Besse Speers - Transcript of Audio Interview

Transcript of Audio Interview - Married at 19, Bessie and her husband Roy homesteaded and had eight children, including five delivered at home. A daughter with celiac disease died at age 3. After fire destroyed their home, the family lived in a granary. Her husband died at 52 years, and Bessie continued farming for 16 years. To buy her first car, she sold a cow. Then she worked seven years in the kitchen at Pleasant Valley Lodge. She lived in Athabasca for 30 years, joined the Royal Purple and enjoyed painting and curling (11 pages)