PEARL SANDERS, FARM WIFE

I think Uncle Al got a prize when he married Aunt Pearl. She must have been a lovely woman with her light reddish hair and fair skin. More to the point, she was capable, outgoing, and kind. People thought well of her.

 

Undoubtedly Pearl’s life in Alberta was much like the life of a farm wife in any remote locale. Those residing in outlying rural areas went a long time without electrification and modernization, but she was trained in the rural home arts and could cope with that.  

Uncle Al was elected to three terms (1921-1935) in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the United Farmers caucus. (You can read about his political career here.) Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, is 115 miles north of Stettler, so you just know that whenever the legislature was in session, Pearl was alone with the responsibility of running the farm.

I might have said earlier, if I had remembered, that Aunt Pearl was musically inclined. She played the piano and gave my dad his first lessons. Perhaps it was she who first discovered that he was a natural musician. Like all the Dobsons, she also had a good singing voice.

Julian, Vance, Myrtle, Ina, Shirley; Ethel & Earle in front

In the winter of 1918, Pearl visited the family at the Dobson homestead. Jack and Ina were now residing in their new house, the present farmhouse. While Pearl was home, she took this picture of the family group. Couldn’t Aunt Bertha have taken the picture so that Pearl might be included? Perhaps since she was married and living elsewhere, they now thought of her as outside the family circle. Or, maybe it was her idea to record this moment in time with a photo. Maybe it was her camera. 

In this last photo, Ina and Pearl (mother and daughter) sit before the fireplace in Ina's new house. Ina pretends to read, while Pearl knits. Pearl looks as though she's ready to giggle. KW