Fonds F3040 - Wineglass Ranch fonds

Francis Towers, 1848-1936, and his wife Elizabeth Glover, 1853-1941, established a ranch on Jumping Pound Creek, near Cochrane, Alberta, in 1885. They had seven children, four of whom grew to adulthood, Walter, Leslie, 1884-1963, Harold, 1891-1971 and Vera (Shaw), 1884-1963. Francis and Elizabeth retired to Vancouver in 1914 and in 1928 divided the Towers Ranch between their sons Leslie and Harold. Harold married Dorothy Fitch in 1915 and they had three daughters, Kathleen, Betty and Shirley. In 1946 Harold sold his part of the ranch and moved to Calgary. Leslie married Edith Callaway in 1917 and they had one daughter, Alice Vernice Towers, 1920-2018, who in 1941 married Hugh Hamer Wearmouth, 1917-2005. The Wearmouths had three children, Doug, Irene (Aasen) and Edith (Eklund), 1953- . When Hugh became Leslie's partner in the 1950s, the ranch was renamed the Towers and Wearmouth Ranch. Edith married Lindsay Eklund in 1973 and they had three children, Travis, 1977- , Shane, 1979- , and Lori-Anne, 1981- . The Eklunds took over the ranch in 1980 and renamed it the Wine Glass Ranch, after the brand the ranch had always used. They received a Master Farm Family Award in 1989. They divorced in 1994 and Edith then ran the ranch on her own.