Ralph LeRoy Arrison
Great-grandfather, singer, teacher, pilot, cowboy. Born on Feb. 6, 1913, in Makepeace, Alta.; died on March 16, 2016, in Edmonton, of natural causes, aged 103.
Like most of his era, Ralph was born at home, on his family's farm on the bald prairie near Makepeace, southeast of Calgary. His father and a neighbour helped with his delivery.
Ralph did all the things you are suppose to do to live a long healthy life: He never smoked, ate and drank moderately, always exercised. But he acknowledged that he was lucky, too. Growing up in southeastern Alberta, mostly around Bassano, he survived bruising encounters with livestock and horses, roundups and brandings, and was once kicked unconscious by a horse.
During the Second World War he was a flight instructor in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Mostly flying out of Yorkton, Sask., he gave often nervous pilot trainees their first time at the controls of a plane and survived many close calls. He had his own plane after the war while farming at Mossleigh and one time, flying with a neighbour, it stalled and crashed. They climbed unharmed out of the wreckage and walked several miles back to the farm.
Possessed of a strong baritone voice, Ralph often entertained at gatherings in the days before radio and TV. The advantage of a long life allowed him to sing at the 60th anniversary of a brother-in-law, and sing the same song he sang at the wedding, Oh, What A Beautiful Morning.
Before the war there were plans to go to medical school, but the Great Depression meant money was scarce. However, he was happy to become a teacher. In 1938, while principal at the four-room school in Rosemary, Alta., he met Mollie Berry, the love of his life, a bespectacled, pretty fellow teacher. They married on Dec. 22, 1939, almost the longest night of the year, he often noted, and raised four children, Norm, Hugh, Linda and Susan.
He and Mollie had 64 years together, moving back to Bassano to ranch and teach in 1950, and then to Edmonton in 1962 for Ralph to complete his teaching degree at the University of Alberta. He taught in Edmonton until 1978 and had a long, happy and healthy retirement, spending time with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, volunteering and travelling, helping to start the Reform Party, and even writing an autobiography for the family.
After losing Mollie in 2004, Ralph married again in 2007, to Aileen LeDrew, a fellow card player at the seniors' home they lived in. Ninety-four at the time, Ralph was the oldest person to marry in Alberta. Aileen was a youthful 89. He asked a granddaughter known for her belly dancing skills to perform at the wedding. She explained that, despite popular misconceptions, belly dancing was really a fertility dance for women. "Then you better dance really hard," he commented. Unfortunately, this very happy marriage was short, as Aileen passed away a year and four months later, in 2008.
Ralph travelled widely – to Europe, South America, the Caribbean, South Pacific, all 10 provinces and 50 states, but Hawaii was his favourite. He made 24 trips there, the last in 2013, where he celebrated his 100th birthday with 40 family and friends. Until the last year and a half, he enjoyed good health and joyfully beat family and friends in countless games of Shanghai rummy, while enjoying a glass or two (never more) of port.
Alf Cryderman is Ralph's son-in-law.