Setting A Good Example

This industrious farmer came from Denmark with ten dollars in his pocket and ended up being awarded the Order of Canada.

- Joan (Schousboe) Rogers

When the fairy tale romance of my parents, Gus and Helvig (Hilda), blossomed into an engagement, my father decided to make his own way, rather than wait to inherit the family farm in Denmark. He made contact with a distant cousin working on a farm in Plaster Rock, N.B., to see if there would be a good future for him in Canada.

The answer came back, “Yes, and we have a job here for you.” Arrangements were quickly made and Dad left for Canada in 1927 with ten dollars to his name and not a great deal else to start his new life. He did, however, have a good education. He had graduated from high school, knew basic English, had served a two year apprenticeship on a “learning farm” and did a brief stint of compulsory military service. He also enjoyed good health and had a strong desire to succeed.

Within a few months, he had repaid the loan for his passage and saved enough to bring my mother over as well. They were married in Plaster Rock in April 1928.

FARM LIFE