Cornelius Cory Beier

Growing up on a small homestead in the 1930’s would have been so different from the lifestyle we take for granted now. There was no corner-store, no TV or cell phone, no McDonalds and Timmy’s. Thank goodness Uncle Cory got to experience all these good things in life too!

While growing up in Saskatchewan, Cory attended grade school. There was no school bus to catch a ride with and no mini van or SUV for pick-ups and drop-offs. Every school day began by walking several miles to the little one-room school house in all types of weather. If you were lucky, you would get to ride the farm horse there and back again. On some days, when the weather was blizzardy, it was comforting to know that the horse knew the way home. School lunches usually consisted of lard sandwiches and, in the wintertime, they were usually frozen solid by the time they got to school in the morning.

During Cory’s youth on the Prairies, gophers were a big problem to farmers and their crops. Cory spent some of his time helping to eradicate the problem by shooting the gophers and thereby passing in the tails at the nearest general store for a 1-cent-per-tail bounty issued by the government.

When Cory was old enough, he went along with his older brother, David, to work with the thrashing team. They would go from farm to farm along with the rest of the crew and were dependent on the farmers’ wives for meals and the hard ground or a haystack to sleep upon.

In 1947, Cory’s parents decided to move to BC. Cory was 19 at the time and to help aid his parents with this move to BC, Cory sold his own two horses along with the tack and gave the money to his parents. A short while later, Cory joined his Dad and Mom and siblings where they settled in BC.

Once in BC, Cory picked up work in Vancouver at Eburn Sawmills (later known as Canfor). He worked there for over 40 years doing a number of different jobs including driving a sawdust truck and eventually a lumber crane. During this time, he purchased his parents’ farm at Otter and lived there happily ‘til his last days.

Cory liked to raise a few cattle over the years; chickens too and he even had a couple of little ponies named ‘Cindy and Thumby.’ He loved having a garden where he grew a variety of vegetables – he favoured good tomoatoes and kohlrabi. The chickadees and squirrels were always his friends. They would come to eat peanuts from the palm of his hand.

Cory loved to put up hay when he had the cattle and often would get the nieces and nephews involved when hauling it in. After the haying and cattle days were over, Cory started growing hedging cedars in his fields. He also enjoyed the times he met with his friends at Tim Horton’s for coffee and a visit.

In 2005, Cory was diagnosed with prostrate cancer and, with the help of medicine and the good Lord’s grace, Cory had an extra six years to enjoy life on his farm.

We will miss you Uncle Cory!

Till we see you again.