Okotoks featured on calendar cover

Prominent citizens playing cards at the mayor’s kitchen table 70 years ago graces the cover of the Archives Society of Alberta’s 2019 calendar.

The society selected the photograph, submitted by the Okotoks Museum and Archives last summer, for the cover of its annual calendar, themed Entertaining Alberta.

Minna Piper is seen dealing cards to four men, including husband Elmer Piper, while former Okotoks mayor Harry Waldron looks on with a cigar clamped between his teeth and a beverage in his hand, standing beside two women.

“It’s a thrill to see,” Diana Hocking, the Pipers’ youngest daughter, said of the photograph. “It’s nice for the community to see an era that passed in Okotoks. It brings back some good memories.”

Although the photograph was taken at the Waldron home, Hocking remembers when her parents hosted card games when she was a little girl.

“They had to make their own fun and they loved cards,” she said. “They had lots and lots of card games along Elma Street.”

Hocking said it wasn’t unusual for people to just walk into each other’s homes.

“Our little street was quite a bustling little street,” she said. “Everyone was in and out of everyone’s homes. All the working people along the street chummed together. They were all good friends.”

Minna was in her 30s when the picture was taken. She came to Okotoks in the 1930s with husband Elmer, who coached the Okotoks Oilers. The Piper Arena in the Okotoks Recreation Centre was named in honour of Elmer.

The Pipers ran Okotoks Service, where Shell is currently located. It served as a car dealership, implement dealership and service station.

Hocking said her mom did the books and she and her sisters worked at the service station at one point or another.

The Pipers were an integral part of Okotoks, getting involved in community events and service organizations, said Hocking. Elmer died at age 68 and Minna at 92.

“Community was everything in those days,” said Hocking. “Their lives really swirled around community. Everybody went to everything. They were all such energetic and giving people.”

The Okotoks Museum and Archives has submitted photographs for the calendar each year since its inception, which made all but one calendar, said museum specialist Kathy Coutts.

This year marked the first Okotoks’ photograph to be featured on the cover, she said.

“What a thrill that it was selected for the front cover,” said Coutts. “It really is a fun photograph of Okotoks residents having fun on New Year’s Eve in the 1940s.”

Coutts said although the photograph wasn’t dated, it was taken between 1946 and 1949 when Waldron served as mayor.

“I love that Minna is dealing the cards and there’s a pot of money in them middle of the table,” she said. “They were serious card players because there was money on the line. You can see poker chips and people having a good time.”

Coutts also sent pictures of the town’s community band and marching parade.

“It’s another opportunity for us to share our history,” she said. “Often times we share our archival photos within our own community through exhibits here at the museum. Participating in the calendar project expands the accessibility. We reach a new audience with our photos.”

Rene Georgopalis, executive director of the Archives Society of Alberta, said this year marks the 11th the society has printed the calendar.

The society is a network of archivists who share their expertise and ideas on how to better serve the public and better preserve documents. It’s provided Okotoks with grants to digitize, process and properly store its archival documents.

For this year’s calendar, the society received up to five submissions from 25 of its 45 member archives across the province, said Georgopalis. A selection committee chose the final images.

This year’s theme was Entertaining Alberta.

“We try to select a theme that we feel our members will have images of,” she said. “We like to leave it open for interpretation.”

The purpose of the calendar is advocacy, trying to raise awareness around the society, said Georgopalis.

“A lot of people are not aware of the work we do,” she said. “It’s important to create that understanding. People cannot just go and walk in the stacks like you would a library because we need to protect them from getting lost. We’re often behind the scenes when people need information and pictures for research.”

A limited number of free calendars are available at the museum.