.

From "Under the Chinook Arch" a history of Cayley and surrounding areas Published 1967.

Frank was very understanding and proud of his sons and taught them how to box, wrestle, ride, shoot and swim in the prairie sloughs.

Both Ken and Lyn finished their high school and Normal School in Calgary.  During this period, Ken made extra money as one of the famous telegraph boys who delivered telegrams throughout Calgary on speedy bicycles.  He stayed at the home of Arthur and Dr. Helen Walker at 12^th Ave. S.W. in 1917 and 1918.  Frank Walker passed away Dec. 21, 1921 at the age of 48 while Lyn and I were home from the University of Alberta.  Lynwood entered the University of Alberta at the age of 15, one of the youngest students (they had a rule minimum age of 16 but wanted to fill classes).  Lyn won the first prize in a math test with a hundred or so participants.  Mother decided that Lyn and I should finish our year as she and younger son Paul could look after the farm during the slack winter season.  I would then do the farming and Lyn would get his degree in three more years.  Lyn graduated at age 19 with a B.Sc. one of the youngest at that time.  While at University he received several more awards in mathematics including the Cecil Race award.  Some years were spent in teaching and some in business.

Cayley to Dallas 1922 ...Ken Walker

Mother managed the farm business and I did the fieldwork with horses on our 320 acres a mile north of Cayley plus 160 rented from Uncle Art.  She encouraged efficiency in machinery and lots of horsepower: 8 head on a 3 bottom plough, most people used only 6 on a gang; also 10 head on a 12' field cultivator.  Nell and Joe Tighe had visited us at Cayley in 1920, but the rest of the sisters she hadn't seen for twenty years.  We produced two fair crops after father's passing with enough saved to buy two tickets to Nell's home in Arkansas City, Kansas.  Our train tickets were the cheaper tourist class, which suited us fine.  The seat made into a bed for mother and a pull down bunk above for me and at the end of the coach a stove.  Mother is gregarious and soon had four or five other ladies for a big visit while having tea or coffee.  We even had a few games of cards to pass the time on the train.  In a few days we were in Winnipeg, changing to a train going south through Minnesota into Iowa which was an eye opener to me.  Corn harvest was over then; farmers turned their hogs into the fields to eat missed ears.  In a few hours travelling through Iowa I saw miles of corn fields and thousands of pigs of all sizes.  We arrived at Kansas City, Missouri and then headed west over the Mississippi to Kansas.  I remember hearing the newsboys calling "get your cigarettes" because you are going into Kansas where sale is prohibited.  Kansas is a strict state, one of the first and strongest prohibition of alcohol drinks, and even at that early day there was some evidence that cigarettes are bad for one's health.  Mother, being a true Kansan, was down on cigarettes; even throwing part of a pack out the window when riding in a car and trying to convince the driver that he shouldn't smoke.  She passed this along to her sons who did not use cigarettes, though many of our friends at varsity 60 years ago did.  A few more hours on the train took us to Arkansas City (about 15,000) in southern Kansas.  The Tighes gave us a great welcome and mother and sister Nell enjoyed a grand visit. Uncle Joe is a good fellow and we liked him very much.

Uncle Joe had a 200 tree apple orchard which needed pruning, a good job for farmer me even though we had no apples in Alberta.  Being interested in farming, we visited Binghams, neighbours and friends of the girls when they had- to farm near Sedan, twenty miles east of Arkansas City.  It is a great farm, fine buildings, two Buicks and a Cadillac.  We wanted to find out how they made so much money, assumed from their farm.  Their crops of wheat, barley and cattle are no better than ours in Alberta, if as good. Mrs. Bingham was a quarter O' Sage Indian, a small but very wealthy tribe with lots of oil fields.  We learned that she and two of her children (to a cut off date) receive huge monthly payments of $50 or so.  That was no farming solution for me because I was sure all the squaws in Alberta were very poor.

Uncle Joe had a nifty Nash car, closed in seating for two and called a roadster or runabout in those days.  They decided that Mother and I should drive to Dallas to visit Etta; thus Uncle Joe taught me how to drive a car.  I was pulling up to the curb and put my foot on the accelerator instead of the brake, making the car jump up on the curb. Uncle Joe laughed and said make sure your foot hits the brake pedal when you want to stop.  He showed me the tow rope in the back trunk telling me that if the car stops to tie it to the bumper, then someone going by will stop and pull us into town and a garage.  Roads were considered a local responsibility of counties, and state governments were just starting to feel the need for better roads across their state.  The U.S. or federal government had not yet recognized the need for interstate highways.  Mother and Aunt Nell studied the routes across Oklahoma to Dallas from good maps, which we took with us.

We loaded the car with suitcases and supplies, and were soon in an oil field with big derricks all around making us feel so helpless, so I asked an oil field man how to get out.  He was a fine fellow and asked where we were going, told Dallas he said South look to the sun and line up derricks and roads in that direction.  A few miles a straight line will take you through any oil field but driving in circles will not. The roads were terrible, sticky clay and red mud.  We visited with some farmers working on the road using a big Fresno scrapper liked I used in Alberta pulled by four horses; they used four mules.  One of the farmers said to Mother "Madam don't you wish you had stayed home".  We fought the mud and bad roads across Oklahoma, and I was very tired when we reached Tishamingo for the night.  It is still quite a way into Texas to Dallas but the roads are better with long, lines of wagons hauling farm produce to market and supplies home.  We used the good oil field advice through quite large towns like Sherman: that is keep going South until through the town then ask for the road if necessary.  We finally got to Dallas and found Aunt Etta's address on Palo Pirto Street from Mother's good map.  They gave us a grand welcome, and what a visit for Mother and her sister.  Luckily, they are located in the northern part of Dallas so we didn't have to go through the traffic lights at the Magnolia centre of the City.  We had not even heard of such things as traffic lights.  Hilda Christian, about my age, is a ballerina dancer, and gave me her picture in costume and standing on the tip of one toe.  Hilda adopted the stage name Lisa Parnova and became a Prima Ballerina.  She moved to New York and was dancing at Carnegie Hall and became quite famous for her time.  Uncle Pope showed me around his section of the big store, and when we came to the bread section cut off a slice with a carving knife (this is before the days of sliced bread).  He had a bar of margarine (a word I hadn't heard) and spread on the slice for me to taste which I judged to be just as good as butter.  Uncle Pope told me that margarine is made from cottonseed oil for half the cost of butter.  Aunt Etta showed Mother a new game of cards with the odd name of' bridge.  News of blizzards and deep snow on our route from Kansas made us select a new one from the north from sister city Fort Worth, 40 miles west of Dallas.  There is a paved road between the two cities, the only one on our trip.

We were going along about 50 miles north of Fort Worth when suddenly the car made a big pounding noise, and we knew some engine bearings had burned out.  What a desolate place, only a few ranchers in the distance, even in Alberta there are more along a road.  As I was tying the rope to our front bumper, four Texans in a model T Ford clanged to a stop.  They doffed their big hats, and asked can we help you Madame.  I answered "Thanks fellows we have burned out some engine bearings and will get someone going our way to pull us to the garage in the town ahead".  Soon another car came along and they gladly towed us to the garage in Rhome where we got a hotel room.  The mechanics were good, took our engine apart, and had the required bearings sent from Fort Worth that night.  They had our car running good by noon and no more trouble on our way to Arkansas City.  After fond farewells to the fine Tighes, we boarded the train for the long trip back to Cayley.  Mother had a new card game, bridge, to show her friends and help pass the days on the train.

We had been away from our farm most of the winter, which is a slack time on a grain farm.  The hired man, overseer and helped by neighbour Archie Walker had taken good care of our livestock. Brother Lyn would be home from the University of Alberta in a few weeks.  We would have the 1923 crop seeded early in May.  It was a bumper crop, lots of wheat to sell. ....Ken Walker

Fairy organized a girls club and by 1926 there were 15 members.  In a snap shot at that time one can see that these young ladies all wore hats for special occasions.  She was also the church organist for 25 years while in Cayley and an original member of the Alberta Wheat Pool.

Lynwood married Ester (Mary Francis) Hegler on Dec. 31,1928 in Vancouver.  They had three children: Ted (1930), Frank (1933) and Beverly (1937).  Ken married Jessie Mayo Redig, an adventurous lady and fellow teacher at the Raymond School of Agriculture, July 15, 1930 in Lacombe AB.  They had four children: Paul (1931), Doug (1932), Patricia (1935) and John (1937).

Nanny, as Fairy liked to be called, had a reputation as a very astute business woman.  She traded part of the farm for a large house in town.  The remaining land was share cropped with 1/3 to Mrs. Walker, 1/3 to expenses and 1/3 to the lease.  Her remaining land had over a dozen sloughs on it and was the land that always produced a crop during dry years.  Nanny didn't mind dry years, as she wouldn't have to pay income tax.  Lynwood built Nanny a crystal radio set powerful enough to pull in the American radio stations.  She loved to listen to their musical programs so the set kept her company while the boys were away.  In the early thirties Lynwood got a job as Principal at Cayley (1932-1934).  The family moved in with Nan.  She had Lynwood put in a wall in the front dining room to make a 2^nd bedroom downstairs .

The Calgary Home

Fairy moved to Calgary in 1939 buying a two story rental property at 815, 13^th Ave S.W.  She rented out the top floor, as a self-contained suite, and one in the basement after the war, which Lynwood made.  She also rented out the double garage in the back.  Lynwood stayed with her for two years at this time to get his B. Ed (Industrial Arts) at the University of Calgary and then her grandson Ted stayed a year while attending high school in Calgary.

Fairy attended a two-week discussion in July 1938 on World Events at the Olds School of Agriculture and summer sessions at the Alberta School of Religion.  Around 1940 she enlisted in economics and community life classes.  Fairy belonged to The Mount Royal College Educational Club and in 1942 she was the convenor for a study of the International Affairs of the League of Nations.  She wrote, "…Thinking people and governments understand the necessity for immediate binding up of wounds of the suffering world as soon as the war is won.  We owe a debt to those who have paid with the gift of life: to make this world worthy of that sacrifice and to drive out want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.  Our sons fight on one front and we on another.

When Alberta celebrated 50 golden years as a province in 1955, Senior Citizen Scrolls were issued to citizens resident in the province for 50 years.  A banquet and program was held in the fall in Cayley and Mrs. Fairy Walker was one of a number of senior citizens honoured on that occasion.  She was also honoured at that time by Calgary Power as the Grandmother of Alberta.

Reg Walker, a nephew of William Walker and a farmer in the Travers district, bought the Fairy Walker house in November 1956 and later became caretaker of the Cayley School in 1963.  Mrs. Walker will always be remembered for the music she brought to the community, playing for church services and concerts, as a member of orchestras organized at various times, and as piano teacher to the boys and girls.

She always had a productive garden and her little back yard yielded lots of vegetables for the whole year.  She taught music for a number of years.  Nan was active in the C.C.F. and later the N.D.P. and campaigned for both parties.  She was one of the founding members of the first Unitarian congregation in Calgary in the early 50s and a strong member.  Later she joined the Golden Age Club and was an active member.  She was a member of the famed Golden Age orchestra.

During the summers of 1955 and 1956 grandson, John, also stayed in the basement while working for COMINCO fertilizer plant in south Calgary.

Fairy played guitar and sang in the Golden Age orchestra from when it was formed in 1950 to her passing in 1968.  She often played the banjo or guitar twice a week at the Mewata Golden Age Hall by the Bow River.  She also played in dances, musicals, revues, skits, the Stampede and Christmas pageants.  She claimed she inherited her talent from her mother and had a musical certificate that dated back to 1861.  She was happy playing for the club and many friends and longed to strum the old melodies.  Fairy had arthritis and cancer and passed away Oct. 31, 1968 at the age of 92 years.  Nanny was strong in her convictions and left her estate to: 1, the CCF; 2, the Golden Age Club and 3, the Calgary Unitarian congregation.

Frank, Fairy and son Paul are all resting in the Cayley cemetery.

Frank and Fairy Walker’s two sons provided 7 grandchildren and in turn they resulted in 15 great grandchildren and presently there are 13 great great grandchildren (see descendants) in several prosperous families.

Ken Walker and Family

Ken took his high school and Normal school in Calgary then spent a year of public school teaching.  He completed his B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Alberta in 1928 and was a science instructor at Raymond School of Agriculture for two years.  He met Jessie Redig in the band and they were married in Lacombe on July 15, 1930.  They moved to Edmonton in 1930 where Ken had part time work and he did his M.Sc. in soils at the University of Alberta in 1933.  He was the principal of the New Dayton High School for a year and then a farm implement businessman in Stettler for three years.  He was the agriculture fieldman for the Special Areas at remote Youngstown from 1937 to 1950.  Ken and family moved to Strathmore where he was the District Agriculturist until he retired in 1967.  Ken took a part-time three-year course at the Appraisal Institute of Canada in Calgary and became a certified appraiser.  He practised in and around Calgary for the next decade appraising farms and ranches.  Ken and Jessie lived in a trailer home in northwest Calgary for a few years then retired to Penticton BC in about 1972. Ken was a member of the lions club and a free Mason.

Lynwood and Esther Walker and Family

Lynwood met Esther Miriam Hegler in Vancouver and they were married there on December 31^st 1928.  Lynwood worked in Edmonton where they had their first child, Theodore, on August 20th, 1930.  He then got a teaching position at the school in Cayley and they moved into the now divided homestead on the farm.  They had their second child, Frank, in nearby High River on May 26th 1933.  The family later moved to Lomond, where Lynwood taught for several years.  Lomond is east of Cayley.  Their third child, Beverly, was born in Lomond on March 14th, 1937.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Lynwood, although attracted to the pacifist philosophy, nevertheless decided in view of the threat presented by Nazism, to join the armed forces.  He was stationed in Moose Jaw and served as armaments instructor in both the U.S. and Canadian Air Forces for five and a half years.  He attained the rank of Flight Lieutenant.  After the war he returned to Cayley.  From 1946 to 1947 he was finishing courses at SAIT so he could teach Industrial Arts after receiving the degree of B. Ed.  For this period he would hitchhike to Calgary on Sunday evening for classes on Monday.  Then Monday night he would hitchhike back to Cayley to teach shop.  Tuesday night he would again hitchhike to Calgary for classes at SAIT on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Friday night he would again hitchhike back to Cayley for the weekend to study and farm.  

In the spring of 1945, four ladies including Mrs. Lynwood (Esther) Walker saw the need for a Women's Organization in the Cayley district.  On June 18^th, 1945 a group of ladies meet to organize the Women's Institute.  One of the first directors of the Cayley W.I. was Mrs. Lynwood Walker.

Esther and Lynwood had three children. The first, Ted, was born in Edmonton and the second, Frank, was born in High River while Beverly was born in Lomond. Esther taught Sunday school, V.B.S, worked part time at the Post Office and knit socks for the Chinese boys in the forces as their feet were too small for army issue socks. (Sons of the local grocer, Kwong Lung).

Lynwood and his family moved to Swalwell, AB in 1947 where he taught shop and other courses in the nearby high schools of Beiseker, Linden, Antler, Acme and at Swalwell for the Wheatland S.D.  Eventually it was a ½ day at Swalwell and a day at Irricana and Kathyrn.  There were no job opportunities for Esther in Swalwell.  The family subsequently moved to Calgary in 1953 where Lynwood taught at the Crescent Heights High School until his passing in 1955.

Lynwood was an ardent supporter of the CCF.  He was a member of the executive of the Calgary group and having refused nomination in the provincial election, accepted a place on the campaign committee.  His quiet, kindly personality was always a force for unity; his contributions in debate were never motivated by a desire to "score" but his case was always presented with a view to persuasion.  He was unfailingly friendly and courteous.  He was president of the local branch of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and was an active worker in the West Calgary United Church.  Lyn had ushered at the Church the week before and always participated and was never a spectator at the Church.  He died May 30th, 1955 in Calgary at the age of 49.

For Esther her family was her life. She loved to do all the family things – cook, bake, sew, knit and crochet. Lynwood use to say it was her lemon meringue pie that snagged him. Esther even had to show the home ec teacher in Cayley how to make an angel food cake. She enjoyed eating good food as much as preparing it. She especially liked pan fried mushrooms and would often order them at the Park Lane Restaurant when having lunch or dinner with daughter Beverly. Esther also had a compassion for animals and they had several in Cayley as well as Swalwell. She had trained the birds at Bethany to wait every morning for her and her toast that she would bring from breakfast. Esther made a lovely red wool coat for Beverly when she was ten on her treadle sewing machine. She also did a lot of knitting for many years at Bethany, finally giving it up for crochet.

Esther worked part time at the Bay (Post Office) in Calgary for two years then full time at Penley Drugs (Post Office) and later at the Income Tax Office until she retired.  She married Charles (Mac) MacFarlane in 1961.  Unfortunately he passed away in 1966.  Esther lived in different apartments in Calgary until she moved to the Big Hill Lodge in Cochrane.  In 1972 she moved to the Bethany in Calgary where she stayed until her passing in September 26^th, 1997.

Lynwood and Esther’s oldest son, Ted, married Sylvia Kundarevich in Edmonton on September 19th, 1952.  They had their first son, Daniel, and daughter, Tanya, in Edmonton.  The family then settled in Regina and they had another daughter, Lynda, and second son, David, there.  Both Ted and Sylvia are ardent gardeners and have an abundant vegetable garden and numerous floral displays each summer.

Frank, the second son of Lynwood and Esther, enjoyed fly fishing, especially for rainbow trout, on quiet mountain streams. Frank was also a skilled craftsman with both wood and leather and had a great shop.  He was a scout leader and enjoyed camping with the scouts and his family.  Some of his favourite spots were Jumping Pound creek west of Calgary and the Cypress Hills.  He had a high respect for animals, fairness and sportsmanship.  He was a career employee of the Alberta Government Telephones for many years and a proud member of the International Brotherhood of electrical Workers and Telephone Pioneers.

Frank married Olive Hazelwood in Calgary on December 3^rd, 1954.  They had four children and all were born in Calgary.  Their first child was Lynwood, then Heather, followed by Kathryn and then Cynthia. Frank had a long struggle with MS and was a long-term resident of the Bethany Care Centre in Calgary.  There he taught many how to play cribbage, including his grandchildren.  He died on September 1st 2004.  His ashes were later spread on the Walker homestead in Cayley.

Beverly got her degree in Education at the University of Calgary and taught high school for many years in Calgary.  Beverly married Pat Whitney in Calgary on August 1958.  They had three children and all were born in Calgary. The first was Barbara, followed by Gordon and then Karen.

Please forward any comments, updates and suitable pictures to John W.  Thanks for dropping by.