Charles Robert Turner was born on March 8, 1912 on the family farm near Wellwood, MB. Charles left home in 1929, working as bank clerk in Pipestone and Minto before returning to Wellwood in 1935. During World War II he spent three years in the RCAF as part of the War Assets Corp out of the Neepawa airport. Charles married Nora Emma Graham (1916-1999) on October 19, 1940 and together they had five children: Jane, George, Michael, Patrick and Bill. The family lived on the farm at Wellwood until 1992, when Charles and Nora moved to Carberry. Charles Turner died in 1995. He is buried at Wellwood Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing a recording of Charles Robert Turner narrating his life story and his political philosophy.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Nora Turner's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Related Material
Music and the Brandon Community fonds (Bill Turner interview)
Robert Charles Tracy Wright was born on March 24, 1896 on a farm in the Ninette district. Robert attended Duncraig School, but much of his time was spent helping his father on the farm. A. Norah Wright was born on September 23, 1899, also on the family farm. She attended Lenore School. Robert farmed until his health failed, while Norah kept house. In 1947, the siblings moved to Ninette and Robert worked in the lumber yard and Norah did housework for families in the village. The Wrights left Ninette in October 1981, and moved to the Lakeview Senior Citizens Home in Killarney, MB. Robert Wright died on March 21, 1983 in Killarney, MB. Norah Wright died on January 7, 1986 in Killarney, MB. They are both buried at Ninette Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Norah and Robert Wright about the Ninette, MB area. Interviewer is Dr. D.B. Stewart.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and obituaries for both Wrights. Description by Christy Henry.
Audio Tracks
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Robert John Coates was born on December 30, 1908 on the home farm in the Elm Valley district. He took his schooling at Elm Valley and Virden. He received Bachelor of Science of Bachelor of Education degrees at the University of Manitoba. Bob married Margaret Grace Cullen (1915-2007) in 1936 and together they had two children: Karen and John. Bob began his teaching career as principal in Pierson, MB, later moving to Ninga as principal. During the Second World War he joined the RCAF, serving as a navigation officer and teaching pilots in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. After the war, the family moved to Brandon where Bob taught at Brandon Collegiate Institute (BCI), Earl Haig, Earl Oxford and was principal at Central School. He was the first principal at Green Acres School, teaching there until retiring in 1973. Bob was made a Brandon Diocesan Layreader of the Anglican Church and spent years taking services throughout the Diocese.
Bob served as president of the Manitoba Teachers' Society, Brandon Local, The Western Manitoba Teacher's Association, the Brandon PC Association and the UN Association. He also served as executive member of the International School Masters Club, The Manitoba Teachers' Society Pensions Committee, Men's Canadian Club and the Westman Oral History Association. He served as Chairman of the Local MTS Pension Committee and on the board of directors of Hobbs Manor. Bob was a lifetime member of the Mantioba Teachers' Society and the Brandon Teachers' Society, as well as a charter member of the Assiniboine Historical Society, the Daly House Museum, and the Commonwealth Air Training Museum. He was also a member of The Monarchist League of Canada and Royal Canadian Legion No. 3. At the time of his death Bob was an honourary Vestryman at St. Matthew's Cathedral. Robert Coates died on March 10, 1990 in Brandon, MB. He is buriedat Rosewood Memorial Gardens.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Robert Coates about the history of St. Matthew's Anglican Cathedral, Brandon. Interviewer is Irene Heeney.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Coates' obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
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Robert James (RJ) Campbell was born on January 16, 1905 on Section 14-11-23 in the RM of Woodworth. He attended Education Point School. RJ worked in the Rivers area on a number of farms, then in 1925 went to Regina and worked in a garage. He returned to Manitoba shortly thereafter to work on his uncle's farm and then on the home farm with his mother until 1935. RJ married Edith Marian Bell (1913-2010) on December 23, 1937, and together they had two sons: Cordell and Urschel.
The family lived on the farm in the Brierwood district south of Harding until 1946, when they moved to Halls Bridge district north of Griswold where they continued to farm until 2006. RJ built all of the buildings on the farm including "Halls Bridge Dance Garden" in 1966. He loved to sing square dance calls, and along with Marian, travelled a great deal in North America and Europe, as well as a trip to the Soviet Union. Due to ill health, RJ moved to Hillcrest Place Personal Care Home in 2006. Robert Campbell died on February 14, 2007 in Brandon, MB. He is buried at Griswold Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Robert Campbell about farming in the 20th century. Interviewer is Phyllis M. Cairns.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Campbell's obituary. Description by Christy Henry.
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Dr. Evans was born in Nanaimo, B.C. on March 15, 1891. In the fall of 1907, at the age of sixteen, Dr. Evans entered the Academic Department of Brandon College. He played an integral part at the College, participating in academics, sports, and various other college functions and organizations. In his final year he was Senior Stick, the highest position in the Student Government. In 1913, Dr. Evans graduated from Brandon College. Immediately after graduation he was hired to teach Science and Academic Mathematics. In 1917, he became Principal of the Academic Department, while continuing to teach Mathematics and Science. Dr. Evans took leave in 1920 to study post graduate work at the University of Chicago. During the summers, he was the Acting Dean of the Department of Geology in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Geology in 1923, and returned to Brandon College. His new positions at the college were of Professor of Geology and Resident Master. He also taught some Chemistry.
On August 1, 1927, Dr. Evans married Adelene M. Bailey (Class of 1921, Music 1924) at the Joseph Bond Chapel in Chicago. He took over as College Dean in 1928 after the position became vacant. In September of 1928, Dr. Evans accepted the position of President of Brandon College, thus becoming its fifth president since the college’s inception. Dr. Evans was head of the college at a very difficult time. He guided the College through the Depression and repeated threats of closure from the Baptists. Dr. Evans resurrected the Department of Theology in the mid-1930’s. He helped with the reorganization of Brandon College as a non-denominational college in 1938, and its new affiliation with the University of Manitoba. During World War II, Dr. Evans started a War Emergency Fund, aimed at keeping the College from sinking into debt during the war years as enrollment shrank. With increased financial support from the government, Dr. Evans began expansion plans for the College. In 1958, he created the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Student Loan Fund in conjunction with the Alumni Association in order to provide worthy students with interest-free loans. It was also in 1958 that Dr. Evans was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal for his outstanding contribution to education in the British Commonwealth.
On July 29, 1959, Dr. Evans died suddenly at his summer home in Robson, B.C.. On his desk was the programme for the sod-turning ceremony for the new Arts and Library Building and Lecture Theatre. When it was completed, the Lecture Theatre was christened the Dr. J.R.C. Evans Lecture Theatre on behalf of the man who had made sure that it would be built. The Theatre had been his dream, a place to hold Chapel and Assemblies, as the student body grew in number.
Scope and Content
Photograph is a portrait of John Robert Charles Evans, Brandon College student, faculty member and president.
Notes
Information that accompanies the photograph reads: John Robert Charles Evans. Born 1891 in Nanaimo, BC. Died 1959 in Brandon, MB. President of Brandon College 1928-1959. Professor of Geology 1923-1959. Instructor, Academic Dept 1913-1920. Note: Evans actually died in Robson, B.C. not in Brandon, MB. History/Bio information copied from the Brandon College fonds finding aid.
Clarence Benjamin Graham? Spurr, was born in on February 13, 1891 in Bancroft, Ontario. Spurr began working for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1914 as a station agent at Rocanville, SK and spent many years as an agent in various communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba before retiring in 1955. In 1923, he married Elizabeth Wallace Lindsay (1893-1979) and they raised three children, sons Ewart and Delbert and adopted niece Verna Spurr. Clarence and Elizabeth moved to Brandon, MB following his retirement. Spurr joined the Canadian military in 1915, and was initially sent to Camp Hughes. A signaler and runner, he spent 1916-1918 overseas. Clarence Spurr died on December 21, 1982 in Brandon, MB. He is buried at Brandon Municipal Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Clarence B.G. Spurr about his experiences during World War I. Spurr discusses and reminisces about details of the Great War and some of the major turning points within it from Vimy Ridge, Lamont, Mons, Neuville-Saint-Vaast and the Armistice that ended the war on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in November from the perspective of a Canadian soldier. Interviewer is Delbert Spurr.
Notes
History/bio information from the records and Spurr's obituary. Transcript by Whitney Hodgins (2017). Description by Christy Henry.
Access Restriction
Content Warning: Some of the material discussed in the interview is sensitive in nature, dealing with the war and some of the gruesome acts that go with it. Listener discretion is advised.
Language Note
English
Audio Tracks
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Eric Bamford Gowler was born on September 2, 1901 in Toronto, ON. His family moved to Grenfell, SK in 1904, and that is where he received his schooling. From 1920-1926, Eric worked as a bank clerk for Dominion Bank in Grenfell, Regina and Boissevain, moving to the latter in 1923. In 1926, Eric resigned from the bank and formed a partnership with George McDonald in an implement business. The partnership was dissolved in 1935. Subsequently, Eric took on an International Harvester dealership for tractors and machines. In 1946, his dealership was the first International Harvester dealer outside of the United States to be modernized. A significant portion of the business' success, was the publication of the adversising bulletin, "The Waggin' Tongue," which ran for twenty-two years. Eric retired in 1961, selling the business, but not the building, to John McDonald, Hugh Broadfoot and R. Nicholson. Eric married Mildred Welch (1900-1971) in 1927 and together they had two sons: Douglas and James. Eric Gowler died in 1990.
Hugh Gibson Broadfoot was born on July 2, 1935. When Gowler retired from the impliment business, Hugh bought into the company along with John McDonald and R. Nicholson. Hugh married Judith Elaine Smith (1939-2022) on May 26, 1962 and together they had four children: Devron, Jason, Susan and Shirley. Hugh Broadfoot died on April 4, 2015 in Boissevain, MB. He is buried at Boissevain and Morton Cemetery.
Custodial History
As part of the Westman Oral History Collection, this collection was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. The original tapes from the Westman Oral History project were deposited in the Brandon Public Library. Copies of these originals were made by Margaret Pollex of the Brandon University Language Lab at the request of Eileen McFadden, University Archivist in the early 1990s. These copies compose the collection held in the McKee Archives.
Scope and Content
Item is an audiocassette tape containing an interview with Eric Gowler and Hugh Broadfoot about their implement business in Boissevain, MB. Interviewer is Bernice Pettypiece.
Notes
History/bio information from the records, the Boissevain-Morton local history "Beckoning Hills Revisted," FamilySearch.org and obituaries for Hugh and Judy Broadfoot. Description by Christy Henry.
Language Note
English
Audio Tracks
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