Myrtle Jewella (Aarsby) Oldaker (1899 - 1987)

Born 19 Nov 1899 in Pierce County, North Dakota, USA

Ancestors

Wife of George Oldaker — married 1917 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Died 26 Nov 1987 at age 88 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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Biography

Myrtle Jewella Aarsby was the first of 12 children born to Martin Jensen Aarsby and Ida Sophia Mecalson. She was raised on a farm in Rush Lake, Pierce, North Dakota ^{[1] [2]} until she was 11 and immigrated with her family from the United States to settle on a new homestead in Youngstown, Alberta in 1911. ^[3]

At fifteen she became a practical nurse for a village doctor, who was her fiancé. ^[4] However, when she met George Oldaker, after a courtship of two weeks, she married him instead. They were married on 29 June 1917 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ^[5] She was 17.

He went off to war and when he returned home in 1918, he built a house with his own hands in the Beaver Dam Flats district near Calgary close to her [[[Mecalson-1|mother]] and brother Vernon's farm, ^{[6] [7]} and the couple started their family: George (who died as a newborn), Gladys Emmeline (whom Myrtle rescued from a burning building as an infant), Lloyd George (who spent 7 years in a sanitarium for TB before dying at 39), Charles Edward (who died at 11 years of age from a burst appendix), and Richard Bedford (named for RB Bennett, a Canadian prime minister). Gladys, being the only daughter, enjoyed certain privileges: she was excused from chores that would roughen her hands (“you must have nice hands if you’re to get a good husband,” said her father); she was allowed to take a seat on a bale of hay and sketch the horses, while her brother worked and her mother fretted about keeping her in drawing paper; she had the first turn at the weekly bath when the water was most pristine, and a hot roasted potato was always tucked into her fur muff, keeping her hands warm when she drove her brothers in the horse and buggy to their one-room schoolhouse. At Christmas, she was allowed to linger longest at the spectacle her father had engineered─ the tree decorated with real candles at the branch-tips, and lit for a few brief moments.

In 1932, the family left the farm for Calgary. George took a job with an insurance company, and Myrtle ran the household, breaking her routine most afternoons to meet her husband downtown and walk him home. Street photographs were in vogue just then, and one captures their expressions during one such walk: hers was stern; his, mischievous.

The Oldaker's celebrated their 25th Anniversary on 27 June 1942 at their home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.^[8]

When George decided to take another job, it meant the family would have to move. Only Richard was still at home, still in high school. Myrtle thought it would be best to let him finish school where he was, and so refused to move until he graduated. The argument caused a permanent rift between the spouses. Richard did graduate from his old school, but at the ceremony, kept looking at the door for his father. He never appeared again.

Coming from a long line of ministers, the church became an ever-greater influence in Myrtle’s life after the separation. She became a deacon, counselled parishioners, and visited hospitals to comfort the patients. Perhaps harkening back to her days as a teenage nurse, she decided that this time around, she would try to save souls rather than bodies.

With George out of her life and making a new family, Myrtle visited her daughter in the USA on frequent six month visas. Gladys had four children: Stewart, Cheryl, Lloyd, and Janet, and each one benefited from Myrtle’s warmth and attention. She had great energy and plunged into the workings of the household. She was fearless. It was not a surprising thing to see her up on a ladder, past the age of 60, painting the house.

In 1967, George Oldaker died. Myrtle visited him at the home he shared with the mother of his second family. Myrtle had steadfastly refused to divorce him, but came away from the final visit at peace with her husband of forty- three years.

Shortly after, she married his brother, Charles Noel Oldaker. In 1968 Myrtle (age about 68) was living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.^[9]

Myrtle died at the age of 88 on 26 November 1987 in Calgary and was buried on 30 November 1987 in Mountain View Memorial Gardens in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.^{[10] [11] [12]}

OLDAKER--Mrs. Myrtle Jewella Oldaker of Calgary, passed away at the Holy Cross Hospital on November 26, 1987 at the age of 88 years, beloved mother and mother-in-law of Richard and Mary Oldaker, Vancouver, B.C., Glady E. Snell, Akron, Ohio and Jean Oldaker, Calgary. She is also survived by eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren; three brothers, Clifford and Chester Aarsby, Carstairs and Martin Aarsby, Cochrane; two sisters, Cyrstal Manning, Kelowna, B.C. and Opal Hutton, Thunder Bay, Ontario. She was predeceased by her first husband George Oldaker in 1967 and her second husband Charles Oldaker in 1969; two sons, Lloyd and Charles Oldaker; five brothers, Francis, Allan, Roy, Orville and Vernon Aarsby and by a sister Ruth Osmond. She was born in Knox, North Dakota, USA and came to Canada in 1911 to Youngstown, Alberta and later moved to Carstairs where she resided until moving to Calgary in 1932 and resided at Calgary since. Mrs. Oldaker was a member of Full Gospel Church. Funeral Services will be held at LEYDEN'S "Chapel of Remembrance" (17 Avenue and 2 Street W.W.) Monday, November 30, 1987 at 1:00 pm. with Pastor Leonard K. Larsen officiating. Interment will follow at Mountain View Memorial Gardens. If desired, contributions may be made to the Arthritis Society, 301, 1301-8 Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta

Sources

1. ↑ 1900 Census: 1900 United States Federal Census Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Citing: Year: 1900; Census Place: Rush Lake, Pierce, North Dakota; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 0105; FHL microfilm: 1241230 Ancestry Record 7602 #68256213 (accessed 24 August 2020)
2. ↑ 1910 Census: 1910 United States Federal Census Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Citing: Year: 1910; Census Place: Township 157, Pierce, North Dakota; Roll: T624_1146; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0146; FHL microfilm: 1375159 Ancestry Record 7884 #163395571 (accessed 24 August 2020)
3. ↑ Immigration: Ancestry.com. Canada, Border Crossings from U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935 (Ancestry Record 1344 #2245223 accessed on 3 Mar 2021). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Library and Archives Canada; 1908-1935 Border Entries; Roll: T-5491 free ancestry view
4. ↑ Family Records: information provided by granddaughter
5. ↑ Marriage: Alberta, Canada, Marriages Index,1898-1942 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Citing: Provincial Archives of Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Ancestry Record 61560 #156426 (accessed 24 August 2020)
6. ↑ 1921 Census: 1921 Census of Canada Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Citing: Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 4; Census Place: Calgary West, Alberta; Page Number: 11 Ancestry Record 8991 #6588582 (accessed 24 August 2020)
7. ↑ Residence: "Canada, Prairie Provinces Census, 1926," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPK9-WY7B : 24 September 2020), Myrtle Oldaken in household of George Oldaken, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; citing Census, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
8. ↑ Oldaker Anniversary: Newspapers.com - Calgary Herald - 30 Jun 1942 - Page 6 Publication: Calgary Herald. Citing: 30 Jun 1942 Anniversary Media (accessed 24 August 2020)
9. ↑ Residence: Canada, Voters Lists, 1935-1980 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Citing: Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Voters Lists, Federal Elections, 1935-1980 Ancestry Record 2983 #86863084 (accessed 24 August 2020)
10. ↑ Burial: Web: Alberta, Index to Cemeteries, 1823-2013 Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Citing: Ancestry Record 70664 #137110 (accessed 24 August 2020)
11. ↑ Burial: Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Citing: Ancestry Record 60527 #2876328 (accessed 24 August 2020)
12. ↑ Burial: Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current Ancestry.com Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Citing: Calgary Herald; Publication Date: 29/ Nov/ 1987; Publication Place: Calgary, Alberta, Canada; URL Ancestry Record 61843 #580784449 (accessed 24 August 2020)

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