A lifetime spent in the agriculture industry
By Joan Janzen
Harold Appleby has spent a lifetime in the agriculture industry. At 97 years of age, he enjoys life at Caleb Village in Kindersley, where he has resided since 2016. He was born in Kindersley in 1925 at the hospital that was then located downtown and grew up on a farm three miles southeast of Pinkham, along with his siblings.
Harold’s dad acquired his homestead in 1911. For many years, he also farmed the homesteads belonging to his dad and his father-in-law. “My dad had three farms scattered around that area,” Harold said.
Harold grew up during the Dust Bowl, better known as “the Dirty Thirties,” which started in 1933 and lasted until 1937. Although it was a time of severe drought, Harold reminisced, saying, “They were good years, but not financially. There was really good community interaction at that time; everybody helped everybody.”
During those years, people on the prairies received government assistance. “The government sent in box cars full of apples and other things from Ontario,” Harold recalls. “They sent hay because we were short of feed. We had to get down to five head of cattle in order to be eligible to receive bales of hay. I can recall very well taking a cow and calf to Pinkham to sell. The cow and calf brought in $9.00.”
After successfully navigating through the years of drought, Harold faced another challenge. “In 1937, polio was rampant, and I contracted polio,” he said. “That year, there were twenty-nine of us in a building downtown, and we had two nurses who were on duty 24 hours a day. That winter, I went to school a few hours each day. After a year, I recuperated, but it temporarily affected my nervous system.”
Harold was a student at Pinkham School until Grade 9. That’s when his extensive farming career began.
As for participation in sporting activities, Harold said he just didn’t have time. He was too busy farming while his dad was away attending meetings, as he was head of the United Farmers of Canada.
Harold finished his school years just as the era of World War II began.
Those years impacted everyone personally, and Harold was no exception. “My oldest brother enlisted in the army and died in Holland. Terrible, terrible thing,” he recalls.
Harold’s parents moved to Saskatoon in 1945, and 20-year-old Harold became the primary operator of the farm. About that time, a young widow named Isabel, along with her young son and daughter, moved to Pinkham after her husband had been killed in an explosion of a military aircraft in 1944.
“I met Isabel in 1945,” Harold said. On June 29, 1950, Harold and Isabel were married, and two years later, their son was born. “I had a wonderful wife who helped on the farm. When the Hutterites came to visit, and I was gone, they would ask to talk to the boss, and my wife would reply, ‘You’re looking at her.’ She was fantastic.” Isabel passed away in 2008. They had enjoyed 58 years of marriage, travelled extensively, and have six grandchildren and many, many great-grandchildren.
Along with farming, Harold started a ranch in 1955. Along with the Near family, he acquired three sections of pasture, and Harold acquired approximately 200 head of cattle. “We packed up the ranching business after about ten years,” Harold said.
Harold pursued another business venture. “We took on the dealership of the Morse Rodweeder,” he explained. “It was a rodweeder that would work in stoney ground. I had looked to buy one at Yorkton and ended up buying a dealership. I had too many irons in the fire, so eventually I sold it.” During his years in the business, he enjoyed meeting numerous people from other districts.
After years of productive work on the farm, Harold leased the land and retired in his 80s. “Life is what you make it. You can sit around and complain about it or not. I’ve done well, but you have to work for it; it doesn’t just fall into your lap. Hard work never hurt anybody,” Harold concluded.