More than 100 years after the first Wentworth immigrated to Okotoks, there’s more than just a road bearing the family name.
Willis Wentworth and his wife, Marie, came west from Danville, Que. in 1900 and Willis established a sash and door factory in Okotoks. Their daughter, Adelaide, married a local man named Harry Beattie, who owned Beattie’s Store – now the current home of Rumpled Quilt Skins on North Railway Street, across from the Okotoks Art Gallery. The store was purchased by Adelaide’s brother, Clifford, in 1925, who changed the name to Wentworth’s General Store.
“Cliff ran the store until his death in 1950, and then it went to his son, Jack,” said Okotoks museum specialist Kathy Coutts.
Jack operated the store for two years with his wife, Hannah, before moving to Edmonton for a few years, she said. During that time, their daughter Janet was born, and she was three years old when they returned to Okotoks in 1958 and took up operation of the business.
The family lived in the 10-room apartment above Wentworth’s until Jack died in 1975.
“It was awesome,” said Janet Lipsett. “I had the best upbringing years. If you ever got bored upstairs, you could always go down and run into somebody to visit.”
Lipsett worked in the store from age 12, stocking shelves and pricing items. Her brother also helped out, in addition to a staff of about four women, a butcher, a delivery boy, and usually one or two boys packing groceries into brown paper bags, she said.
There was also someone on staff to drive the delivery van, she said. Wentworth’s General Store had no limit for grocery delivery – whether someone needed a full list of items or just a loaf of bread and quart of milk, it was brought to their doorstep if requested.
A lot of the business was done on credit, she said.
“There wasn’t interest if you were late paying it or if someone was sick or anything, my dad just carried their accounts,” said Lipsett. “Dad did his books every Sunday morning down in the front window, and when you paid a bill there at the end of the month, my dad would say, ‘Grab a bag of candy on the way out the door.’”
There was a lot of candy to choose from. Jack would bring in boxes of fresh bulk candy, cut them open and line them up about two feet off the ground, stretching about 30 feet through the store, she said.
Years at the store were busy ones, and Lipsett said she didn’t see much of her father on working days. He would wake at the crack of dawn to have the doors open by 6 a.m., and would be in the shop until it closed around 6 p.m.
Forty-four years after the store closed, Lipsett said she’s pleased to see how the building has been preserved, from replacing the stairs outside the eastern wall to raising the ceiling in the store to its original tin design.
“My grandpa had brought it down with drywall to save on heat,” she said. “It was only nine feet, but now it’s back up to the original. It’s beautiful now. Those quilts look like they’re made to hang there and I’m just so pleased with the folks who have taken such good care of it.”
As time passes, Lipsett said she rehearses the layout of Wentworth’s General Store in her mind, the finer details of the shelves and work done within its walls so the years spent there are never forgotten.
It was a busy time, but filled her childhood with happy memories, she said.
“It doesn’t seem like that many years ago, but I guess it was a few,” said Lipsett. “If I could go back and do it, I’d do it all the same all over again.”
Coutts has her own memories of Wentworth’s General Store. She recalls once purchasing a pair of rubber boots there with her parents, though other things also stand out.
“I also remember the butcher shop at the back,” said Coutts. “It was an old-time butcher shop with the butcher with his apron and colourful handprints on the apron.”
Wentworth’s General Store isn’t the only legacy left behind by the family.
Years of civic service also led to the naming of Wentworth Crescent, on Tower Hill, nestled in among names of other men who served as councillors and mayors in Okotoks history. The road heads west from Okotoks Drive, across from the recreation centre, bending south and rejoining with Okotoks Drive at École Percy Pegler School.
The Wentworth family’s proclivity toward municipal politics began early.
Willis served as the overseer for the Village of Okotoks from 1902 to 1904, said Coutts.
“Okotoks became a town in 1904, so I would imagine he was involved in that great debate of whether to remain a village or to become a town, much the same as the debate now on whether to remain a town or to become a city,” said Coutts.
Following in his footsteps, two grandsons eventually became councillors for the Town of Okotoks. Willis Clifford served on council from 1954 to 1955, and his brother Jack, while also running the general store, served from 1963 until 1968, she said.
“Willis really paved the way for his family to enter into civic duty, into politics,” said Coutts.
