Fonds 0421 - Harry Watcher fonds

Harry Watcher was born on his father's farm in Bosanquet Township, County of Lambton, Ontario, in 1890. The family moved to Thedford when he was five and then to Forest where he went to high school. He apprenticed as a watchmaker for three years in Parkhill, then came to Edmonton to work for his brother in 1910. In 1915, after working in various other Alberta locations, he came north and established his business in Grande Prairie. He was a popular civic minded man, serving that first summer on the Grande Prairie Sports celebration and helping to organize the volunteer fire department. He served on the Agricultural Society and joined the Grande Prairie Band. In 1916 he was among the bandsmen who rode the ED & BC train to Spirit River for the May 24 Sports Day, the band's first engagement. In 1916, he enlisted in the armed forces, having sold his business to C.S. Hook. Returning from overseas in 1919, he joined the Great War Veterans Assoc. in Edmonton and had thoughts of going to Manitoba but a friend assured him Grande Prairie was "booming" after the war and urged him to return which he did. He had a new store 12 ' x 15' built between Smee's Harness Shop and Spicer's Bakery. He rejoined the band which had grown and was a member of the fire department for 17 years. He and George Duncan got to live upsairs in the new town hall when it was built in 1920. In 1926 Harry married Nora MacEwen who had come to work for lawyer George Fraser and then the Bank of Montreal. In 1928 Watcher bought the Spicer building which served his business for the next 37 years. In 1929 he became one of the first shareholders of the Richmond Hill Golf Club Ltd. In 1951, Harry became one of the charter members of the Grande Prairie Rotary Club and in 1963, he and his wife travelled abroad with other Rotarians. A long time member of the A.M. & F.M. Lodge No. 105, in 1963 he was one of the charter members of the newly formed Grande Prairie Shriners Club. In 1965, Watcher retired and sold his business to Stewart E. Curry who built his new Curry's Jewelers on the site of Watcher's store. The Watchers had built a home on Richmond Ave. in 1954 and retired there, celebrating their golden anniversary in 1976. Harry died in 1979 at age 88, and his wife, Nora, died in 1981 at age 78.