Frederick (Fritz) Spreter Fred Spreter was born in Stuttgart, Germany, as Fritz Spreter on November 27, 1903, to his parents Joseph and Maria Spreter. Joseph had a stroke at the early age of 40, and was partially paralyzed, and passed away in 1914. Maria re-married 4 years later to Ludwig Koppey, and her last name became Koppey-Spreter. Maria passed away in 1948. Fred had 2 sisters, Bertha born in 1899 – 1998, and Martha born in 1897 – 1986. Fred started school at age six. In 1914, World War 1 broke out. They were told to help their relatives in the harvest field, as most of the men were in the war front line. Fred had 4 weeks summer holidays and had the opportunity to help as much as he could. After the holidays, he returned home by train, and there was an inspection of the luggage and parcels, as they were not allowed to bring food of any kind home. He was asked what he had in his parcel and he replied, “Only dirty clothes”, but it actually contained butter and eggs. He was fortunate that they took his word as other travelers had some of their food confiscated. In 1919, he graduated from High School and shortly after he began his apprenticeship for 3 years on different farms, otherwise you could not enter University. In 1922, he began his studies at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim. He joined a fraternity for companionship. It was an old custom, that one would take part in four fencing duels against other fraternities. He had his last and seventh duel in the town of Heidelberg. Fred also began acquainted with Emil Klein and together had many good times. Then in 1925, he graduated with his diploma and teacher degree. His diploma was equivalent to a “Bachelor of Science” degree. In 1926, he was a manager on a farm in Germany for a short time. As the future did not look very promising there, Emil Klein and Fred decided to immigrate to Canada. In 1926, they boarded the ship called the “Seydlitz” in Bremen on March 20th and arrived in Halifax on March 27th. They left Halifax by train across Canada. It took 6 days to arrive at their destination of Didsbury, Alberta. The Lutheran minister of Westcott Church was supposed to meet them at the train station, but was not there when they arrived. So they went to the beer parlor to await his arrival, which being in a beer parlor in Germany was not frowned upon. They didn’t know that at that time, church people kept away from the parlors. However, they were picked up and taken to different farms as hired men. Some of the farmers were not quite certain if they could do the farm work, as we were just out of University, and perhaps somewhat soft and city raised as well. In a short time, there was soon a demand for them. They could drive tractors, as well as handle eight-horse teams. Their wages, were $15 to $20 per month and the second year $45. The food and rent were included and they were paid in the fall of the year. In the winter time there was no work on a farm, so he went to work in the coal mines at Wayne, Alberta (Drumheller Valley). He worked by contract, and worked in groups of two and was paid so much per ton. He lived in small, very cold, miner shacks. They would make the porridge the night before, and sometimes by morning it was frozen solid, so if you got up late, you cut off a chunk and ate it on the way to work! He worked there for 2 winters. In the fall of 1928, he bought his first car, a Model T, second hand for $175.00. In 1931, he started farming on his own, and went in partnership with Karl Kopp for 2 years. Then in 1932, they split up their partnership, and Fred purchased the farm which they were lived on. He paid $3000.00, and each fall he would pay Mr. Haggerman one third of the grain crop until it was paid off in 10 years. Later, Fred bought another quarter of land from Haller Otto and a quarter from Wilfred Simmons for $5000.00. In 1934, Fred married Catherine (Kitty) Cameron, and they built the house which they lived in, up until moving to Didsbury Lodge. They had 3 children, Marie (Terry Heffernan) Heffernan, Fred (Evelyn) Spreter, and Denise (Jim Leask). They had 7 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Grandson Greg passed away in 1981. Fred was always hard at work on the farm. He did find time for support to the community. Fred was a West Hope School trustee for a number of years. As well, he canvassed for the Community Chest for many years. Fred & Kitty attended community dances and turkey suppers over the years and belonged to the Madden United Church. In 1954, he returned to Germany, with Kitty and Marie for a visit and again in 1968 and 1974 to both Scotland and Germany. In 1978 they took a trip to Hawaii. For many years they travelled to Banff on the “Farmers Day” holiday with the Aaskow’s for a picnic and hot springs swim. Fred and Kitty lived in Calgary from 1978-1982 in the Huntington Hills district and made a number of good friends during their years there. They would travel back and forth between the farm and Calgary, looking after the yards at both places, but finally decided they would sell their Calgary home and stay on the farm. In 1983, Denise and Jim were building a new house and Fred and Kitty made many trips to help them out – and we still are astonished at Fred getting up on the roof at the age of 80 to shingle the roof!! He did get a scolding from his sister Bertha during a phone call with her, when he told Bertha, he had been on the roof shingling – she didn’t think he should be up on roofs any more! However a few years later, he was on the roof of his own house re-shingling!! In 2005 Fred celebrated his 100th birthday and their 69th anniversary at the Madden Community Centre, with a host of family, friends and neighbors. He received congratulatory messages from the Queen, Prime Minister and Provincial MLA’s. During the afternoon, the power went out for a little while at the Centre, and the comment was made “that was how things were 100 years ago!!” Also in 2005, it was Alberta’s 100th birthday. There was a television program celebration in recognition of it. Fred and Kitty were both interviewed at their home by a television crew and they appeared in a segment of the television special. This was a special event for Fred, to have the opportunity to describe those early years of coming to Alberta. In 2006, Fred had the honor of being the Parade Marshall for the Crossfield Rodeo Parade at the age 101. He rode in an antique car, with Kitty along side! In April of 2008, Fred & Kitty, made the difficult decision, to move from their farm home to the Didsbury Aspen Ridge Lodge. During his time there, he made many new acquaintances and had the opportunity to share their stories with other residents. Fred was pleased to be interviewed by the local newpapers and had the story appear in the Didsbury and Carstairs newspapers on a few occasions.