Miller farm receives 100-year plaque

Division 1 Coun. Dwayne Fulton has presented the Mountain View Century Farm and Ranch Award 100-year plaque to the Miller family led by Don and Darlene.

Seventeen family members and many others attended the ceremony at the family farm on Aug. 18. The family’s Province of Alberta Century Farm and Ranch award was received earlier.

The plaques recognize 100 years of the family farming on the original homestead in the SE corner of the county, at Sec 11-29-27 W4.

“It all began with Joseph and Marianna Miller who arrived in the States in the very late 1800s from Odessa, Russia before moving to Canada and purchasing the homestead west of Acme on March 15, 1918,” said Doug Miller.

The next Millers to continue with the farm were Don’s parents, Casper and Dorothy. Dorothy was a daughter of Amos Buschlen from the Midway area. They farmed here until their retirement in 1971 at which time Don and his wife Darlene and three sons remained on the farm.

Don has been on the farm for 82 of the 100 years while his wife Darlene has been on the farm for 55 years.

Don represents the third generation, while sons Doug, Mike and Glenn represent the fourth generation, and their children represent the fifth generation.

All three sons are married and all still active on the farm. Doug and his wife Leanne’s children are Brittany, Natalie, Miranda and Lance. Mike and his wife Melissa's children are Adriana, Aidan and Avery. Glenn and his wife Lynnae's children are Raelle and Kendra.

Don was a charter member of the Rockyview Gas Co-op and served continuously on the board for over 30 years.

“All of the family is very community minded and donate their time to different organizations within the community as well as having served on different Ag Boards within the province,” he said.

A new home was built on the farm in 1945 with the original house being moved to Linden in the spring of 1946.

“Today we are a mixed grain and cattle farm. We did finish pigs on the farm for over 26 years but ended that part of the farm about 10 years ago,” he said.

“A new shop was completed this past summer in time for the award celebration after a devastating fire destroyed the previous shop on Dec. 5, 2017."

More than 300 friends, family and neighbours took part in the Millers' century farm award celebration.