Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

“AFA AWARD FOR MILITARY ACHIEVEMENT”

Date

1952

Materials

ALUMINIUM, TIN

No. Pieces

1

Height

14

Length

26.5

Width

23

Description

TEARDROP-SHAPED BASE SUPPORTING A STYLIZED SCULPTURE OF AN AIRPLANE WITH SIX PROPELLERS AND STAR/STRIPES DECALS ON TAIL AND LEFT WING. BASE HAS A CIRCULAR CAVITY FOR CIGARETTE ASH. RIVETED PLAQUE ON BASE ENGRAVED WITH TEXT READING “A.F.A. AWARD FOR MILITARY ACHIEVEMENT, 1952, JERALD L. MEISSER”. ASH CAVITY EMBOSSED WITH TEXT READING “CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, CORVAIR B-36”. DISCOLOURATION/OXIDATION IN ASH CAVITY; ONE PROPELLOR ON LEFT WING IS BROKEN.

Subjects

HOUSEHOLD ACCESSORY

Historical Association

COMMEMORATIVE

MILITARY

History

THE COLLECTION OF OBJECTS BELONGING TO THE MEISSER FAMILY WAS DONATED BY JUDY WRIGHT, NIECE OF LOWELL MEISSER, WHO OPERATED A FARM OUTSIDE WARNER WITH HIS BROTHER ROME AS THE ‘MEISSER BROS’ FROM 1929 TO 1946. JUDY’S MOTHER WAS THE SISTER OF LOWELL’S WIFE ELINOR, AND SHE SPENT MUCH OF HER CHILDHOOD LIVING WITH THEM AND ROME MEISSER, DUE TO HER MOTHER BEING UNWELL. IN HER LATER ADULT LIFE, JUDY TOOK CARE OF “UNC” ROME AT HIS WATERTON RESIDENCE, AND BECAUSE ROME AND HIS BROTHER LOWELL DID NOT HAVE ANY LIVING DIRECT DESCENDANTS, JUDY WAS LEFT THE FAMILY BELONGINGS WHEN ROME DIED IN 2004. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ARTIFACT WAS EXTRACTED FROM AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED WITH THE DONOR BY COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN ON NOVEMBER 14, 2013, AS WELL AS FROM A DOCUMENT WRITTEN BY HER AT THE TIME OF THE DONATION. WRIGHT SAID: “[JERALD, LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON] WAS JUST COMING TO VISIT ON OCCASION… HE WAS [AT THEIR FARM] ON AND OFF BUT MOST OF THE TIME HE WAS DOWN IN THE STATES... HE WENT TO SCHOOL DOWN THERE WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG BOY… WHEN HE WAS MAYBE 7 OR 8 YEARS OLD… HE LIVED WITH A SISTER OF MY UNCLE [ORMA OR MARIE IN CALIFORNIA]. HE WENT TO COLLEGE DOWN THERE, JOINED THE AIR FORCE. HE HAD HIS OWN THEATRE AND ACTED IN IT… HE REMINDED ME OF MY UNCLE LOWELL, JUST A SOFT, KIND, GENTLE PERSON… HE GOT MARRIED DOWN THERE. THAT DIDN’T WORK OUT AND HE CAME BACK. HE WOULD COME UP LOTS WITH HIS SON TO VISIT THE GRANDPARENTS… HE DID SOME FARMING FOR A WHILE… HIS DAD GIVE HIM SOME LAND… HE WORKED AT THE PRINCE OF WALES HOTEL IN WATERTON ONE SUMMER… HE WAS AMAZING. THERE WAS NOTHING HE DID THAT HE WOULDN’T DO IT ALL OUT AND PERFECT.” THE FOLLOWING BRIEF FAMILY HISTORY WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM ROME MEISSER’S MANUSCRIPT ‘THE MEISSER’S AND OTHER RAMBLINGS’ AND DONATIONS OF FAMILY PAPERS MADE BY WRIGHT TO THE GALT ARCHIVES. THE MEISSER FAMILY PATRIARCH, MICHAEL MEISSER, WAS BORN IN SWITZERLAND IN 1830 AND IMMIGRATED TO ALMA, WISCONSIN IN 1846. HIS SON, JOHN LUTZI MEISSER MARRIED MARIE KINDSCHI ON APRIL 30, 1898 AND THEY MOVED TO WARNER, ALBERTA TO FARM IN 1910, LOOKING FOR A DRIER CLIMATE FOR MARIE, WHO SUFFERED FROM TUBERCULOSIS. THE COUPLE HAD FIVE CHILDREN: ORMA, LOWELL, JOHN (WHO DIED AT AGE TWO OF PNEUMONIA), ROME, AND MARIE. IN 1912, MOTHER MARIE DIED IN A TUBERCULOSIS CLINIC IN SALT LAKE CITY, AND FIVE YEARS LATER FATHER JOHN DIED FROM HEAD TRAUMA SUSTAINED IN A GRAIN ELEVATOR ACCIDENT. ONE OF THE CHILDREN’S PATERNAL AUNTS, FRENA, CAME TO WARNER TO HELP THEM WITH SCHOOLING AND RUNNING THE FARM. IN 1920, ORMA MARRIED LEE TENNEY AND IN 1926 LOWELL MARRIED ELINOR TENNEY, AND THE TWO COUPLES LOOKED AFTER THE TWO YOUNGER SIBLINGS UNTIL ORMA AND LEE MOVED TO CALIFORNIA IN 1931. THE YOUNGEST SISTER, MARIE, LATER JOINED THEM WITH HER SON JIM. LOWELL AND ROME FARMED TOGETHER FROM THE SEASON FOLLOWING THEIR FATHER’S DEATH (WHEN THEY WERE 17 AND 13 YEARS OLD, RESPECTIVELY) UNTIL 1945 WHEN THEIR LAND WAS DIVIDED FOR TAX BENEFIT. ROME NEVER MARRIED, AND IN 1928 HAD A SHORT STINT IN PILOT’S TRAINING BEFORE RETURNING TO FARMING PERMANENTLY. LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON JERALD WAS BORN IN 1929. BY 1957 THE MEISSERS RETIRED FROM FARMING AND LEASED OUT THEIR LAND, AND IN 1958 THE FAMILY BOUGHT A CABIN IN WATERTON PARK, WHERE THEY SPENT ALL FOLLOWING SUMMERS. LOWELL AND ELINOR’S SON JERALD SPLIT HIS TIME BETWEEN FARMING IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND VARIOUS PROJECTS IN THE UNITED STATES. HE ENROLLED IN THE CATHOLIC SEMINARY IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, BUT PASSED AWAY IN 1990 BEFORE HE COULD BE ORDAINED. LOWELL DIED IN 1988, ELINOR FOLLOWED IN 1992, AND ROME PASSED AWAY IN 2004. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR A FULL TRANSCIPT OF THE INTERVIEW, WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION ON THE MEISSER FAMILY BY JUDY WRIGHT AND ROME MEISSER, OBITUARIES AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF FAMILY MEMBERS, AND FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT EACH ARTIFACT COMPRISING THE DONATION.

Catalogue Number

P20130004007

Acquisition Date

2013-03

Collection

Museum

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