Material Type

Recording

Date Range

1983

Physical Condition

Excellent

Acquisition Source

Peck Hugh

Scope and Content

4 Sony Cassettes. Approximately 240 minutes. Interviewee: Hubert G Peck. Interviewer: Sheila Petherbridge. Date: January-February 1983. Tape 1 Side A - Biographical information: Born March 1900 in Kent England. His father was the manager of a cable company. He attended school in England. Information about school days and his enlist¬ment and service in the Royal Corps. - Hugh's father first came to Canada in 1892. He and another man purchased a homestead near Oyen. They leased out the farm until Hugh migrated in 1919. Eventually the entire Peck Family migrated to the Oyen area. Information about his siblings, Edward, Arthur, David. - David bought the family farm at Oyen and in 1928 Hugh purchased a section of land near Ghost Dam near Cochrane and moved there. Farmed there until 1940. - Hugh married Merle Ladnor in 1931. - Discusses days on the farm at Cochrane: weather, crops. - Ghost Dam construction in 1931. - Walking Buffalo was Hugh's closest neighbor. Relates a story about Walking Buffalo and RB Bennett. SideB - Continue Walking Buffalo/Bennett story. - Continue with construction of Ghost Dam. Hugh had milk contract with the construction crew. - Information about dairy and the farm. - Hugh relates a story about purchasing Percheron mares from George Lane's stock. - Social life: attended church in Cochrane. Played bridge in winter. Information about Rev Alridge. - Information about some of his farm hands. - General stories about people and incidents in the area. Tape 2 Side A - General farm information: feeding cattle, building house and other farm buildings, meals and daily life. - Living on the farm during the Depression. - When the war broke out Hugh joined the Calgary Highlanders and leased out the farm. He was also asked to led the platoon at Cochrane. - After the war he sold the farm and moved to Calgary. - Information about the Oyen homestead: daily life, water supply, root cellar, 2 hole golf course on the farm, livestock. Tape 2 Side B - Continue with Oyen homestead. - Hugh and his brothers attended the Olds Agricultural School. Describes courses: identifying grains, judging livestock, soil types. Girls also attended the school - one of their lessons was on plucking chickens. Hugh attended from 1922-1924. - Livestock, clearing the land of rocks, town of Oyen. Tape 3 Side 1 - Continue Oyen. - In 1940 Hugh went on a flea catching expediation with his brother, Arthur, an entomologist. - WWII: medical, training in Edmonton, stationed in England, duties. - Returned to Canada in 1945 and worked for the Veterans Land Act in Calgary for 5 years. Describes his duties. His next job was with the Civil Service in the radar area<. He disliked this job so he quit and became a commissionaire. - Served as a scout leader and attended the Scout Jamboree in England in 1957. Tape 3 Side 2 - Continue with Scout Jamboree in England. - Hugh's hobbies include stamp collecting and hiking. Information about both. - Following the death of Merle, Hugh married Mrs. Blanche Ford of Lethbridge. He moved to Lethbridge and obtained work as a commissionaire. - Shortly after their marriage he was called as a lay minister for the United Church at Hines Creek in the Peace River country. - Information about the Worsley congregation. - Duties of a lay minister. Tape 4 Side 1 - Continue with Worsley. - Description of Peace River country in the 1960s. - Hugh's views about the lay ministry. It is a contract position and is up for renewal every year. He served 3 years. - They returned to Lethbridge and he joined the Chinook Parish. - Volunteer work at Southland Nursing Home. Tape 4 Side 2 - Continue with volunteer work at Southland. - Another volunteer project Hugh undertook was the researching and updating of the churches' land titles. - Also he has been working for the past 8 years on a index of the United Church's records. - General information about the United Church.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

19921058000

Collection

Archive

Less detail