Fonds F0476 - Card, Stringer family fonds

Melville Card, 1864-1951, and Mary Ann Godkin, 1869-1944, who were married in 1890, moved to a homestead near Red Deer, Alberta in 1905 from Plevna, Ontario. Mel ran a livery stable in Red Deer and in 1912 built and operated Delburne's first meat market. He also drove school van for Great Bend School in 1917. Mel and Mary Ann's son, Claude, 1893-1952, married Velma Turnquist, ?-1977, in 1913 and they had three children, Lila Mae, 1914- , Allan, 1919- , and Eilleen, 1920-1942. Claude and Velma lived with Mel and Mary Ann for a year and then got their own homestead in the area. Mel and Mary Ann moved into Red Deer in 1917 where Mel was agent for a plough company and Mary Ann was involved in the Women's Institute. Claude and Velma moved to Red Deer in 1919, and from 1922 to 1927 Claude and Mel operated a grist mill. Mel and Mary Ann then moved back to their farm and Claude and Velma to Calgary. Mel and Mary Ann retired to Delburne in 1936. It appears that Claude and Velma's children spent much of their school years living with their grandparents and attended Great Bend School. Eilleen contracted tuberculosis in 1936 and was hospitalized at the Central Alberta Sanatorium, Calgary. Allan attended technical school in Calgary and served overseas during WII. Lila attended the Calgary General Hospital training school from 1934 to 1937 and became a registered nurse. She married Howard Stringer, ?-1970, in 1941 and they had two daughters, Nila and Terry. Howard came to teach at Great Bend School in 1931 and also taught the violin. In 1937 he began teaching in Calgary but in 1941 went to the University of Oklahoma and then joined the RCAF in 1942. After the war he and Lila lived in Calgary where he taught school. He later sold travel insurance.