Flora Alberta Bower

Alfred Holmes & Flora Bower on Their Wedding Day Thanks to Arthur Sydney Holmes, son of Alfred and Flora, for access to his treasured photo. Thanks to Diane Mar for scanning and submitting the photo.

Flora was born in Osgood, Ontario on July 28, 1910 in a house very near to where her father Albert Bower had been born. The Bower's were of Scottish descent and were part of the McGregor Clan. Flora's great, great. great Grandfather, John Bower was a teacher at the University of Aberdeen Scotland and taught Lord Byron. Her mother Jessie Otto was of German descent. The Otto's had come from Germany to Schoharie County near Albany New York, U.S.A. During the war of 1812, the Otto's moved to Canada and joined the United Empire Loyalists and were granted land near Osgood, Ontario. Their minister in Schoharie was Rev. Johann Schwerdtfeger and he also moved to Ontario at the same time as most of his parishioners had left and come to Canada. He was the first Protestant Minister in Canada. These 3 families were joined by marriage linking the Bower's, Otto's and Schwerdtfeger's.

In 1912 her parents moved to Ottawa where Florrie took kindergarten and grade one at Hopewell School. In 1916 they moved to Trenton, Ontario and her father being a carpenter by trade, was in an accident at the TNT ammunition plant and lost some of his fingers. He thought he would never be able to work at his trade again so decided to move West and try farming. He bought a farm just north of Cut Knife.

1918 found them moving into a house partly finished. There were only rough boards on the walls and plenty of cracks which had to be filled before winter. Flora and her mother stuffed them with rags, paper and anything else they could find to fill the holes and keep out the cold. Preparing food for the winter was always necessary and Flora always picked her share of berries. The mosquitoes were always a problem, so she would tie paper around her arms and legs to ward them off.

Florrie finished grade 8 at Alfred School near Cut Knife. She lived on the farm with her family until she married Alfred Holmes in 1929.

When Elsie & Arthur were young, Flora started sewing their clothes. She was always able to keep them quite well dressed even if the clothes were made from a suit that was almost worn out. She could knit, crochet, tat, quilt and do any kind of embroidery. She made at least 2 quilts for all her grandchildren and baby quilts for her great grandchildren. She continued with her knitting etc. until her eyes got too poor to see what she was doing. She was a great cook. You could go to visit her for an hour and ended up by staying for supper. She could open her fridge and cupboard and come out with a delicious meal. When she was in her house, she always had a good garden. She canned and froze vegetables for the winter.

After Alfie died in 1946, she moved the family to Ottawa and stayed with her parents. They had a large house on Woodroff Avenue. Jessie and Albert lived in the front part of the house and Flora, Arthur and Elsie lived in the back part of the house. They lived there for about 1 year, then moved back to Cut Knife and stayed with her sister Grace until the end of June and the school year was finished. July of 1947 she moved to Saskatoon and bought a city lot, garage and converted the garage into a house.

After moving to Saskatoon, she worked at the Metropolitan Store and St Andrews College in the kitchen. In the summer Elsie Holmes - Alfie's half sister and Florrie went to Banff, Alberta and worked in a tea room, then back to Saskatoon and work at the College for the winter.

In 1958 she married Arthur Holmes, brother of Alfie, and they moved to Langley, B.C. They stayed in Langley for quite a few years, but decided to return to Saskatoon. They bought a house at 622 3rd Street and she lived there until well after Arthur died in 1969. Realizing the house and yard were too much for her to handle, she moved to Eamer Court and lived there until she had a massive stroke in July of 1986. She was in City Hospital until she passed away May 9th 1987. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Saskatoon.

Almost every year Florrie went to Atons Lake for the Regatta, often taking Marilyn or Dale Evjen her grandchildren with her. This gave her the opportunity to visit with old friends. She often took them on to Cut Knife to see the old farm where some of the buildings were still standing. June 11, 1979 she received a "Certificate of Merit" from the Royal Canadian Legion Auxillery and August 12, 1981 she was awarded a lifetime membership.

Alfie was the love of her life and after he died she committed herself to bringing up their 2 children. She always did the very best she could for them. As her daughter, I will always be very grateful for her love and support.

Elsie Evjen