Wilfred Stanley Bredeson

Wilfred Stanley Bredeson was born March 18, 1930, in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and raised in the Glen Leslie area on the family farm. Wilf’s parents, Alfred and Margaret (Berg) Bredeson raised five children: Eileen, Wilfred, Velda, Lyle, and Delbert. Wilf started attending the local school, named ‘the Somme’ in 1936. Despite the distance, he chose to walk to school, so that his sister’s could ride the horse. He determined he could get to school just as fast by using a short cut through the Wales’s field and bush. As was common for the time, he finished school in grade 7 or 8 and worked on the family farm while also logging and trapping with his dad in the Smokey River area. His first entrepreneurial attempt was buying 40 pigs with his dad as a partner. Unfortunately, the deal went sour and was not profitable. He branched out into working as a farm hand for local farmers where the pay was basically room and board, as the farmers didn’t have much either. He worked awhile for Big Mountain Sawmill in Grande Prairie with his favourite cousin, Ernie Bredeson. The duo did very well as they challenged other young men to keep up with them on the crosscut saw. In 1952, Wilf and Ernie heard of an opportunity to work road maintenance on the Alaska (Alcan) Highway, so they headed to Muncho Lake on mile 423 for the summer to seek their fortune. It was beautiful country, albeit bug infested, but they loved it up there with all the hunting, fishing, and recreation the Muncho Lake camp provided. Once the season was over, they returned to continue various work with their respective father’s.

It was on one of these return trips that he met his future wife, Agnes Wisniewski. They married on May 30th, 1956, in Grande Prairie. Wilf took full time work at a seismic company near Fort Nelson, relocating his new wife and baby that was now on the way. Their oldest boy, Dale, was born in 1956 in Fort Nelson. Wilf had to walk fifty miles in November from the camp to the hospital, to the tune of wolves in the wilderness and bitter cold to welcome his first son. He then took a job working for the Canadian Army maintaining the Alaska Highway for the next ten years. Wilf learned to operate many pieces of heavy equipment like the D6, D7, and D8 CAT, underbody, grader, and did work with blasting crews to widen the highway and keep it clear. He also operated a snow-plow in the winter months and had the frightening experience of sliding down the side of a ditch into Muncho Lake with his CAT but saved the equipment! Once, his work included pushing rock off the highway that fell off the mountains after a big earthquake in Alaska. Two years later, Agnes refused to give birth in a remote location again and came back to Grande Prairie to stay with family until their second son, Alan was born in July of 1958. Returning to Muncho Lake, Wilf and Agnes enjoyed competing in curling bonspiels, going to dances and celebrations at the local recreation hall. Wilf also loved to fish for trout and hunt big game in the surrounding mountains to put meat on the table, including big horn sheep, mountain goat, and deer. In July of 1962, their third and final son, Gary, was born in Fort Nelson, Agnes having resigned herself to the care of the American Army hospital again.

A couple of years later, having completed roughly ten years up north, and with some prodding from Agnes, Wilf moved his family back to Grande Prairie in 1964. There, he tried several different jobs to provide for his young family in a difficult time. He worked in the local plywood plant for a short while moving logs with a cant hook. He then went an entirely different direction, and got a job as a Fuller brush salesman, kicking off a career in sales. Next, he tried his hand at selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners. He was soon promoted to branch manager which meant a move to Grimshaw, Alberta, in 1969. For three years he was successful managing Electrolux for the North Peace, but he decided he wanted to run his own business. With a tip regarding the future of steam cleaning and some encouragement from a local carpet store owner, Wilf decided that he would start his own carpet cleaning business. This was the start of ‘Wilf’s Carpet Cleaning’. As he operated the only carpet cleaning business in the North Peace, he was quite busy! He wore out many sets and types of carpet cleaning machines over the years; ending up with a van mounted machine that was powered off the van engine. This new technology made it easer to operate and cleaned far superior to any other competitors. His area covered Spirit River in the south to Manning in the north, Dawson Creek to the west, and Slave Lake to the East. Wilf often slept in the back of his truck with the machines when out of town so that he could afford to travel to distant jobs. He always took great pride in doing the best cleaning job possible and leaving the carpet almost dry when he left. He also incorporated a ceiling cleaning machine to provide more services and keep busy. Wilf’s Carpet Cleaning kept his three hungry and growing boys fed, and the wolf away from the door very successfully for 24 years. During this time in Grimshaw, Agnes worked in the local grocery store and then later cared for many local children with her home daycare. Ever the entrepreneur, Wilf also bought a mechanical bull – back in the day when they were very popular and insurance was available. He and Dale brought it from Texas, and Wilf travelled around the Peace Country to small town events and rodeos.

When their boys were young, the highlight of the year was to go camping with their mom’s cousins from Calgary. The whole gang would meet up at the Hiawatha campground in Kelowna, BC. Wilf would drive the entire way from Grimshaw with minimal stops and reward the family with homemade canned stew when they stopped for lunch. If anyone complained about the meal, it got packed up and they drove on until the recipients were properly famished to appreciate it. Wilf and Agnes loved to camp and fished everywhere they went, but especially at the lake side lot they rented at Cozy Cove on Sturgeon Lake for many years. Their camping accommodations started out with a mildewy canvas tent, followed by a soft-top tent trailer, then a hard-top tent trailer, next a truck camper, and then a pull trailer.

As their boys moved out, got jobs and started families of their own, it soon came time for grandpa and grandma to retire. At the age of 65, Wilf sold his business and home in Grimshaw and purchased his last and best camping set up, a brand new 28-foot 5th wheel and ¾ ton Dodge diesel. Wilf and Agnes travelled around Alberta and BC until they got tired of being on the move and settled at Holiday Park in Winfield, BC to begin the ‘sweet life’ in 1995. At Agnes’s urging, they soon sold the 5th wheel and moved into a park model home in the neighbouring area which afforded them the opportunity to have a yard and an all-important dishwasher. Wilf took up woodworking with his scroll saw, producing and selling many creations, most of which can be found in the homes of his family. He also enjoyed maintaining a beautiful yard and garden. Two of his favourite things to grow were delicious tomatoes and garlic – the bigger, the better! They loved to can the Kokanee they caught in Wood Lake and make smoked sausage. Their raspberry freezer jam was always in high demand with all the grandchildren.

Agnes passed away November 26th, 2008, after a short battle with esophageal cancer, leaving Wilf to spend the next 14 years to maintain his home with the help of his family members that followed his move to Kelowna over the years, before transitioning to a senior’s lodge in 2020 and ultimately a long-term care facility, Mission Creek Landing, in Kelowna. At his advanced age, his memory and physical strength was failing him and dementia becoming more advanced. Still, Wilf always enjoyed visitors and was a favourite among the staff, probably due to his gentle teasing and joking.

Wilf was predeceased by his parents and all his siblings, except for a much younger brother from Grande Prairie. He leaves behind a large family; Dale (Kimberly Ann Bredeson, deceased 1991) and Lori Bredeson and their adult children, Gary and Kim Bredeson and their adult children, Alan and Anne-Marie Bredeson and their adult children and a growing number of grandchildren and great grandchildren.