Klaus Odersky, born in Beuthen, Germany in 1928, has lived a full life; one that ended up being heavily rooted right here in Olds.
After fighting in the Second World War, Odersky emmigrated to Canada in 1952 in search of a life of farming.
Odersky came to Olds after a train conductor showed him a map of Alberta. He chose this community because its name was the easiest community for him to pronounce, with English being his second language.
“A conductor on the CPR told me, ‘young man I know Alberta. I’m very close to retirement, I’ll tell you a good place’,” said Odersky. “Then he showed me on the map between Calgary and Edmonton.”
In 1955, Odersky and his wife Millie (who passed away in 2015 after 60 years of marriage) went to Olds to meet with realtor Tim Miller who was also the mayor of Olds. They eventually purchased a 200-acre farm just outside of town.
The property needed a lot of work, so the Oderskys didn’t move in there until 1957. Once they did, Odersky found himself working for the Town of Olds to support his farming endeavours.
“Mr. Miller, he came up to me one time and said ‘Klaus, do you want to work for the town of Olds?’ I said ‘Yes certainly.’ For me it was a step in the right direction, couldn’t be any better,” said Odersky.
While working for the town, he did various kinds of tasks, ranging from road maintenance to working in the cemetery.
During the winter months, they would give him a compressor to clean off the headstones, which has impacted his hearing long-term.
“So my hearing now is not even 50 per cent,” Odersky said.
“I liked it there because I had my peace, I shovelled graves there too. At that time, the town population wasn’t so many and the cemetery was smaller,” he said.
While working in the cemetery Odersky found the oldest tombstone in Olds.
“I thought I had to find it, so I found it, it didn’t take very long; George Hainstock, born 1832 and died 1892 or ‘94, something like that,” Odersky said. “I looked for older graves but nope, that is the oldest one.”
Odersky also recalled a number of smaller children-sized headstones, due to the Spanish flu that hit the area back in the early 1900s.
“There’s a lot of babies buried, because at that time there was no doctor here. There was hardly nothing here,” Odersky said. “I always kept that in the back of my mind.”
Odersky was very grateful to his wife, because while he was out working for the town, she would stay home attending to the children and various farm tasks.
“I had a very, very good wife. She was always on the farm, looked after the children, the garden and after the livestock,” He said.
“I am so proud of that because I have a very good wife. We both worked together and got ahead in this country,” Odersky said.
After working for the town for five years, Odersky changed his occupation to school bus driver.
“I got to do the school bus for five years and I enjoyed it very much,” Odersky said. “At that time it was farm kids only and they were all well behaved and are still in good memory.”
Odersky was happy to have lived out his life here in Canada because he says it’s one of the best countries in the world.
“Be very thankful to be born and raised in Canada, because that is one of the best in the world to live,” he said.
Odersky also noted what makes Olds stand out amongst other small towns.
“What I want to say is Olds always wants to get ahead and be better than other towns,” he said.
Odersky and his wife had three children: Monika, Ernst, and Evelyn. Ernst still runs the farm.
