When Walter Wearmouth passed away on June 5 at the age of 90 years, he bequeathed to his family a legacy of a life well lived. Walter had a unique gift of being able to turn anything that was negative into a positive situation. He appreciated every aspect of life and passed this philosophy on to his children and anyone willing to listen.
Five years ago I had the privilege of writing a story about Walter Wearmouth. He chose to meet me at the A&W, one of his favourite places to sit and talk. This was the place he frequented almost every morning to meet his friends, who called themselves the “Inspirational and Debating Team.”
His warm smile, sense of humour and humble outlook on life impressed me immediately. He spoke highly of his wife, Kay, stating, “She is a great cook, can drive the tractor and is a wonderful gardener”.
Walter and Kay ran a dairy farm five miles northeast of Cochrane and milked 55 cows by hand. He then explained “when electric power came to the area the milking machines made it possible for Kay to milk 55 cows by herself while I was working in the field.”
It was about 1964 when they sold most of their dairy herd to go into the beef cattle business.
He was also very proud of his four children – Roy, Allan, Anne and Marion – and I could see the twinkle in his eye when he spoke about his grandchildren.
This past week, Marion was kind enough to meet with me to update me on the last five years of Walter’s life. She said, “Mom and dad worked together on the farm. Mom would look after the children and the garden, but she would also be on the tractor while dad was lifting bales. He would work in the garden too, they did everything together.”
Marion stated, “I always wanted to be like them; I wish I had paid more attention. Dad had such positive comments and a way with words. He would say things like, ‘Think of the past, live today and look to the future.’”
Even after Walter became ill, he continued with his visits to the A&W, after all, this was his social life. Marion said, “Quite often he would enjoy taking the opposite point of view, just to stimulate conversation.” When his driver’s licence was taken away, Marion or Anne would drive him there.
Marion said her dad had to keep busy. “After all what does a farmer do? He gets up in the morning, gets dressed, goes outside and gets on his tractor. Dad still loved his John Deere tractor, so the grass was cut, the trees were always trimmed, but not always to mom’s specifications.”
Walter and Kay bought this property in 1955 and built their house, with a beautiful mountain view, in 1965. They managed to stay in their home until 2014.”
As Walter’s health deteriorated Marion moved into their home to help them out. Anne lives in Sundre and came to help very often. Roy lives on an acreage near Red Deer and Allan lives on an acreage near Olds. Both of them are still working, however they were wonderful in coming to help as often as they could.
As Walter’s condition worsened, he was moved into the Bethany Care Centre in Cochrane in January 2016 and fortunately, they had a room for Kay (for compassionate reasons) so she could be close to her husband.
I had an opportunity to view some of Walter’s hobbies during my visit with Marion. He made amazing walking canes out of willow sticks and then wrote an individual poem about each one, describing where they came from and how this walking stick could help steady someone. He used to give these away to friends, accompanied by a poem.
Walter Wearmouth was an outstanding poet and here is one he wrote as a farewell to his family and the community when he realized that his illness was progressing:
The sun is slowly setting behind the mountains in the west.
The time is a coming for this old cowboy to have a rest.
He still is a dreaming of the wonderful times he has had.
Most were very good, he can’t remember the bad.
There were the special children, they were the very best.
The happiness they brought us filled our little nest.
Then came some more to our hearts delight.
They filled our days with sunshine and calmness in the night.
From this old guy and his sweetheart of a wife.
God bless you all, you have really made our life.
W.W. The Wandering Willow and his loving wife.
