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Happy birthday Tony Pedgerachny

Family comes to together to celebrate patriarch’s 100th birthday
WES - Tony Pedgerachny DSC_0611
: Four generations of the Pedgerachny family gathered together for the first time in over a year to help father, grandfather and great-grandfather Tony Pedgerachny celebrate his 100th birthday June 15. Front row, L-R: son Henry, great grandsons Ty and Chase, Tony, and great-granddaughters twins Rylee and Layli, and Ally. Back row, L-R: son Peter, grandaughter and grandson Natalie and Levi, and grandson Matt and wife Jo. Les Dunford/WN

WESTLOCK – It can happen only once in a lifetime, and for Tony Pedgerachny, that once was when he celebrated his 100th birthday June 15, surrounded for the first time in over a year by several members of his family, all who have the surname Pedgerachny.

Tony was born in the Waugh area east of Vimy, June 15, 1921, where his parents homesteaded, “In the bush,” Tony says.

His school years were at the Redwater River School, which was a three mile walk, his youngest son Henry says. Tony says he was the one who moved the school from its original site to a church several miles away where it has been used as a hall. He says he moved it, because he had the biggest tractor in the district.

Understandably, Tony has a bit of trouble trying to recall dates and places, and his youngest son Henry has helped fill in some of the gaps.

When he was still a young man, he joined the Canadian army at the beginning of the Second World War. “Near the end of the war, he was in the U.S. Army in Special Forces,” Henry, said. “They had prisoners of war and he was in part dealing with rehabilitating them.

“He was overseas (during the war) and he crossed Canada four times in training from west coast to east coast, four separate times, before they sent him.”

After the war, Tony started farming on his own south east of Vimy in the Legal area in 1946, getting his first quarter of land with help from the Veteran Lands Act (VLA).  Later, he bought more land, and got into the cattle business.  He said at one point, he owned 21 quarters of land, and was told he was the biggest cattle buyer and operator in Alberta.

He had a big feedlot on his farm, and added that he trucked many cattle to Swift’s packing plant in Edmonton over the years, because that’s where he got the best deal.

“There were six packing plants in Edmonton at that time,” Tony said, “They were all competing for livestock. It was terrible. They were fighting among each other and they were trying to outbid each other. But Swift was the best outfit there was, so I was giving them all my cattle.”

Because he processed his own grain and provided his cattle with good feed, Tony noted that’s what the packing plant wanted and he got a few extra cents per pound.

Tony Pedgerachny married Katie on Aug 6, 1949. That marriage lasted almost 65 years, until she passed away at the beginning of May, 2014. They had three sons, Fred. Peter, and Henry. Fred is currently in the U.S. and because of the closed border due to the pandemic, was unable to be with the rest of the family on Tony’s special day.

Henry still lives on the farm, and said his father was on the tractor, still raking and baling hay up until a little over a year ago; farming for almost 75 years. He said it was a tough decision on his part to get his father into the long-term health care centre in Westlock.

On his birthday, Henry picked him up in Westlock and took the old cattleman out to North Central Livestock near Clyde, where his grandson, Levi works, buying cattle.  “He learned it from me!” he said. “He was a good learner.”

While he enjoyed his time at the livestock auction on his birthday, and watching cattle go through the sales ring, his bigger enjoyment was being among family again after more than a year of isolation from them in the long-term care center. “It was terrible. It was just like being in prison,” he said, adding he really missed getting hugs from his family. Probably what made it worse is he is still very mobile, and gets around with just the use of a cane to help steady him.

And what does Tony think of being 100 years old?

“I think I have had a good life,” he replied simply. “And I helped the poor people; especially buying all their cattle and being fair with them. I gave them a fair price and that was how it was done.”

Les Dunford, TownandCountryToday.com

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