Mary Elizabeth was born at Byemoor, on Saturday, October 27, 1928, at 1 A.M., the second daughter and fourth child of Bill and Eva Knowles. She married Don Brodie in 1954, a marriage which ended with Don’s death in an oilfield accident in 1956. Their son, Scot, was born on October 1, 1955. She then married Ted Vorachek in July, 1959, and they had two children, Shelley in 1960 and Spencer in 1968. They later divorced. Betty died in an unfortunate encounter with a train on April 15, 2005. Ted died of natural causes in July, 2016.
NORA’S VERSION OF BETTY’S LIFE
Betty was considered too fragile to be an outside worker so became an apprentice housekeeper, assisting Mom with the incredible amount of work necessary to feed the family and the transient hired men. She spoke of making 18 pies a day to feed the threshing crew, as well as a daily baking of bread. I expect this early exposure contributed to her excellent housekeeping skills; she was one of the very few people I know who actually enjoyed cooking and cleaning. Her house was always immaculate and entertaining guests was one of her favorite pastimes. Even when I was the only guest, the table would be set with flowers, wine glasses, fine china, and always dessert.
Betty started school at Wolf Hill, probably in the company of at least two siblings, perhaps on horseback or a horse drawn conveyance. In later grades she was shipped off to various of Mom’s relatives where she was probably expected to earn her keep. The first of these (I think) was to Coleman when she and Herbert went to stay with Uncle Herbert and his then wife, Aunty Mac. The best story she told me about that visit was Uncle Herbert coming home inebriated, Aunty Mac imprisoning him on the floor with a kitchen chair and beating him with a wooden spoon while she berated him about his relationship to his nurse. Next, she and Aunt Martha went to Madden to stay with Auntie Ruth, Mom’s sister. There she made friends who continued to part of her life until her death. Next, off to Brooks with Shirley where Uncle Herbert lived with his new wife, Marjorie. Here they were expected to be cooks, housekeepers, and baby sitters to their young cousins, Billy and Ruthie.
We have always attributed this practice of sending the kids away to go to school was because Mom and Dad were insistent on having us educated, but now I wonder if it was just to make room for the family in the house! By this time, there was ten of us in only three bedrooms.
By the time Betty had all this education, it was time to earn a living. I think her first job was as a supervisor at Gopherhead school but I don’t know how long that lasted. What she told me was that the senior Stewart’s thought she should marry Wilbur but she rejected the idea because he wasn’t a good dancer. Dancing was definitely one of her passions and I don’t think she realized that she really wasn’t a very good dancer. After that she had various jobs, including working at the Post offices in Grand Prairie and Stettler, and various clerical jobs wherever she was living
After Don’s death, Betty bought a house in Stettler which became a family gathering place and enabled her children to be part of the large Knowles clan. We were privileged to have Scot spend summers at our farm, and to have our kids grow up with Shelley and Spencer. From there they lived in a number of places, including Prince George, where she had an active social life through the singles’ clubs. She met an interesting old fellow, named Jack, who owned the abandoned townsite of Finmore on the bank of the Nechako River. We, my boys and I, with Barbara one year, had some wonderful vacations staying in the cabins in his town, poaching salmon, picking berries, and generally hanging out. I quit going after he put an iron in my cabin!
Betty always had a boyfriend. While we were living in Red Deer, Sandra and I arranged a birthday present for her – a surprise date with a fellow whom I had met on a singles’ site. He came from Saskatchewan expecting to meet me but we sent him off with Betty for a fancy dinner and a night at the theatre in Innisfail. We had arranged to also attend the theatre so we could keep an eye on them but they managed to elude us, went dancing at the Legion, and didn’t get home until after 2 A.M., by which time we were frantic. They remained friends for several years until he died.
Betty was our social convener, always arranging some sort of venture for us. She was a “joiner”, involved in many activities: Oil Wives, which gave her an excuse to dress up and go to the city; the United Church, where she operated a thrift store for a brief period; IODE, which was the sponsor of another thrift shop; the Legion, where she organized bus trips for the members and danced once a week; Second Sixties, a Calgary hiking club which took weekly trips to the mountains, and possibly more I am unaware of. She volunteered with the RCMP Victims of Violence, as a counselor usually to bereaved families.
Betty had numerous interests: gardening, Scrabble, camping, quilting, curling, X-country skiing, nice clothes, travel. She had one particular friend, whom we called sister, Helen because she shared many of our joint activities and frequently travelled with Betty. They shared many Elderhostel adventures, including a biking trip to Germany which they prepared for by riding daily from Olds to Bowden. This apparently was inadequate as they both complained that 60 km. a day was far too long. An annual event was my birthday trip to William Watson to X-country ski. Betty would have gathered up enough people to fill the 8-person unit and we would share supplying food and cooking.
Because of her love of quilting, she would create a quilt to commemorate some significant event, an anniversary, a birth, a marriage, and the sisters and their daughters would gather to quilt it. Some were quite lovely, others not so much, but we had a great time in the process.
Betty was a very disciplined person who adhered to a strict regime of calisthenics, eight daily glasses of water, and a glass of milk every day. Even this was not enough to protect her from osteoporosis which caused easily broken bones but it didn’t slow her down. We have surmised that she was on her way to make her final payment on a hiking trip to Utah when she died.
One of the things I have always admired about Betty was her ability to make and retain friends. People she had met while in high school, those she had met in her early working years, and numerous others she had acquired throughout her life attended her memorial service in Olds. Her ashes are interred at the Liberal Cemetery north of Stettler.
Dislikes: cooking wild meat, scrimping, inappropriately dressed people- especially Ted, smokers, and sloppy people
NEW DRESSES
As part of the reminiscences told at the 50th wedding anniversary celebration for Shirley and Willie, held in Castor in 2003, Betty offered the following story about an incident when Shirley and her were younger.
We received a catalog from a mail order supplier that listed dresses for $2.98. This seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up, so we decided to each buy a dress. The first problem was getting the money. Since Shirley helped with the cow milking, she occasionally received a cream cheque and $2.98 wasn’t a big problem for her. On the other hand, I refused to learn to milk cows so I didn’t have any money from cream cheques. The problem was resolved when George came home for a visit and offered to give me the $2.98 to pay for the dress. We both had new dresses and felt very fashionable
TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE
In 1953 my friend, Helen, my brother. George and I drove to Yellowstone Park in the U.S.A. I remember an incident involving as buffalo. George was photographing a buffalo eating grass a short distance away from us. After he took the picture, he turned and started to walk to our car. There was a general expression of concern by the other people watching the buffalo. It had charged towards George and at the last minute stopped and took up an alert position. George was unaware of this until he turned to get into the car and saw the buffalo only a few feet away.
GOING TO BUSINESS SCHOOL
In 1956 my sisters, Bing and Nora, and I went to Edmonton to stay with George in a house he had rented. Bing and Nora were going to the University, studying Education and Medical Technology respectively, and I was studying at a business school.
My one-year old son, Scot, stayed with a baby sitter while I was at school. Scot was busy learning to talk and one of the first sentences that he mastered was, “Uncle Bub! I like purple pop but I need orange pop”.
After I had finished the course at the business school Scot and I returned to Stettler where I found a job with the company with which my late husband Don had been employed.
A NEW FAMILY
In 1959 Ted Vorachek and I were married in Stettler. We had two children, Shelley and Spencer, before moving to Rocky Mountain House where I worked for a contractor who was building a gas plant in the area.
NEW HOME
After our marriage ended in divorce I moved to Olds to a position with the Provincial Government. I also worked as a volunteer counselor with the RCMP, counseling people who were having problems with the law and other aspects of their lives.
Thoughts about Betty from Sandra
I don’t remember much about Betty from my early years; she was gone off to school or working. I guess my earliest impressions would be how clean and neat she was, always ‘matching’. Betty liked to coordinate her clothes and always have matching shoes. I remember being fascinated by Don’s brown eyes when she brought him to meet the family, and I remember thinking that Scot was a fine little gentleman; it’s hard to determine what are actual memories and what are thoughts derived from pictures. I know I’m thinking about the picture of Scot in his dress pants and shirt and little plaid bowtie. Karen and I lived in Betty’s basement while we went to high school in Stettler, and even then, I don’t have any vivid memories of her.
I really only got to know Betty after she, Nora and I became the three divorcees and started doing things together. One exception is a memory of attending a family event at Betty and Ted’s in Stettler and going away feeling hungry. Bill, the kids and I stopped at A&W for burgers on the way out of town; this would have been all very well, but somehow, she heard about it and was offended. I guess, being a tiny person, she wasn’t used to such wolfish appetites as ours. Another exception is the flying visit we made to visit the Vorachek’s in Sundre; the airport was very minimal, just a clearing by the trees. We had a good visit, got to know the kids better and Shelley became one of the nieces to be summer visitors at Sandusty.
What I remember and respect most about Betty was her abilities as a social convener; she was always suggesting a dance we should go to or a singles event we should attend. This was really a benefit to me because left to my own devices, I’ll stay home and read. She had a membership in William Watson Lodge in Kananaskis Country which was a major boon for us all. We went there annually to cross country ski and hang out and eat too much. Betty had a number of good friends that she brought along to share with us, good company all.
On one particular occasion we included our mother; she was in a wheelchair by this time and it seemed like a nice opportunity to give her a change of scenery. We had good intentions; honest! The ground was clear and we set off down the hiking trail to the Information Centre to see the lake and enjoy the mountain air; it was a fair distance, but all went well. We took turns pushing Mom, and I think she was enjoying the experience. Things started to fall apart when we stayed inside longer than expected and came out to see snow falling rapidly, as it will in the mountains; we set off slogging toward our cabin, uphill all the way as it always is in stories. It was really hard work, and we soon started joking about pushing the damn chair without any regard for Mom listening and feeling like a burden. After some time, we reached the top of a long downward slope. We joked about pushing Mom off and letting her go down on her own. Oops! She took us seriously and started to cry and say, “Don’t abandon me out here.” She truly was terrified and I’ve always wondered what we had done in the past that she would think we’d leave her for the wolves. Nora says this happened in the summer which makes more sense. It must have been rain, not snow; anyway, the terror and abandonment are real!
Betty loved to walk and to ski; she always walked really quickly and kept in good physical condition. She exercised daily, and she and her good friend, Helen Smith, skied or cycled on a regular basis. Helen was one of many good friends Betty made during her time in Olds; I only realized the extent of her community involvement when I heard people speak at her funeral. She was very active in the Royal Canadian Legion (Legion) and served as the entertainment director there, taking members on bus trips to other Legions, to special events, such as live theatre in Calgary and cycling and hiking tours. She attended the United Church and worked many, many hours in the basement dispensary of used clothing and household items. For those of us who don’t like to shop, it’s mighty nice to have sisters with access to these resources.
One of Herbie’s memories of Betty
I remember one Christmas Leo & I were going to Betty’s & the combines were going full blast. Betty’s stove wasn’t working so she cooked the turkey in her barbecue. As I remember it turned alright.
VORACHEK, Theodore Keith
Ted was born in Meeting Lake, Saskatchewan on June 11, 1933, the youngest of a family of five children, which included Ronald, Ruth and Jessie (twins) and Edna. In due course he became uncle to a host of nieces and nephews in the area who he visited frequently. He also travelled to Fairmont, BC each summer often taking family along.
Ted married Mary Elizabeth Brodie (Knowles) and they became a family with their children, Shelley and Spencer. This union introduced yet more nieces and nephews plus sisters and brothers-in-law; unlike the myth of the dreaded ‘mother-in-law”, Ted shared a fond and respectful relationship with his. With the brothers-in-law, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and playing cards. Ted was an avid sportsman who didn’t believe in wasting his kill; everything: moose, elk, geese, fish, all made it to the dinner table. Good companions all, he didn’t forget us thirsty Albertans when he came home from Saskatchewan with a half-ton full of beer during each of the beer strikes in the late sixties. He remarried later to Myrtha Christianson. Both marriages ended in divorce.
Ted attended Spiritwood, a country school until grade ten before he sought employment based training as a power engineer at SAIT. He took his education and his job very seriously and continued to take extension courses and night school until he attained his first class power engineering status. He worked at various gas plants across Alberta including BA at Stettler, Nevis gas plant and finally Strachan at Rocky Mountain House. He was proud of his work and when asked about their memories of Ted, two family members told of how he demonstrated this as he conducted tours to school children and family members. Ted became entrepreneur when he purchased Al’s Bearings in Rocky. He also became a farmer where he truly enjoyed hard work and the companionship of neighbours and friends.
It is important to mention Ted’s special friends, his cats Freddie and Cougar. He entertained others by telling of his plans to start raising pigs because Freddie was so fond of bacon and how Cougar’s job was to guard against polar bears, his success being obvious from the absence of them.
Ted had the good fortune to remain physically active as he aged, but his eyesight became increasingly worse until he was no longer able to drive himself. A friend supplied a quote, “At this point, there’s not much left but to celebrate life.” On July 31, 2016, Ted died at home in his favorite chair with Freddie on his lap. He will be missed and remembered in many stories. Ted is survived by his daughter, Shelley MacDonald, of Bucerias, Mexico, his son, Spencer, of Rocky Mountain House, and all his brothers and sisters.