Barrhead saddened at the loss of long-time councillor

BARRHEAD – A long-time Barrhead town and county councillor has passed away. 

Roy Stewart Ulmer passed away on Aug. 26 in the arms of his wife, Dianna. He was 83. 

Ulmer is survived by his wife, his four daughters — Gwen, Melody, Shauna and Sheri — and nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. 

Although Ulmer was born in Edmonton, he spent the vast majority of his life in Barrhead, moving to the Mellowdale area, with his parents when they bought a farm in the area. 

After graduating high school, Ulmer worked on the family farm before getting into farm equipment sales. Eventually, he started his own farm equipment business in the late 1970s, Barrhead Farm Equipment, with a few other investors. 

In the mid to late 1990s, Ulmer decided to leave farm equipment sales and went into vehicle sales with what is now Grizzly Trail Motors. 

"He was a really good salesman that touched and influenced a lot of people's lives through his work," said Steve Lyster, who worked with Ulmer at the car dealership.  

When Ulmer was not working, one of his biggest passions was sports, baseball and curling in particular. In his youth, Ulmer played baseball progressing from minor baseball to moving on to senior teams such as the North Central Baseball League (NCABL) for the Freedom Phillies, Westlock Red Lions and the Barrhead Pontiacs and Cardinals. Later in his life would go on to play slo-pitch and was an active curler with the Barrhead Curling Club. 

In 2001, Ulmer jumped to municipal politics winning former reeve Joe Smith's Division 5 seat. It was Smith who would encourage Ulmer to run for his seat.  

"At the time, many residents felt that the communication between councillors, the county office and the people in the division was lacking and needed to be improved. I believed I could help with that,” Ulmer said in a 2015 Barrhead Leader interview.  

Ulmer spoke to the Leader about his decision to retire from the municipal council at the time. 

In 2004, Ulmer successfully retained his Division 5 seat, but he had to step down early when he and his wife decided to move into town. 

“I really enjoyed my time as county councillor working with all the county staff. I especially enjoyed working with reeve Lawrence Miller. It was a great initiation into public life,” Ulmer recalled in 2015. 

After taking about a year-and-a-half hiatus, Ulmer decided to pursue public life again, running for a Barrhead town council seat in 2007. 

“People were looking for a change, and I felt, just like I did when I first ran for office in the county, that there needed to be improvements in how councillors communicated to the residents,” he said. 

In a Facebook post, Ulmer's daughter Melody said her father was the most kind, fun and loving person she had ever met. 

"He lived life to the fullest and made time for everyone. He had a place in his heart for everyone he met," she stated. 

Although George Visser, former County of Barrhead councillor and reeve, did not have a chance to work with Ulmer personally as he had retired from the council when Ulmer joined said, "Everyone knew Roy." 

"The first thing that comes to mind is what a people person he was," he said. "Roy was always willing to lend an ear to people and wanted to talk and interact with them." 

Town of Barrhead Coun. Don Smith served on council with Ulmer for several years, and agreed with Visser, saying he got the opportunity to know him as a person early in Ulmer's tenure when the pair travelled together to a Calgary convention. 

"He was just a super nice guy that always had the community's best interest at heart," he said, adding he counts himself fortunate to have been able to have a long conversation with Ulmer during the Blue Heron Fair Day's parade. 

Smith also noted that often he would marvel at how naturally Ulmer interacted with people. 

"Everyone loved Roy Ulmer because he was that genuine person. When you spoke to Roy, it was never about him. It was always about somebody else," he said. "To see him interact with people and that big smile of his ... I wish I had just a small portion of his charisma. He is going to be sorely missed."