Many know the story of the pioneer who started the Calgary Stampede, but questions about his wife spurred one Calgary writer to do a little digging to learn the story behind the cowgirl legend.
“Everybody knows Guy Weadick started the Stampede in 1912,” said Wendy Bryden, author of “The First Stampede of Florence LaDue.” “But I always wondered about his wife. Did he have one? Where was she? Who was she?”
Bryden said there was not much information available about LaDue, but she read about Pekisko resident Lenore McLean’s relationship with the cowgirl in the newspaper in 2001, when LaDue was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Texas.
Bryden phoned every McLean in the phone book until she found the right McLean and told her she wanted to write a book for the Calgary Stampede’s centennial in 2012.
McLean (nee Bews) grew up on a ranch next to the Weadicks near Longview and had a special relationship with LaDue, so Bryden found her best resource to help with the book.
A friendship was born between Bryden, the self-proclaimed city mouse, and McLean, the country mouse, and the two have worked on the book diligently for several years. Their collaboration culminated in the publication of “The First Stampede of Florence LaDue: The true love story of Florence and Guy Weadick and the beginning of the Calgary Stampede” which was launched at the Calgary Stampede Western Legacy Awards presentation on Oct. 21.
The historical novel tells the story of Florence LaDue, the stage name of Guy Weadick’s wife Grace, a world champion trick roper. The book captures the couple’s history of coming to Alberta from the United States to start the Calgary Stampede.
“Two wonderful Americans came to Canada to give us stampede values,” said McLean, who shared her memories of Weadick for the book.
She grew up on her family’s ranch southwest of Longview next door to the Weadicks’ guest ranch, the first in Canada, which they bought after LaDue retired from trick roping in the 1920s.
Weadick helped McLean with riding and also taught her about the finer things in life.
“We had a really close bond,” said McLean. “She told me to look my best, do my best and be my best. And I never forgot that. I thought that was quite a saying,” said McLean, adding it is something she lives by to this day.
She recalled one time when she was about seven years old and they were out riding together in the foothills near Longview.
“We’d been riding, and she says ‘Now you just get down off that horse, we’re going to learn something about the kitchen.’”
McLean said back then she just rode her horse all day and didn’t know anything about working in the kitchen.
“At that age, I said to her, ‘I’m not going to do any of that anyway, I’m going to get a maid.’ And she said, ‘Well how can you tell the maid what to do when you don’t even know?’ And then to this day I’ve never had that maid so she was right,” McLean laughed.
She said Weadick was elegant and lady-like, always wore a dress or skirt unless she was riding, and kept the family ranch clean and well organized. However, she was also a woman ahead of her time as Weadick stressed the importance of education for women and she was the businesswoman behind the Stampede.
The Weadicks did not have children of their own, so they were lucky to move next door to a big family, said Bryden. Not every family would want to share a child, especially a daughter, but McLean’s mother knew the two would make a great pair.
“One of nicest stories is hearing Lenore talk about going out riding with Mrs. Weadick when she was a baby,” said Bryden. “It’s one of her first memories, being on the saddle with her on a little, tiny pillow. And she was in between the horn and the warmth of Mrs. Weadick’s body.”
Bryden said Weadick’s father always said she wouldn’t get married or have children because she was such a tomboy.
“Her father used to say to her, ‘All that twisting and turning will ruin your internal organs.’”
Weadick had a difficult childhood, explained Bryden. Her mother died from childbirth and her father, who was a lawyer and later became a judge, could not care for her and sent her to live with her grandparents who worked on a Sioux reservation in Minnesota.
“She grew up with her Sioux brothers and sisters riding bareback, swimming in the creeks, looking at the stars, learning the ways of the Sioux,” said Bryden.
This is why when the Weadicks started the Stampede years later, they insisted First Nations people should be an active part of the exhibition, explained Bryden.
Weadick’s father feared she was becoming too much of a tomboy living on the reserve and took her back at age 12 to attend school. She was unhappy, and at age 17, joined a Wild West show and performed the roping skills she learned on the reserve. It was here she met Guy Weadick and eventually moved north to Alberta.
Bryden said she was pleased with the Western Legacy presentation and the book launch. The book’s marketing company said they would be lucky to sell 50 copies, but have already sold 130. Fans formed a long line after the awards presentation for Bryden and McLean to sign their books.
“I wanted to make something familiar new,” said Bryden of the Weadicks’ story.
She also wanted to tell the truth of Flora LaDue’s extraordinary life so other little girls can read it and be inspired to do great things in their own lives.
