Glen was born in Brandon Manitoba, on February 5, 1929, but by two he found himself living in Hines Creek, AB where his father was the new stationmaster at the end of the rail. Glen loved living in northern Alberta and throughout his life immediately felt a kinship with anyone born in Peace River country. His sister Shirley, two years his elder, and him had the freedom to enjoy adventures at very young ages. Something they both took great advantage of.
When he was about six years years old he began working a trap line. When he was ten Glen and two of his best childhood friends killed a black bear. Glen was a very independent child. He taught himself to skate, swim and pretty much any other activity he chose to pursue, including boxing in his youth. He loved running, doing marathons, was a pretty good hockey player and tried a little football too. When he was older he continued to run and bike and loved golf, ten pin bowling and curling.
Glen enjoyed science his whole life and was a self taught mechanic with the help of a mentor in a garage in Spirit River. In fact, there was nothing he would not try. He learned carpentry by working as a housebuilder before he was fifteen and also piped running water into the house his family lived in so his mother would not have to go out to the well. He was a good son, but sometimes his independent nature did worry his parents. He got lost a few times walking from town to the homesteads of his friends and although he looked at it as a big adventure, his mother was not impressed. It was a pioneer life and he found himself reminiscing about it more and more as he grew older. Glen loved and admired his parents and their willingness to live the hard life to give their children a better one. It was a tough life but it bonded people together because they were all experiencing the same difficulties. In fact, Glen had and still has lifelong friends from his early years in the Peace River Country and thought of them as family.
After living in Spirit River since he was twelve, Glen moved to the big city of Calgary where he studied to become a machinist at Tech, now SAIT. At seventeen, he enjoyed his new found freedom and his time as a student but never actually worked as a machinist because he found so many careers that interested him.
Glen met Regina (Jean) in the early fifties and that was it for him. She was far to young for him at that time so he just waited and when she turned nineteen he thought he would charm her. She was his Irish Jeannie with the light brown hair. He told me that from the moment he met her he knew he would marry her someday. His charm worked and they were married in December 1954. They were very well matched because they really did want the same things. Family, home, a little travel and each other. They also believed in helping in their community and hard work. They had four children and Dad took on Scout leader, Hockey coach, Swim meet director, Lacrosse coach. and many other shirts. As well, he was the Sports Director in Southwood for many years and built their community center. He was one of the first directors to push for Lacrosse as a league. It didn’t matter what their kids were doing Glen and Jean were involved somehow. He put a pool in the backyard and built ice rinks and igloos there every winter. This did not change when they had their grandchildren, missing few of their sports events, plays or recitals.
Glen had a dream and he worked extremely hard to fulfill it. He wanted to live on an acreage and have a tree farm. He never had one job. As well as his full time position at Shell, Glen had other businesses going. He had a rototilling company, a milk truck business and took on handyman jobs all over the neighbourhood. All this hard work helped him to make his dream come true when he was able to move his family to the acreage in DeWinton. This was where Ramsey, Cameron and he planted hundreds of trees and he ran Glentree Industries with the slogan “Have Tree, Will Travel” If you are driving around Dewinton Riding Club, most of the trees you see were planted by Glen. In the mid-80s, Glen delivered many trees to an acreage community in Springbank west of Calgary. One of his key customers in Springbank was Cliff Fletcher, who at the time was the GM of the Calgary Flames. During one delivery, Ramsey and Glen were both thrilled when Fletcher’s neighbour came over to help unload the trailer. The neighbour was none other than Lanny McDonald.
There were lots of ups and downs during the years Glen and Jean were raising their children. However, they helped each other through everything and were always there for their children. Glen was a man you could talk to and he listened, he might not agree, but he was there to lend a hand to all of us. Even when disappointed he would try to help you make things better. Yes he judged and argued and debated and was old fashioned. However, the most important thing was there was always love.
Glen loved his pets. They were part of his family and he involved them in his life. His dog Yukon spent days on end with dad working on whatever project he was doing. When he was planting trees Yukon and Casper the cat were always beside him in the dirt and Numby the cat was in the house driving him nutty. Their dog Bear was also his true love; he loved walking him and Glen never got over his passing. In recent years he became best friends with Charlie, Laurel's dog, and even worried about him while he was in the hospital.
Best of all, for the two of them, was the introduction of grandchildren into their lives. Glen and Jean were wonderful grandparents and the grandchildren often stayed with them. They were involved in almost every aspect of their grandchildrens’ lives and it was wonderful for them to be so close. They will all remember special family bar b qs in the summer and the swing in the trees that they all enjoyed climbing. Glen was proud of all of his grandchildren and they helped to keep him up to date with pop culture and to feel young. He was not too proud to call on them to help him with some of the new technology and enjoyed learning from them.
In 1982, Glen retired after more than 25 years of working for Shell. Although they did enjoy becoming snowbirds, travelling to Arizona in the winter, until Glen and Jean moved off the acreage in 2004 they never truly retired. After nearly 30 years, it was tough to leave their country home; thankfully, Glen and Jean found a wonderful home in the Sheep River Vistas in Okotoks, where they lived happily together for another 17 years. They enjoyed their neighbors and being close to family. Glen increased his community involvement; joining the seniors club, the condo board and golf and curling leagues. He was a proud first fan of the Okotoks Dawgs and even worked security at the games. Glen also worked as a marshall at D’arcy Golf Course and this is when his second meeting with a famous person occurred as he drove Clint Eastwood around the course while the star took in a game. This was one of Glens favorite actors so he was pretty excited. Glen and Jean loved their home, enjoying their river valley view and the many walking paths in Okotoks. They both loved to watch the birds, the deer, the squirrels and people walking their dogs
