RED DEER COUNTY - Dean Jorden and Michelle Mooney know a thing or two about country living, and how hard it can be.
Yes, both have made their marks in the nearby town of Innisfail but their roots go way back to the nearby rural community called Oklahoma. Life here was nothing like the pioneer spirit depicted from John Wayne’s 1943 flick In Old Oklahoma, or from the musical Oklahoma! launched on Broadway the same year.
No, Central Alberta’s Oklahoma was a little pioneer school district, about two miles by two miles in size, situated west of Innisfail, south of the Red Deer River and north of the Little Red Deer River. First settled in about 1898, the district was given its name by two early homesteaders – Brose Vreeland and Dan Syla – because the land reminded them of the state of Oklahoma.
A few years ago Rudy Petersen, the final minister at Oklahoma’s Nazarene Church spearheaded a movement to organize a reunion of all former and present residents of the district, along with their descendants. The only other reunion in the district’s long history was held in 1986.
While the modern-day reunion was being planned, there was a suggestion to create a history book as a reunion legacy project.
“We should have written it a generation ago,” said Mooney, a fourth generation resident who has lived in the Oklahoma district her entire life. “We were losing that generation that had the knowledge, and we needed to capture that knowledge, that perseverance, that essence of building a community, and the struggles and the triumphs before it was lost.”
A committee was formed in late 2018 and the project began with a determined committee that included Mooney, Jorden as chair, Pat (Nimmo) Allen, Robert Grey, Eva (Newsham) Mack, Judy Michiel, Elgar Newsham and layout artist Wendy Jorden.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the reunion was postponed from August 2020 to July 2021. But the committee was already moving full steam. It was decided they would work safely around the pandemic and continue on.
“We decided to proceed with the history book as work was already well underway, and we worried the project, if delayed, may lose its momentum or be shelved completely,” said Mooney. “Aside from our earliest in-person meetings, once COVID-19 intruded on our lives, the majority of our book has been done remotely through email, and supported by phone calls and traditional mail.”
Mooney said from the research the committee collected for the project, the book shows that from its earliest days, the Oklahoma community was full of hard workers made from “sturdy stock,” who banded together, relied on each other and were always available to help one another.
“It was always interesting. It was always learning something new,” said Mooney. “My great-aunt, who was very good friends with Dean’s mother, they went to Grade 1 together, raised their children together and they were in their retirement home together too.”
Jorden learned many things too; specifically how tough it was to live there back in those pioneer days and how everyone persevered. His grandparents from his mother’s side were among the first pioneers. They homesteaded next to Mooney’s great-grandfather. Jorden lived in the district during his elementary school years. He later returned as an adult when he worked in Innisfail.
“I just appreciated what those early settlers did, especially my grandparents on my mother’s side, what they went through and where they came from, which was pretty comfortable in an area of Scotland near Glasgow,” said Jorden. “My grandfather had this desire and read all these ads about free land in Canada, and it was hard. I found out in just a few writings just how hard it was.”
Almost two years later, the book is done. It was a classic community project where everybody pitched in one way or another. The project was supported with grants from the Red Deer and District Community Foundation, EQUS, Central Alberta Co-op and Red Deer County.
On Oct. 18, the community will host a drop-in book launch at the Oklahoma Community Centre from 1 to 4 p.m. Copies of the book will be on sale for $50.
When residents arrive, they will find a beautiful crafted 250-page, coil-bound creation, adorned with about 400 black and white and colour photos to go alongside 100 family histories and a dozen special feature stories.
For further information on the book launch citizens can call Mooney at 403-304-5000.
