Item iw-glen-264 - Lorne Proudfoot interview (transcription)

Lorne Proudfoot, 1880-1977, was born on a farm near Vankleek Hill, Ontario. He came west on a harvest excursion in 1903, and attended Normal School in Regina. He subsequently came to Alberta and taught in rural schools near Carstairs and Didsbury before homesteading at Chinook in 1909. He married Hilda Mary Roberts, 1899-1972, of Chinook in 1917 and they had five children, Kathleen Frances (Bingeman), James Albert, Eileen Margarite (Burkinshaw), Robert George, and William Arthur. He was a lifelong advocate of the principles of cooperation as a means to community building, and was very active in community and political affairs. He was secretary-treasurer of the Independent Political Association, Constituency of Acadia, a group aligned with the Non-Partisan League, and in the 1917 provincial election he ran unsuccessfully as its candidate. He was elected to the Legislature as the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) member for Acadia in 1921, and sat in the House until 1935. He served as the secretary of the Independent Electors of the Acadia-Coronation Constituency in 1940 and 1944 when they backed G. N. Johnston as an independent candidate; and he was secretary of the Handhills-Acadia Independent Political Association which backed independent candidate Lyall Curry in 1963. He served as Secretary-Treasurer of several local governments: Peyton School District No. 2855 (ca. 1913); Municipal District of Collholme (1914-1921); Chinook Consolidated School District No. 16 (1916-1961); and the Village of Chinook (1943-1968). He was a representative on the Special Areas Board Advisory Committee (1939-1954) and a member of the Board of the Acadia School Division No. 8 (1951). He was active in farmers' organizations and co-operatives, and was manager of the Goose Lake Livestock Co-op (1941-1955). Though Proudfoot came close to bankruptcy in 1932, his farming activity became successful. Specializing in raising sheep, the farm grew to 18,000 acres by the time he sold it to his son in 1962. It was still being farmed by his descendants after 100 years.