AHOF Members archive

Born in York County, Ontario, Milton Tinline came to the Elkhorn area of Manitoba with his parents. His father, who was a blacksmith by trade, took out a homestead of 160 acres near the town. Tinline undertook to clear and break up this farm. At the age of 26, Tinline enrolled in a college course in agriculture. He had the honor of being the first student to register in the first agricultural college in Western Canada at Winnipeg. Shortly after graduation in 1911, he was appointed as the first assistant superintendent of the Experimental Farm in Brandon. In 1914, he was promoted to the superintendency of the Experimental Farm in Scott, Saskatchewan. He gave outstanding service to this vast farming...

William Joseph (Bill) Strath was born in Souris, Manitoba on July 23, 1928. He received his primary education in a one-room school at South Beresford and his high school education at Souris Collegiate. He attended the University of Manitoba, graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture with a BSA in 1954. There, he met Jean Thomson, also a graduate of the university with a degree in Home Economics. Married in 1952, they returned to the family farm near Souris where they raised four children, Margaret, Barbara, James and Jennifer, and farmed full time until 1980. Service to country and community but mostly to the farmers of Manitoba has been the foundation of Bill’s life. Prior to entering university, Bill had an...

Alfred John Strachan was born in Pope, Manitoba on December 11, 1915, the son of John and Margaret (nee Stuart) Strachan. In 1925, the family moved to Carman where Alfred received his education. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1938 with his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. Strachan joined the Dominion Department of Agriculture and worked in conjunction with the PFRA. His work took him to the Brandon Experimental Farm, Melita and Minnedosa. He married Nina Crampton in 1939 and along with their two daughters and one son returned in 1943 to the farm and the Strachan Seed Company, which sold registered seed grains, packaged garden seeds and potato eyes across Canada. Strachan was a registered sheep and...

Alex Stow, the eldest son of T. J. and Bessie Stow, was born June 2, 1928, in Graysville, Manitoba. After completing Grade 11 at Graysville Consolidated School, Alex took over the family farm. In 1951, he married Pamela Laroque. Together they raised five children: Christine, Mary, Lisa, Janet and Paul. Alex became a pedigreed seed producer specializing in seed oats and Selkirk wheat. He was also actively involved in developing domestic and international markets for both crops. As a Select Seed Grower, Alex was a member of both the Manitoba Seed Growers Association (MSGA) and the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), on which he served as president for two years. In recognition of his contributions, Alex was elected a Robertson...

Welland (Stoney) Stonehouse, the second youngest in a family of ten, was born on March 11, 1922, at McAuley, Manitoba. When he was four, Welland’s family moved to Two Creeks, Manitoba, where he attended school until the age of 17. His interests in a Boys and Girls Poultry Club led to his being hired as manager of the poultry barn at the University of Manitoba. While working, he attended night school, eventually entering the Faculty of Agriculture from which he graduated with a BSA in 1952. Welland began his professional career as an Agricultural Representative at Shoal Lake, Manitoba. His extension programs were many and varied, but his most significant involvement was with 4-H and coaching judging teams for competition...

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Fraser Stewart attended St. John’s-Ravenscourt and the University of Manitoba, where he obtained a BSA in Animal Science in 1961. He received an MSc. in Animal Nutrition from North Dakota State University in 1963. During his 39-year career with Manitoba Department of Agriculture, Fraser became known as “Mr. Grassland Specialist.” He distinguished himself nationally and internationally as an expert on grassland research and extension. In his quest to learn more about grassland agriculture, he traveled extensively within Canada and abroad—the USA,Australia, China,Argentina and the UK. His impact on forage and livestock systems in Manitoba and across Canada has been significant. Besides providing technical support to district agricultural representatives, local farmers and producer groups in all...

A.P. Stevenson, pioneer fruit grower of Manitoba, was born at Bannockburn and spent most of his early years on the braes of Killiecrankie in Perthshire, Scotland. He came to Canada about the age of 20 years old and worked outside of Toronto, farming and ditching, prior to proceeding westward to Winnipeg in 1874. Stevenson was among the first farmers in the West to make a success of fruit growing. His farm, eventually known as Pine Grove Nursery, was situated near Morden, Manitoba. Here he experimented in a number of fruits, including cherries, strawberries and plums. However, it was in apples that he specialized. He experimented mostly with those of Russian origin and from these many experiments, established an apple industry...

During a long and productive career at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Baldur Stefansson made a major contribution to Canada, Canadians, and people around the world through his outstanding work in developing canola. Baldur, often referred to as the “father of canola”, was born at Vestfold, Manitoba, to Gudmundur and Jonina Stefansson, a pioneer Icelandic family. He was a modest individual with a keen sense of purpose. His dedication to the development of a new edible oilseed demonstrated his great ability to focus on solutions; his prodigious reading and astounding memory were a great asset leading to the success of his research. Early in his search for an oilseed crop for Manitoba, Baldur identified the potential of rapeseed. However, rapeseed...