It's February already, where does the time go? Hopefully everyone is still keeping up with those new year resolutions and if you're not, that's okay too, life can be tricky. We almost made it through another week and that means it's time for another Thursday Tack and Tale from Stockmen's Memorial Foundation ready to go.
This week, in honour of Black History Month, I bring to you the story of the first African American man to step foot in Cochrane, Mr. Dewey Lee Blaney.
The year was 1897 and Dewey Blaney and his twin sister would be born in Roanoke County, Virginia. At 18 years young, Dewey would be hired by the Barnett family as a house boy and to help with their feed store. In 1915 the Barnett's were setting their sights on Bottrel, Alberta and they thought to bring Dewey with them. Dewey the young, enthusiastic soul was excited to venture off to lands faraway.
"Dewey was very much a presence in Cochrane. I think anybody you talk to who grew up at the time Dewey was here remembered him as being always very happy. He loved kids, always joking and just a real nice fellow," said Gordon Davies, a friend of Dewey.
After the Barnett's landed in Alberta, Dewey worked with them for about four years before he began taking other jobs throughout Dogpound and Bottrel.
"He worked around the Cochrane area for the rest of his life," mentions Jo Hutchinson, acquaintance to Dewey. "He did a lot of trucking, gravel trucks and a lot of general mixed farm work."
It was known for Dewey to say "My name is Dewey Abraham Lincoln Blaney when he introduced himself." This was due to the fact his grandfather was a slave and Dewey was forever grateful to President Lincoln for freeing the slaves. It was said that Dewey never had a pressing appetite to be his own boss. He much rather preferred taking on jobs or being told what to do. He always worked hard and never complained.
Although Dewey never married or had any children of his own, had he done so he would have been a wonderful father. His pockets were never lacking candy or spare change, ready to be dispersed to all the boys and girls he'd cross paths with. It warmed his heart to see children happy, and in return a permanent smile would takeover Dewey's face.
Jo Hutchinson recalls a time when she was 14 and took a ride from Dewey.
"I don't know who he was working for but he was driving a gravel truck up at Seebe and I wanted to get across from the north side of the river to the south side to go to the store and I caught a ride with Dewey. To start with he didn't like driving over the bridge, because he didn't think it was safe and then we had to go around a very sharp corner, completely blind corner on the south side of the river and he took his hands off the wheel 'Dewey don't like this corner' and I wasn't very happy with him taking his hands off the wheel."
Hutchinson added that even though Dewey had been in Canada majority of his life, he still seemed to carry that southern vernacular and always would put his name first at the beginning of a sentence.
Some of Dewey's hobbies were said to have been dancing and boxing but if you ever mentioned a game of cards, specifically crib, his eyes would go wide.
Dewey lived in a little shack down by the river for most of his life until he retired and moved to a small house by the racetrack. He would walk into town almost every day and because the community respected him dearly he never fell short of hitching a ride home.
"There was a bit of joke going on about his shack. He complained that when it rained the roof leaked but when it was dry, Dewey didn't know where the leak was, so he never fixed it," laughed Hutchinson.
Though Dewey never had any family around, the people of Cochrane became that for him. When he passed away in 1970 at the age of 73, his funeral was consumed with students, neighbours, friends and parents all who were there "for Dewey." A park in Cochrane took name after the impactful man, "Dewey Blaney Park."
Perhaps we should all aspire to be a little bit like Dewey. Cheerful, humorous, respectable and content.
