- Doug Ison, Joe and Ollie's son, submitted this story to the Jan 2010 Kirkpatrick newsletter:
Olivine Emma Kirkpatrick & Joseph Enion Ison Family History
Part #1 - submitted by Doug Ison
Many interesting facts of Olivine (Ollie) and Joseph's (Joe's) history has been mentioned in earlier stories on family news, this will be an attempt to add new pictures and information on two great and loving persons.
Ollie and Joe grew up in the Killarney district of Calgary and both attended old Sunalta School near 20th St. SW. Dad left home at an early age, 14 years old, to seek new adventures and start a life on his own. Mom was working part time when she was 15 yrs old and enjoyed working the summers at the Banff Springs Hotel. She also continued her schooling at Western Canada [High School] on 17 Ave SW. Dad later went to the CPR Ogden shops and was employed in the coach works with his brother John Ison. Unfortunately there are not any photos of young Joe.
As a young boy Dad kept his horse near his home in a field across what is now Richmond Road near 26 St and 24 A Ave SW. As Killarney was a small area, Ollie and Joe were bound to meet; the Kirkpatrick family was very large with 11 kids. Dad said he knew some of the Kirkpatrick boys from school and Killarney, where he met their sister, Olivine, who was born in 1912 as Dad was. Dad was 19 yrs old (July 17, 1912) and Mom was 18 yrs old (December 12, 1912) when they married. After being married they lived in Killarney and Dad continued to work at CPR for several years. Due to a shortage of work as a CPR car carpenter Dad took a job with Frank Salter (Mom's sister Anne's husband) in 1936 in the Turner Valley oil fields.
Moving to the job as derricks man in the oilfields opened many new adventures for Mom and Dad. Still when time permitted they were always off visiting family and friends. A good example was a couple of years after their wedding they traveled by train, with George and Inez Kirkpatrick, to Winnipeg then on to Fisher Branch. They arrived in the middle of a Manitoba winter and Mom always stated how cold and windy it was.
Fisher Branch is where Mom's sister, Jean, had moved with her husband, Leo Menard. Leo and Jean owned several different businesses over the years in Fisher Branch including a garage and a hotel. They had one son Laddie. Mom and Dad went to Fisher Branch for several visits with Jean, Leo and Laddie.
Living at Turner Valley was different for Mom and Dad but they must have been interesting times. I didn't see any indications of indoor plumbing or electric lights in the photos. [Dad had a] 1931 Ford Model A. The original manuals for this car are with Doug in Dad's files. More travels to visit our relatives were to Ashcroft/Spence's Bridge, BC for [visits] with the Colvins and others. Dad and Mom traveled to Vancouver to see her brothers Johnny and Ludwig Kirkpatrick and families, plus Johnny Bowe and family. A lot of travel was by train due to the poor roads in the interior of BC.
In March 1940 Mom and Dad moved to Ram River area, just west of Ricinus, Alberta, to work on the oil rigs, again with Frank Salter. Dad and Mom [traveled in the Model "A"]. Trees were cleared and roads were built by hand and accidents occurred. Sometimes logs were placed across the road for support; these were called corduroy type roads. The corduroy type road is generally used over soft ground to give support to the vehicles. Sometimes these roads were just as bad as the mud below them.
Being so very isolated required the families to look after themselves whether building roads, homes, looking after sick or injured people. Getting out to Rocky Mountain House for help in the 1940 was a very involved and a time consuming trip, and many times it was not possible to travel, except in winter.
On March 25, 1943 a Cessna plane from No. 3 Service Flight Training School, R.C.A.F. Calgary carrying 3 crewmembers crashed in a bad blizzard above Ram Camp. Guy Fay heard the crash over the blizzard and saw the lights of the aircraft go out. At daybreak, Pete Fay, Joe Ison, and Fred Osterlund climbed the nearest mountain and saw the plane. Guy Fay went for help at the Forestry Baseline cabin. The crash was at 1:30 a.m. and the rescue team arrived through the deep snow at 11:00 a.m. The normal walk down hill would have taken 2 hours back to camp but with the deep snow and injured it was over six hours before they arrived. All three airmen survived.
Little did they know that their stay at the Ram Camp would last eight years until 1948. Their lives were going to change in many different ways. One major change during their stay in Ram Camp was to adopt two boys.
In April 1944 Thomas Joseph was born and in August 1946 Lynn Douglas. Nana (Anne Salter) related how Mom and her kept our baby bottles from freezing in their winter travels by carrying them in their bosom. The kid group expanded now from Barry and Alec (Icky) Deeves, to Tom and Doug, Osterlund children, and the Al and Ev Dawson's family, plus others. Everyone in the camp lived in small wooden houses covered with rolled tarpaper, and called of cours, Tar Paper Shacks.
The families organized Christmas Plays, birthday celebrations, wagon - tractor rides, Easter Egg hunts, hikes, picnics, sleigh rides, or other activities to keep everyone entertained in the isolated Ram Camps. Plus there was the pet deer everyone liked.
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1912 - 1990 (77 years)
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