AHOF Members archive

Reg Forbes was born at Rorketon, Manitoba in 1924 and was raised in the Dauphin area. He joined the RCAF in 1943 and trained as a navigator. Following his discharge in 1945, he attended the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba and graduated in 1949. He joined the Manitoba Department of Agriculture in 1949 and served as the agricultural representative at Pilot Mound. During his time there, he initiated the “Save the Soil” campaign, which became a province wide conservation program. In 1956, he was appointed principal of the Agriculture and Homemaking School in Brandon and agricultural representative. Under his guidance, the school was changed to the Agricultural Extension Centre, which has served as a forum for discussion...

Dougal (Doug) Fletcher was born and raised in Argyle, Manitoba. He graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Manitoba, with a BSA in 1932 and a Masters in Economics in 1935. Doug married Iris Campbell in 1937 and together they raised three daughters: Sheila, Marilynn and Lesley. From 1937-45, Doug worked for the Dominion Livestock Branch at the Union Stockyards in Winnipeg. In 1945, he joined the Manitoba Department of Agriculture as the Agricultural Representative for the Shoal Lake district. In 1953, Doug was transferred to the Carman district where he served for eighteen years until his retirement in 1971. Doug was well known and highly respected for his diplomacy, integrity and respect for other people. He was known...

Glen Findlay was born and raised on the family farm at Shoal Lake, Manitoba, where he also received his early education. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1963 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and the Governor’s Gold Medal. In 1964 he received his Master of Science in Animal Nutrition. He then proceeded to the University of Illinois where he received his PhD in Nutritional Science in 1968. From 1968- 1970, he took a Post Doctorate Fellowship at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. In 1957 Glen married Katherine Kennedy. The Findlays have four children, Carole, Keith, Gary and Jill, all of whom have degrees from the University of Manitoba. They have nine grandchildren. Along...

Peter Fidler, born 1769 in Bolsover, Derbyshire, England, signed on as a labourer for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1788. On his arrival in Canada, he was trained by Philip Turner, the company’s factor, as a surveyor. Fidler did his job with such accuracy that his maps are referred to in modern times. He used this same accuracy for detailed drawings and descriptions of the flora and fauna he found as he worked his way across the Prairies. When he became fort master for the company, he carried seeds wherever he went. He planted gardens at all the forts and these gardens were grown as far north as York Factory. With many forts established, he turned his attention to the...

Abram Ernst Ens was born in Reinland, Manitoba on August 16, 1931. He and his wife Helen (nee Zacharias) have two daughters and one son, Ingrid, Lottie and Christopher. The Ens family ran a dairy operation with a purebred Holstein herd from 1936 to 1996. In 1965, Abe was elected as a Director of Winkler Co-op Creamery, which amalgamated with Manitoba Dairy and Poultry Co-op in 1968. He served on the Milk Control Board of Manitoba and the Crocus Foods Board from 1971 to 1974. From 1987 to 1996, he represented District 7 on the Manitoba Milk Producers’ Marketing Board. Mr. Ens has been a Pedigreed Seed Grower for 44 years. He received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Manitoba...

Professor Joseph H. Ellis was born in Coventry, England. He came to Canada as a young man and worked on a farm in the Glenboro, Manitoba area and on plots at the Brandon Experimental Farm. He received his B.S.A. from the Manitoba Agricultural College and a M.Sc. degree from the University of Minnesota. Professor Ellis began his professional career in 1918 as an experimentalist and lecturer in the field husbandry department of the Manitoba Agricultural College. In 1927, the soils department was established with Professor Ellis as its first head. At this time, he initiated a survey of the soils of Manitoba involving their systematic mapping and classification; many of his concepts have been adopted in the Canadian soil classification...

Martha Elliott (nee Ireton) was born in Collingwood Township, County Grey, Ontario. She began teaching school at age 15. In 1890, she journeyed to Manitoba where she took a teacher training course in Brandon and taught in rural Manitoba. In 1894, she was married to James Elliott and settled on a farm in the Totonka district. During the First World War, Elliott organized three branches of the Red Cross Society — at Totonka, Moline and Cardale. Around this same time, she became an enthusiastic member of the United Farm Women of Manitoba. When the UFWM was organized provincially in 1918, Elliott was elected to the board and was placed in charge of young people’s work. Elliott was also a much...

James Duthie, pioneer stockman and farmer, was born in Cummiston, Aberdeen, Scotland of a notable livestock family, the Duthies of Collynie. Duthie came to Canada in 1880 and attended the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, where he learned Canadian farming methods. Moving west in 1882, Duthie took up land near Hartney, Manitoba where he farmed for 50 years. Duthie’s farming operations prospered and he became one of the best known and highly respected farmers of the province. At the time of his death, he was a candidate for the Master Farmer Medal. Duthie owned two sections of land; one was choice wheat land while the other section was ideal for stock-raising. He usually kept 75 head of cattle. His Shorthorns...